Inside the Coen Brothers’ Cinematic Universe: How Authority Figures Shape Their Darkest Stories
But the presence of so many of these type of characters points to a dynamic common to some Coen brothers movies: Using authority figures to create conflict, both in the External World of the plot and the Internal World of the Protagonist’s psyche.
Let’s look at three movies to explore these ideas.
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Here is an IMDb plot summary:
Ullyses Everett McGill, sick of breaking rocks in the heat of a Mississippi summer, escapes with his two dim accomplices, Delmar and Pete. Trying to reclaim a buried treasure before its lost forever underneath a lake, the three make their way to Everett’s homestead. Along the way, they meet a contriving one-eyed Bible salesman, a blind prophet, a trio of sexy sirens, and a man who sold his soul to the devil. In their race to reach the treasure before it’s flooded, they end up crashing a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob, help a sensitive Baby Face Nelson rob three banks in two hours, and even have enough time to put out a best-selling record as The Soggy Bottom Boys.
As escaped convicts, Everett and cohorts are chased by an authority figure Sheriff Cooley:
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