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Coens' Existentialism
Nikki 2022-03-23 09:01:48
"A Serious Man" continues the Coen brothers' consistent existential theme: existence is absurd. The absurdity of "A Serious Man" is that people are always encountered and encountered by uncertainty. In the face of such uncertainty, people are always passive, without the initiative and freedom of choice, even if you are in the face of uncertainty There is a late choice, and your choice can be defeated by any subsequent random chance. We can't expect chance to not come to us because of the uncertainty principle, because of the butterfly effect, because of chaos theory, because Life is made up of innumerable contingencies, and the sum of all the contingencies that a person encounters constitutes his destiny. Sartre said that people have the freedom to choose, but they have to bear the consequences of their choices. Sartre did not notice that before people's free choice, he has always been chosen. In Heidegger's words, man has always been thrown into the world. When a person begins to stand in front of the world and become complacent, he is already in the world. Sartre said that existence precedes essence, but essence does not choose itself, because your existence has been chosen. The important thing is that this is not an analyzable and reasonable proposition, it cannot be reduced by the dimension of traditional philosophy "determinism-free will", and it cannot be questioned in the following way: people's destiny is chosen by themselves Or is it determined by some prior conditions? Determinism does not help, because determinism still implies that life and destiny are in a strict and definite chain of causality, and contingency means that destiny is uncertain and absurd, which means that the above dimensions do not apply, you can neither To say that fate is chosen by you, it cannot be said that it is not determined by you but by other conditions, it is only "absurd".
Extended Reading
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Watson 2022-03-28 09:01:02
don't you want somebody to love heard it before in a Jim Carrey movie, look at things and people around you with a fresh mindset and perspective, just look at the parking lot, ironic black humor with a more ruthless approach, demon pagan teeth, smoking marijuana and drinking iced tea, the seduction of female neighbors, life is a mess, wash
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Brandi 2022-03-28 09:01:02
The key is not how complex a subject you want to talk about, but how you express it and how you talk. Since nowhere, Cohen likes to complicate a problem. Instead of the feeling of lifting weights in the past, he looks very clumsy and dull. All I can say is that the Coen brothers unfortunately went into a painful, uncreative midlife crisis with those baby boomer middle-aged uncles.
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Larry Gopnik: She seems to be asking an awful lot. But then, I don't know. Somebody has to pay for Sy's funeral.
Rabbi Nachtner: Uh-huh.
Larry Gopnik: His own estate is in probate, but why does it have to be me? Or is it wrong to complain? Judy says it is. But I'm so strapped for cash right now, carrying the mortgage, and paying for the Jolly Roger, and I wrecked the car, and Danny's Bar Mitzvah coming up, I...
Rabbi Nachtner: Something like this... there's never a good time.
Larry Gopnik: I don't know where it all leaves me, Sy's death. Obviously it's not gonna go back like it was.
Rabbi Nachtner: Mm. Would you even want that, Larry?
Larry Gopnik: No, I- well, yeah... sometimes... or... I don't know; I guess the honest answer is "I don't know". What was my life before? Not what I thought it was. What does it all mean? What is Hashem trying to tell me, making me pay for Sy Ableman's funeral?
Rabbi Nachtner: Mm.
Larry Gopnik: And did I tell you I had a car accident the same time Sy had his? The same instant, for all I know. I mean, is Hashem telling me that Sy Ableman is me? Or that we are all one, or something?
Rabbi Nachtner: How does God speak to us? A good question.
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Rabbi Nachtner: You know Lee Sussman.
Larry Gopnik: Doctor Sussman? I think I - yeah.
Rabbi Nachtner: Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?
Larry Gopnik: No... I- What goy?
Rabbi Nachtner: So... Lee is at work one day; you know he has the orthodontic practice there at Great Bear. He's making a plaster mold - it's for corrective bridge work - in the mouth of one of his patients, Russell Kraus. The mold dries and Lee is examining it one day before fabricating an appliance. He notices something unusual. There appears to be something engraved on the inside of the patient's lower incisors. He vav shin yud ayin nun yud. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me, save me". This in a goy's mouth, Larry. He calls the goy back on the pretense of needing additional measurements for the appliance. "How are you? Noticed any other problems with your teeth?" No. There it is. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me". Son of a gun. Sussman goes home. Can Sussman eat? Sussman can't eat. Can Sussman sleep? Sussman can't sleep. Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, goy and Jew alike, seeking other messages. He finds none. He looks in his own mouth. Nothing. He looks in his wife's mouth. Nothing. But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world's greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah. He knows that every Hebrew letter has its numeric equivalent. 8-4-5-4-4-7-3. Seven digits... a phone number, maybe? "Hello? Do you know a goy named Kraus, Russell Kraus?" Who? "Where have I called? The Red Owl in Bloomington. Thanks so much." He goes. It's a Red Owl. Groceries; what have you. Sussman goes home. What does it mean? He has to find out if he is ever to sleep again. He goes to see... the Rabbi Nachtner. He comes in, he sits right where you're sitting right now. "What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from Hashem, 'Help me'? I, Sussman, should be doing something to help this goy? Doing what? The teeth don't say. Or maybe I'm supposed to help people generally, lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me, Rabbi, what can such a sign mean?"
[pause as the Rabbi drinks his tea]
Larry Gopnik: So what did you tell him?
Rabbi Nachtner: Sussman?
Larry Gopnik: Yes!
Rabbi Nachtner: Is it... relevant?
Larry Gopnik: Well, isn't that why you're telling me?
Rabbi Nachtner: Okay. Nachtner says, look. The teeth, we don't know. A sign from Hashem? Don't know. Helping others... couldn't hurt.
Larry Gopnik: No! No, but... who put it there? Was it for him, Sussman, or for whoever found it, or for just, for, for...
Rabbi Nachtner: We can't know everything.
Larry Gopnik: It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tell me the story?
Rabbi Nachtner: [chuckling] First I should tell you, then I shouldn't.
Larry Gopnik: What happened to Sussman?
Rabbi Nachtner: What would happen? Not much. He went back to work. For a while he checked every patient's teeth for new messages. He didn't find any. In time, he found he'd stopped checking. He returned to life. These questions that are bothering you, Larry - maybe they're like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then they go away.
Larry Gopnik: I don't want it to just go away! I want an answer!
Rabbi Nachtner: Sure! We all want the answer! But Hashem doesn't owe us the answer, Larry. Hashem doesn't owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.
Larry Gopnik: Why does he make us feel the questions if he's not gonna give us any answers?
Rabbi Nachtner: He hasn't told me.
[Larry puts his face in his hands in despair]
Larry Gopnik: And... what happened to the goy?
Rabbi Nachtner: The goy? Who cares?