No Country for Old Men (2007) is a crime and drama film that is written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. The main stars include Tommy-Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, and the film mainly is about a drug deal that has gone wrong and the subsequent death and violence that follows. In the rural Texas, a hunter and welder called Llewelyn Moss find the remains of some drug runners who had killed each other in a deal that had gone wrong. Other than reporting the issue to the police, he decides to take the money for himself. The decision puts a psychopathic killer called Anton Chigurh on his trail and kills nearly every person so that he can get the money (Coen, 2007) . At the same time, The Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is overseeing the investigations and is struggling to face the intensity of the crime that he is trying the stop.
The Film’s Genre
A genre is considered to be an unclear classification and lumping of different media into groups that are based on a broad set of characteristics that are often shared. In many cases , a work defined the traditional classification and the film, “No Country for Old Men” is an example of such a work. The complexity of this film has resulted in the hybridizations of the Thriller or Noir or Western genre. However, even though the film exceeds the hybridizations, it demands a unique genre which is the new-western.
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The traditional western is defined as one that operates within a specified morality where the hero and the villain have roles that are well-defined and are expected to undertake specific tasks. However, the film leaves the traditions of morality by focusing on the transformational nature that is seen in the American West and the new reality in which the characters are thrust. The development of a villain in Anton Chigurh who is considered to be immoral and an aging hero in the inability of Sheriff Bell to comprehend the threat that his opponent possess are key among the redefining characteristics of the film. In addition, the reordering of the racial hierarchy and also the film’s conclusion is a wide departure from the traditional Western. Even though there are aspects of the traditional Western that are remaining in the film, their main purpose is to act as an indication of the evolutionary change in the genre ( McMahon, 2010) . In this case, the hero Bell is seen carrying a revolver, wears a white hat, and also rides a horse, thus keeping up with the traditions of any Western film. On the other hand, his nemesis Chigurh is seen to be using a silenced, semi-automatic gun. In addition, he tracks Moss using a radio-transmitter and also does not wear any hat . In this case, he indicates that the old ways are outdated.
Evidently, in the traditional Western Genre, the film needs to typically show wrongdoing or crime then show the pursuit of the criminal or wrongdoer, ending with retribution and revenge, which is usually seen through a shootout or in some cases in the form of a quick draw duel. In the film, the criminal is chasing a good person, then the good person died. On the other hand, another good person gives up on chasing the bad person. The retribution that the bad person gets is considered to be as bad as himself. The film also does not have a climax during the shootout but is just an ordinary scene ( Raff, 2009) . The shootout is seen in the middle of the film. The sheriff, who is the Old West type of character, is not struggling with the modern form of justice, but instead with his retirement.
Conclusion
From the analysis of the movie “No Country for Old Men, ” it is evident that the genre that is obvious is the traditional western. The genre expects the film to operate in a specific way where the hero and the villain of the film have well-defined roles. However, the film has been able to subvert the conventions of this film by giving the two characters different roles where the villain is the one who is chasing the good guy and the good guy then dies, In addition, the sheriff has dressed as expected in the traditional western but the villain has been modernized by not wearing a hat as expected and by using a silenced, semi-automatic gun. In other words, the film is trying to show the old ways and also to indicate that the ways are outdated. Finally, the film has subverted the convention of traditional western because typically it is expected that the climax would be the shootout, but this has been made to look like just an ordinary scene.
References
Coen, E. a. (Director). (2007). No Country for Old Men [Motion Picture].
McMahon, J. L., & Csaki, B. S. (2010). The philosophy of the western . Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Raff, M. (2009). Genre, Heroism, and Conceptions of Evil in 'No Country for Old Men' . München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
