Coen Brothers

Chris Tan

George Craft

Hist/HRS 169

April 26th, 2011

The Coen Brothers: Toying with Fate

The Coen Brothers are one of Hollywood’s finest contemporary directors. Known as the “two-headed director,” they are recognized for their unique and unorthodox films. Each of their stories are wonderfully original, with worlds that give a sense of atmosphere and direction that manage to superbly balance different themes of gritty violence and comedy. Fate and circumstance are a common theme in their movies. Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo has everything go wrong for him when he organizes a kidnapping scheme for financial gain. Similarly, Julian Marty in Blood Simple faces double-crossing when he plans a murder of his wife and lover. Llewlyn Moss is also caught up in a bad situation when he stumbles across a drug deal gone wrong in No Country for Old Men. The book The Coen Brothers: the story of two American filmmakers by author Josh Levine will be used in researching the directors for this paper. Further research will be found through the internet, including reviews by Roger Ebert and other articles. The Coen Brothers show a common theme of fate and circumstance through their films Fargo, Blood Simple, and No Country for Old Men.

Joel and Ethan Coen were born three years apart in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. They were raised in a normal suburban Jewish household with academic parents (Senses of Cinema). Together, they grew up and shared a love for watching movies on television. They would watch “a lot of Italian pictures, everything from (Fellini) to lowbrow (Sons of Hercules) and “Tarzan movies, Jerry Lewis comedies, and anything with Bob Hope or Tony Curtis or Doris Day” (Levine 5). Joel saved money to buy a Super 8 camera, which they used at first to remake the movies they had seen and later would make original films such as Henry Kissinger. With practice and their exposure and interest in different genres of movies, they learned to develop their own unique style. Their...