Biblical Coens: Can We Laugh Now?
A review of Coen criticism, specifically attending to Elijah Siegler’s recent, significant collection of essays, indicates that Coen brothers’ films frame characters in harsh, amoral worlds. This esthetic "framing" is similar not only to Camus’ analysis of the absurd, but also to the "...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2019
|
| In: |
The journal of religion and film
Year: 2019, Volume: 23, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-29 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Coen, Joel 1954-
/ Coen, Ethan 1957-
/ Bible
/ Motif
/ Film
|
| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion |
| Further subjects: | B
Coen brothers
B Occupation B biblical epic B Television comedies B Daniel B Noir |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | A review of Coen criticism, specifically attending to Elijah Siegler’s recent, significant collection of essays, indicates that Coen brothers’ films frame characters in harsh, amoral worlds. This esthetic "framing" is similar not only to Camus’ analysis of the absurd, but also to the "feel" of some biblical narratives. Where Camus urges one to move beyond the absurd to absurd creation and biblical narratives press on to faith - at least, in most religious readings of them - the Coens laugh. A selective overview of the use of bibles in Coen brothers’ films demonstrates that the Coens’ biblical hermeneutic is risible. Their films frame bibles in amoral worlds, displace the Holy Bible, deploy popular bibles, twist and subvert bibles, reduce bibles to implicit backgrounds, and use bibles to laugh at characters, stories, and the human condition. In this, the Coens are also laughing at themselves. The article concludes by asking whether the Coens’ hermeneutic can help academics read biblical narratives differently and, perhaps, even learn to laugh at themselves as they read. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1092-1311 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religion and film
|