The films of the Coen brothers have become a contemporary cultural phenomenon. Highly acclaimed and commercially successful, over the years their movies have attracted increasingly larger audiences and spawned a subculture of dedicated fans. Shunning fame and celebrity, Ethan and Joel Coen remain maverick filmmakers, producing and directing independent films outside the Hollywood mainstream in a unique style combining classic genres like film noir with black comedy to tell off-beat stories about America and the American Dream. This study surveys Oscar-winning films, such as Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007), as well as cult favorites, including O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and The Big Lebowski (1998). Beginning with Blood Simple (1984), it examines major themes and generic constructs and offers diverse approaches to the Coens' enigmatic films. Pointing to the pulp fiction of Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler, the study appreciates the postmodern aesthetics of the Coens' intertextual creativity.

About the Author
Jeffrey Adams is associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the editor of Morike's Muses: Critical Essays on Eduard Morike and Mimetic Desire: Narcissism in German Literature from Romanticism to Postmodernism.

Reviews
A thorough examination... Recommended. Choice



Book Information
ISBN 9780231174619
Author Jeffrey Adams
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Wallflower Press
Publisher Columbia University Press