The Coen Brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”: A Ludic Comedy of Appearances or an Author’s Confession of Faith Into the Power of Laughter?
Abstract
The article shows how postmodern works try to reinterpret classic film. One such method is the introduction by the artists (the Coen brothers) into the film text a category of historicity. It is understood as a form of reconstruction of the past, as well as a screen behind which the discourse on the problems of the modern era takes place. The author disagrees with the theses present in contemporary research that negate the possibility of the postmodern aesthetic generating meaning that extends beyond the sphere of the text. In his interpretation of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) Skupień focuses on those aspects of experiencing historicity, which extend beyond the surface reading of meanings in a postmodern text. The author examines issues such as: the question of false adaptation, references to 1930s cinema, the role of music as a vehicle for our ideas regarding the past, and a direct reference to the matrix upon which the meaning of Coen brothers’ film is built: i.e. the classic film of Preston Sturges – Sullivan's Travels.
Keywords:
Coen brothers, historicity, postmodernism, Preston SturgesReferences
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Authors
Ireneusz Skupieńkwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Doktorant w Instytucie Sztuk Audiowizualnych Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego; przygotowuje rozprawę doktorską poświęconą twórczości Prestona Sturgesa; mieszka i pracuje w Wodzisławiu Śląskim.
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Copyright (c) 2015 Ireneusz Skupień
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