The Coen Brothers and the Comedy of Democracy

Both Critically And Commercially Successful Filmmakers The Coen Brothers Have Written Produced And Directed Numerous Acclaimed Films Over The Past Three Decades. Sara Macdonald And Barry Craig Demonstrate That Their Comedies In Particular Which Are Often Dismissed As Mere Entertainments Actually Present Substantial Philosophic And Political Arguments. They Examine Five Of The Coen Brothers’ Comedies: Raising Arizona Fargo The Big Lebowski O Brother Where Art Thou And Hail Caesar!. In Those Works They Discover Insightful Engagements With Such Ideas As Questions Of Human Freedom The Relationship Of Reason To Religion And The Nature Of Liberal Democracy In The American Regime. They Demonstrate How Sometimes Explicitly But Generally Implicitly The Coens Draw On Thinkers Such As Homer Plato Dante And Hegel While Simultaneously Presenting Popular Entertainment.