I watched Barton Fink last week and I liked it very much, albeit with all the caveats that I have to attach to any Coen Brothers movie. Fundamentally: are they subscribing to a cheap nihilism, or are they setting up a nihilistic world and oh-so-subtly suggesting a few ways out?
It's hard for me to get my footing with the Coens, especially since they constantly riff on genre. Are they saying something or having a laugh about they way that other movies try to say something? For example, nearly every character in The Big Lebowski is a recognizable political type from the nineties, and the film opens with a reference to the first Gulf War. Part of me really wants to see it as a morality tale about how the good intentions of the sixties radicals devolved into a vague desire to do good, with no idea of how to do it, and hardly any way to avoid being a pawn in the games of other, larger forces. But are the Coens trying to make this point? Or did they just think it would be fun to replace the stereotypical characters of classic noir with figures from the nineties political scene? It's frustrating that they refuse to tell us; it's even more frustrating that the movie seems designed for ambiguity on this point.
If anyone knows of any good papers or articles on the Coen Brothers' use of political subtexts in their work, please let me know.
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