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The Politics of Retirement: Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men after September 11

2009; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1780-678X

Arne De Boever,

Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism

Abstract: This essay shows that Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men develops a critique of the ways in which the Bush government turned final control into an ultimate political value after the September 11 terror attacks. It suggests that such a response operates within a theological assumption that is dismantled in the film’s representation of the confrontation between hit man Anton Chigurh and sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Crucially, this confrontation takes place at the moment when the sheriff is about to retire. The essay argues that it is through the counterintuitive representation of this retirement as a political act that No Country for Old Men proposes other ways of governing after September 11. Resume: Dans cet article, je demontre que le film des freres Coen, No Country for Old Men , contient une critique de la reponse du gouvernement de Georges Bush aux attaques terroristes du 11 septembre, plus particulierement du retour du nationalisme, du suspens de certaines libertes civiques, de la generalisation des techniques de surveillance et ainsi de suite. Comme le montre bien le film, une telle reponse est basee sur la croyance theologique en la possibilite d’assurer une securite et un controle absolus. L’article demontre que le film deconstruit cette croyance a travers sa representation de la lutte entre le tueur a gages Anton Chigurh et le sherif Ed Tom Bell, que le film situe au moment meme ou le representant de la loi est sur le point de prendre sa retraite. Selon moi, c’est a travers la representation de cette retraite que No Country for Old Men montre la possibilite d’une autre politique apres les evenements du 11 septembre.