The similarity and differences of No Country for Old Men and Dead Man - Research Paper Example

Lecturer: The similarity and differences of "No Country for Old Men" and "Dead Man" Introduction The films, No Country for Old Men and Dead Man attempts to reveal uncertainty of life. No Country for Old Men is a murder mystery written by Coen and Joel, and is based on the McCarthy narrative. The story revolves around three main characters; Llewellyn Moss, Anton Chigurh and Tom Bell, a psychopathic killer. The story begins where Anton Chigurh is paid by his boss to find stolen money that he lost, in the failed drug deal. In short, the film is filled with mysteries and uncertainties of life, which correlates with the title, No Country for Old Man. Similarly, Dead man is a movie that was directed by Jarmusch Jim, in 1996, and presents a storyline of a young man’s adventure, both mentally and physically, into the strange land. William Blake starts his journey to the western frontiers of America and encountered an odd and outcast Native American known as ‘Nobody’. The encounter with ‘Nobody’ helps William Blake to overcome difficult situations, which were hilarious and brutal. Similarities between No Country for Old Men and Dead Man There are varied similarities between the films, No Country for Old Men and Dead Man. First, both films are filled with darkness and uncertainty of life because both directors reveal issues of violence, murder and coldhearted villains. These act as the main duties of the central characters in both movies, and their lives are full of obscurity. Additionally, both directors tie uncertainty with pessimistic belief that there is little one can do about uncertainty aspects of human life (McCarthy 34). There is a lot of evil in both films because the directors keep reminding the viewer about the inherent evil of human beings in every scene. For instance, the marvelous expressionless humor is one of the darkest aspects in the film of No Country for Old Men. This has greatly affected the characters of different persons; for example, Chigurh is one character, who has dreadful characters because he engages in violence issues. Moreover, both films reveal the mysterious dead as the only certainty, and at the same time reveal greatest mystery cases and violence. For instance, the adventure story in the Dead Man film represents certainty of life, to William Blake. Consequently, the journey is a long-lasting ceremonial to the person known as‘Nobody’ because his intention was to save Blake and bring him back to the spirit level of the human race. The non-western viewpoint about Nobody was that life was seen as an unending cycle; thus presenting the significance of the film title, ‘Dead Man’. Both films reveal cases of violence, some of which contributes to death; for instance, in the film of Dead Man, nobody helps in leading William Blake through situations most of which turns to be violent and on the same time hilarious. Contrary to Blake’s personality, he turns to be a criminal, a murderer and a vicious man, whose physical being slips away gradually. Both novels portray characters, most of whom are violent and engage in the world of cruel, brutal and chaotic occurrences. Secondly, both films presents the theme of evil. Many western genre films are full of evil; thus, many characters take part in evil things, in the society. Both directors acknowledge the evil practiced by the power-hungry rich men, who dominates the weak; innocent people are used to enable the powerful achieve their needs. For instance, many crimes are committed in both movies, whereby many people end up being victims of evil because the crimes committed are beyond measure (Raff 61). In addition, the theme of fate is revealed, and is the cause for violence cases, as every character in the movie strives to reach his or her destiny. For instance, the film of Dead Man is about a young man, who sets the journey and hopes to reach his destiny in order to accomplish his missions. Fate is also revealed in the film, No Country for Old Men, whereby we see violent cases taking place right from the beginning after Chigurh left the house, where Carla lives. The violence cases take place in several scenes because every character aims to fulfill a certain mission (Nelmes 51). Each of the main characters in both films has a twofold understanding about the global world. In other words, there is an inevitably sense that the world moves without interference; it does not have much to do with the desires or concerns of human beings. Hence, the characters believe that they have to contribute to their inevitable future with every choice they make, and the work they perform. Thirdly, both films reveal the major themes of crime of theft and variant moral perceptions. The film, “No Country for Old Men,” presents crime of theft centers on a man, who stole $2 million from a drug contract. The film is a chase or pursuit movie, but centers on both the crimes and detective narratives, with an aim of finding the stolen money. Most characters in this film are theft criminals, something that contributes to the death of other characters. For instance, Llewellyn Moss is the champion of the movie and an ordinary figure, who commits burglary in extraordinary circumstances. The viewer is able to view Moss’ burglary as rational rather than reproachful. Peebles Stacey admits that, “later that night after the theft took place,” Moss made a decision to return and help the wounded man, who had begged for help (King, Rick and Jim 81). This statement clearly depicts the way stealing is rampart in the film, which contributes to deaths of many people; hence, the movie reveals uncertainty of life. Moreover, Moss also believes that leaving the money behind in the chase would be unimaginable; thus, he asserts, “it is only the ageing people in the story, who have lost their money” (Lees-Jeffries 717). Moss takes the money he found in the desert and acknowledges that by doing so, he will sacrifice all those he loves; thus the movie is a murder mystery. Furthermore, the Dead Man film is full of crime theft and this is revealed where William Blake, a newly orphaned accountant, leaves home to find a job in another city, and is involved in crimes. Upon reaching the factory where Blake was going to find the job, he was told that the job position has already been filled. Blake enters into a nearby bar and spends his night with one of the bar prostitutes. In the process, the violent alternation with the lover of the woman breaks and this leaves Blake a mysterious murderer, and fatally wounded. Eventually, Moss flew into the wilderness, where he found the man known as ‘Nobody,’ who promised to guide him into the spirit world. Lastly, both films are thrillers because they reveal murder mysteries, adventure stories and are full of suspense. The thriller narratives are wide literature or films that employ suspense, anxiety, adventure, enthusiasm, mystery murder and other considerable elements. The directors of both films employed varied elements of a thriller genre, such as, murder mystery. The cases of murder are revealed in both films, where many characters are involved in the murder cases, while others are found death. Moreover, the directors reveal adventure stories and other varied aspects, which leaves the viewer in suspense. This thriller films are exciting, but on the other hand, are scary where murder cases takes place. In the Dead Man story, Rosenbaum (32) reveals the mysterious and adventure stories of Blake as outlined in his journey into the spirit world. The other film is full of thriller elements starting from murder cases arising due to theft crime to tension created between characters; thus, they are entertaining movies that one can enjoy watching. Differences between No Country for Old Men and Dead Man However, despite the similarities, there are varied differences in both films of No Country for Old Men and Dead Man. First, the author of Dead man film can be characterized as an inconspicuous filmmaker unlike the authors of No Country for Old Man, who are noticeable or apparent. This is because the Dead Man film often shuns the traditional narrative structure and lacks clear plot progression (Rosenbaum 61). The film is characterized as a western genre film approach, which is open to the metaphor, and its roots evolve from classical narrative forms of literature. In most cases, western styles are most common narratives involving journey into unfamiliar territory. These types of films are often shaped around varied themes such as redemption, tragedy and retribution. Although, this film is not a traditional western film, the genre was only used as departure point with the film being more of mood and character development than plot progression. The film is full of lonely adventures and the directors always describe male characters as conmen and thieves. Moreover, the Dead Manfilm is different from the western films because it is filmed entirely in black and white. The director of this film decided to make the film black and white from the very beginning because of varied reasons. One of the primary reasons is that the director wanted to align the film with his theme of writing the story, which is about the man who takes a journey that takes him far away from familiar things (Kollatz 22). The color of the film, mostly the landscapes, connects the viewer with things, whose tonal value are familiar. It is also because the narrative was set during the 19th century; thus, inadequate information about the color is one way of gaining some noteworthy historical facet. It also seems that films that were directed in the late 1950s to early 1960s, employed western genre styles, which seemed to be black and white. Therefore, it is entirely an up-to-date comedic take on the western. Despite this, one can find it unquestionable and strange, at times. Secondly, Dead man film is different from that of Jarmusch because it is full of racist and moral decadent. For instance, there is racism because ‘Nobody’ was treated differently from the white because he was of a mixed blood, a tribe that was considered as plain Indians (Lalanne 37). Furthermore, varied clues to the meaning of the film are revealed throughout from the beginning of the screenplay up to the end, whereby, the film critics seem to offer the meaning behind the Dead Man film. For instance, Blake sets the journey from America, and passed through the purgatorial land of the dead; a land where the dead are buried. In the opening scene, the question is posed, “why is it that the landscape is moving, but the boat is still?” (Depp, Robert, Gabriel, Alfred and Stephen 1996); hence creating suspense.Therefore, this alludes to and links with the ending scene that creates an endless loop and reveals varied issues, which Blake experiences such a racism and moral decadence, in America. Thirdly, although both films attempts to address the issue of traditions, culture and racism, Dead Man film is more of a figurative cinematic poem than No Country for old Men film. The director of the Dead Man film reveals the merging of the customary and traditional iconography of the Westerners, whereby, the author succeeds in creating a filmic analogue and the vehemence of its imageries. The film is fiercely ironic and of course the outsider is able to understand the American culture. The film is ironic because ‘Nobody,’ who plays the role of a foreigner in his own land, is regarded as a savage by the white men. Therefore, this is the only film, which is acquainted by the European culture; thus reveals the myth of the American culture (Bortz 28). No Country for old Men is among the best movies and is worth of praise because of the way it was produced. Although, some people may find some weaknesses, the director directed the film in a manner that makes it worth and appealing. One can argue that McCarthy’s work is worth to be praised because of the writing styles and skills employed in the novel. Coens carefully selected the most filmic moments of McCarthy’s novel and philosophically came up with an appealing film. One can find a cinematic equivalent of the film to that of language used in McCarthy’s novel. Lastly, Joel and Coen’s film is different from that of Jarmusch because the story was based on the novel of Cormac McCarthy, whose main themes included principles, laws and fate. The cinematic style of producing films significantly influenced the directors; thus directing the film based on the McCarthy’s novel. Therefore, the directors employed unique styles of presenting the theme and personified characters in a manner that makes the film highly interesting. The directors further drew attention to cultural perceptions such as gender roles, racism or ethnicity and explored the landscape of west Texas. The critics of the movie argue that the movie is the metaphor for the entropy of the current America, which illustrated the 9/11 terrorism and the Iraq rebel era. This is because it is full of crimes of all evils that left many people wounded, while others died in the process of chasing money stolen from the drug deal. Conclusion In conclusion, the movies No Country for Old Man and Dead man are fulfilled with darkness and uncertainty; thus, both directors, of the two movies, try to reveal the uncertainty of life. There are varied similarities that are revealed in both films, No Country for Old Men and Dead Man. First, both films are filled with darkness and uncertainty of lives because both directors reveal issues of violence, murder and coldhearted villains. They also reveal about mysterious dead as the only certainty, and at the same time, reveal greatest mystery and violence cases, which contribute to loss of lives. Both films are fulfilled with darkness and uncertainty of lives because the major themes revealed are evil and fate. The theme of fate is revealed, and it is the cause for violence cases because every character in the movie wants to reach his or her destiny. Both directors of the films reveal the major theme of crime of theft and variant moral perceptions. Thus, both films are thrillers because they reveal murder mysteries, adventure stories and the stories are full of suspense. However, there are varied differences in both films of No Country for Old Man and Dead man. First, the author of Dead man film can be characterized as an inconspicuous filmmaker unlike the authors of No Country for Old Man, who are noticeable or apparent. Although both films attempts to address the issue of traditions, culture and racist, Dead Man film is more of a figurative cinematic poem than No Country for old Men film. Moreover, the Dead Man film is different from the western films because it is filmed entirely in black and white. Dead man film is different from that of Jarmusch because it is full of racist and morally decadent. No Country for old Men is one of the best films and is worth of praise because of the way it was produced. Lastly, Joel and Coen’s film is different from that of Jarmusch because the story was based on the novel of Cormac McCarthy, whose main themes included principles, laws and fate. Works Cited Bortz, Maggie. "Carrying the Fire: Individuation Toward the Mature Masculine and Telos of Cultural Myth in Cormac Mccarthy's No Country for Old Men and the Road."Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche.5.4 (2011): 28-42. Print. Depp, Johnny, Robert Mitchum, Gabriel Byrne, Alfred Molina, and Stephen Dobyns. Dead Man.BurbankCalif: Miramax Home Entertainment, 1996. King, Lynnea C, Rick Wallach, and Jim Welsh. No Country for Old Men: From Novel to Film. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2009. Print. Kollatz, Harry. "Dead Man's Tale: The Long-Lived Mystery of Smoky Joe." Richmond: the Magazine of Metropolitan Richmond.(2010): 22. Print. Lalanne, J.-M."Dead Man De Jim Jarmusch.Entertain Avec Jim Jarmusch.Stranger Than Hell." Cahiers Du Cinema. (1996): 36-41. Print. Lees-Jeffries, H. "No Country for Old Men? Ciceronian Friendship and Old Age in Shakespeare's Second Tetralogy and Beyond."The Review of English Studies.62.257 (2011): 716-737. Print. McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. New York: Vintage International, 2006. Print. Nelmes, Jill. An Introduction to Film Studies. London [etc.: Routledge, 2007. Print. Raff, Mario. Genre, Heroism and Conceptions of Evil in 'no Country for Old Men'.Munchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2009.Internet resource. Rosenbaum, Jonathan. Dead Man. London: British Film Institute, 2000. Print. Read More