The Coen Brothers and the Comedy of Democracy (Politics, Literature, & Film)

by Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig

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Both critically and commercially successful filmmakers, the Coen brothers have written, produced, and directed numerous acclaimed films over the past three decades. Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig demonstrate that their comedies, in particular, which are often dismissed as mere entertainments, actually present substantial philosophic and political arguments. They examine five of the Coen brothers' comedies: Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, and Hail Caesar!. In those works, they discover insightful engagements with such ideas as questions of human freedom, the relationship of reason to religion, and the nature of liberal democracy in the American regime. They demonstrate how sometimes explicitly, but generally implicitly, the Coens draw on thinkers such as Homer, Plato, Dante, and Hegel, while simultaneously presenting popular entertainment.
  • ISBN10 1498555179
  • ISBN13 9781498555173
  • Publish Date 31 December 2018
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Lexington Books
  • Format eBook
  • Pages 132
  • Language English