“The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure
Notwithstanding Joel Coen’s tongue-in-cheek comment that his film is “about a good guy, a bad guy, and a guy in between”, the main characters of No Country for Old Men have evinced much perplexity. In particular, Chigurh, who has been deemed one of the most chilling villains in cinema history, defie...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Presses universitaires de Rennes
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | Revue LISA |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/14988 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841558411140923392 |
|---|---|
| author | Nicole Cloarec |
| author_facet | Nicole Cloarec |
| author_sort | Nicole Cloarec |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Notwithstanding Joel Coen’s tongue-in-cheek comment that his film is “about a good guy, a bad guy, and a guy in between”, the main characters of No Country for Old Men have evinced much perplexity. In particular, Chigurh, who has been deemed one of the most chilling villains in cinema history, defies any univocal archetypal definition that would readily apply to such character type. The present article focuses on the character of Chigurh in the Coens’ film. After examining the diversity of interpretations that have sought to account for his character, it contends that Chigurh’s enigmatic ambivalence is part and parcel of his characterisation. More specifically, it throws light on the character’s ambivalence as a cinematic entity, that is, not so much as a direct personification of moral and philosophical issues as the embodiment of filmic figures and devices that are displayed to convey the film’s worldview. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1fd8d8729edc414b8e51cad5ab130661 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1762-6153 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Presses universitaires de Rennes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revue LISA |
| spelling | doaj-art-1fd8d8729edc414b8e51cad5ab1306612025-01-06T09:03:05ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-61532023-01-012110.4000/lisa.14988“The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figureNicole CloarecNotwithstanding Joel Coen’s tongue-in-cheek comment that his film is “about a good guy, a bad guy, and a guy in between”, the main characters of No Country for Old Men have evinced much perplexity. In particular, Chigurh, who has been deemed one of the most chilling villains in cinema history, defies any univocal archetypal definition that would readily apply to such character type. The present article focuses on the character of Chigurh in the Coens’ film. After examining the diversity of interpretations that have sought to account for his character, it contends that Chigurh’s enigmatic ambivalence is part and parcel of his characterisation. More specifically, it throws light on the character’s ambivalence as a cinematic entity, that is, not so much as a direct personification of moral and philosophical issues as the embodiment of filmic figures and devices that are displayed to convey the film’s worldview.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/14988adaptationCoen EthanCoen JoelNo Country for Old MenChigurhCormac McCarthy |
| spellingShingle | Nicole Cloarec “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure Revue LISA adaptation Coen Ethan Coen Joel No Country for Old Men Chigurh Cormac McCarthy |
| title | “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure |
| title_full | “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure |
| title_fullStr | “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure |
| title_full_unstemmed | “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure |
| title_short | “The man who wasn’t there”—and was “out there”: Chigurh as cinematic figure |
| title_sort | the man who wasn t there and was out there chigurh as cinematic figure |
| topic | adaptation Coen Ethan Coen Joel No Country for Old Men Chigurh Cormac McCarthy |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/14988 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nicolecloarec themanwhowasntthereandwasouttherechigurhascinematicfigure |