Llewellyn (protagonist) is a Vietnam war veteran, but is flawed, while usually they're undefeatable (ie Predator, Commando)
Typically one man can win and make a difference, but he dies
Good always wins, evil loses, but Llewellyn dies, Ed-Tom gives up and Anton walks away with the money
Realism vs myth - reality is brutal
CHANGE AND CHANCE - Capitalist change, society going towards it, and poor people not having a chance - Marxist ideology
Money is the front of all evil
What it means to be a man - violence solves nothing
Context of Setting
America in the 1980s
Went from liberal 1970s to a new climate of reactionary attitudes
Reagan got into power, brought with him an era of 'New Right'
Anti government ideology
Cold war at it's height, arms race
Reagan: Aggressively capitalist government, relatively militaristic for the first time since the Vietnam War, a growth in a new form of conservatism, right wing ideologies become stronger and more mainstream - imagery of businessman changed
Serious rise in drug culture. In 1980's armed robbers were still at the top of the criminal food chain, and as the prison time was only 4-5 years for most offences there was a code of silence.
Society
Fragmented society - young and old, left and right
Cut backs in government spending coinciding with factory closures, many communities in economic collapse
Older industries cutting down
Rise of Corporate America, more personable companies exert a strong influence on everyday life, reward effort, strong hierarchies, seen to be morally dubious/borderline criminal
Greater stress on individuals rather than community, selfishness and greed admirable, self improving qualities
Cinema
Blockbuster risen in significance, large scale event films with simplistic plot lines dominate the cinematic landscape (Stallone, Schwarzenegger)
Era of action heroes, solve all problems with violence, seen as morally correct, ends justify the means, individualistic and uncompromising
No Country for Old Men explores and critiques these dominant ideologies, using each of the three main characters to confront the changing face of America
Anton being the corporations of America is summed up his last scene. Even freak accidents like a a car crash (or a market crash) don’t stop them. They will even take the shirt off someone else’s back to rebuild, their inhuman ability to grit their teeth and walk through the pain keeping them going. They suffer no retribution from the law, as they have already escaped, covering their own backs, possibly through the manipulation of those below them.
Llewelyn Moss
Blockbuster character - cinema section. Also represents the people on the fringes of society, the underclass. bourgeoisies
Anton Chigurh
Corporate America - aggressive - New Society section
Sheriff Bell
Communities dead - old society section. Police were still blue collar in the 1980s and so represents proletariat - gets things done by talking to people.
The man in the coin toss sequence is the people (family owned business, family minded), Anton is capitalism threatening to destroy it, the coin, ie money, is how its done
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