O Brother Where Art Thou is a more lighthearted Coen Brothers film that contains many of the Coen’s elements that are included in most of their films. The basic plot of the film is there are three men on a chain gang who try and break out of it in pursuit of some money. They encounter many obstacles along their way and the story almost follows the plot of the Odyssey. We know from previously watched Coen films that money often plays a big role in their films and that element remains constant here as well. One other element that is also in this film is the presence of an ultimate evil which here is a badass sheriff who is chasing the three men.
The idea of money has been a very strong motivation for the behaviors of characters in all of the Coen brother’s films we have seen. In Raising Arizona HI is a struggling criminal who is trying to raise and support a family but is in need of money so he feels it is necessary to rob convenience stores to help his family. In Fargo Jerry has a rich father in law and isn’t doing that well himself so he sets up a scheme to get his wife fake kidnapped to try and get a ransom from his father in law. This plan backfires when the two men get greedy and commit a few murders to try and get more of the money for themselves. Then in No Country for Old Men most of the main characters are all going after some drug money and that motivates mainly the antagonist, Anton to murder anyone who gets in his way of the cash. And then finally in O Brother Where Art Thou the three men lead by Everett break out of the chain gang that they are in, in pursuit of 1.2 million dollars. Everett told the men in the chain gang that before he was put in it he stole the money and was able to hide it before being captured by the law. This pursuit of the fortune gets the men in all sorts of trouble and motivates them to do things they normally wouldn’t.
The presence of an ultimate evil shows up in all of the Coen brothers films that I have seen. First in Raising Arizona the ultimate evil is represented with a biker, Leonard Smalls. This guy does not have any regard for any living creature and we can especially see this as he blows up an innocent bunny rabbit on the side of the road with a hand grenade. Then in Fargo Gaear Grimsrud is the badass of the film. This German beast will do anything even through his partner in a wood grinder to get more money. In No Country for old men Anton Chigurh is a ruthless killer. It doesn’t matter who you are he believes that if you are in his way you are destined to be killed. And then in O Brother Where Art Thou the unstoppable evil is a character named Sheriff Cooley. Cooley matches the description that one of the characters in the film gives of the devil and the sheriff will stop at nothing to catch and kill Everett and his men. He does not have any regard for the law, as a sheriff he does what he wants and we can see this at the end of the film when the three men get pardoned on the radio and Cooley still tries to hang them.
All of the Coen brothers’ films that I have seen seem to always contain these two elements. They really like the idea of money motivating people to do things they would normally not do and they also love to include a complete badass character to cause problems for our protagonist. The Coen brothers definitely have created there own well defined style and you will always be able to identify their perfection in any one of their films.
The idea of money has been a very strong motivation for the behaviors of characters in all of the Coen brother’s films we have seen. In Raising Arizona HI is a struggling criminal who is trying to raise and support a family but is in need of money so he feels it is necessary to rob convenience stores to help his family. In Fargo Jerry has a rich father in law and isn’t doing that well himself so he sets up a scheme to get his wife fake kidnapped to try and get a ransom from his father in law. This plan backfires when the two men get greedy and commit a few murders to try and get more of the money for themselves. Then in No Country for Old Men most of the main characters are all going after some drug money and that motivates mainly the antagonist, Anton to murder anyone who gets in his way of the cash. And then finally in O Brother Where Art Thou the three men lead by Everett break out of the chain gang that they are in, in pursuit of 1.2 million dollars. Everett told the men in the chain gang that before he was put in it he stole the money and was able to hide it before being captured by the law. This pursuit of the fortune gets the men in all sorts of trouble and motivates them to do things they normally wouldn’t.
The presence of an ultimate evil shows up in all of the Coen brothers films that I have seen. First in Raising Arizona the ultimate evil is represented with a biker, Leonard Smalls. This guy does not have any regard for any living creature and we can especially see this as he blows up an innocent bunny rabbit on the side of the road with a hand grenade. Then in Fargo Gaear Grimsrud is the badass of the film. This German beast will do anything even through his partner in a wood grinder to get more money. In No Country for old men Anton Chigurh is a ruthless killer. It doesn’t matter who you are he believes that if you are in his way you are destined to be killed. And then in O Brother Where Art Thou the unstoppable evil is a character named Sheriff Cooley. Cooley matches the description that one of the characters in the film gives of the devil and the sheriff will stop at nothing to catch and kill Everett and his men. He does not have any regard for the law, as a sheriff he does what he wants and we can see this at the end of the film when the three men get pardoned on the radio and Cooley still tries to hang them.
All of the Coen brothers’ films that I have seen seem to always contain these two elements. They really like the idea of money motivating people to do things they would normally not do and they also love to include a complete badass character to cause problems for our protagonist. The Coen brothers definitely have created there own well defined style and you will always be able to identify their perfection in any one of their films.
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