David H. Reynolds    

Dr. Childs      

English 1302  

October 24 2012

The Struggle for Control in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men

In the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men (2007), there is a battle that persist between the three Main Characters, Anton Chigurh, Lewelyn Moss, and Sheriff Bell, and the battle is essentially over control. As each character goes about solving the situation in their own way, it becomes evident as to what each character is looking to be in control of, and when in control, who would be affected and how would they be affected.

In the Article “Hold still” Models of Masculinity in the Coens’ No Country for Old Men by Stacey Peebles, she states “ No Country for Old Men follows its male protagonist in their varied efforts to make things hold still and conform to their will.” She goes on to describe the scene where Chigurh approaches an unsuspecting motorist and asks hem politely to “hold still” before he fires his bolt pistol in to the man’s forehead.  Then she describes how the movie skips to the scene where Lewelyn aims his rifle at an antelope on the plain below as he utters “you hold still” before he fires off a shot. Then she discusses Sheriff Bell’s voiceover and how he is displeased with the changing times and in a sense wants things to hold still.

Wanting things to conform to your will, is wanting control over them, which is a natural instinct, especially to one in a leadership role.  Typically people in leadership roles include but are not limited to; Husbands or head of the house hold, like Lewelyn or an officer of the law like Sheriff Bell, who is also a husband and head of the household. So it would be quite natural for them to want to be in control of their situation. The Control that Chigurh wants however is quite unnatural.

In Bell’s case he holds a position of public authority; he took an oath to serve and protect so in that aspect he wants control of his community. He is also getting old, times are changing and in his eyes and the eyes of many others, times are changing for the worse. So in that aspect he would like control over time. Controlling time is an unrealistic expectation, and that may explain part of the reason that he felt like he was not succeeding at his job and started looking forward towards retirement. Another reason perhaps, maybe that his struggle for control for lawfulness over the land directly conflicts with Chigurh’s struggle for control which has left a trail of carnage over the land. In that battle for control Sheriff Bell was on the losing end. If Sheriff Bell were ever granted the control that he passively seeks, it would result in a lower crime rate and a community that’s safer for its inhabitants.

In the article A Flip of the Coin: Gender Systems and Female Resistance in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men by Erin K. Johns, Anton Chigurh is described as a “systematic and cold psychopathic killer who relies on the system of fate”; but what is the “system of fate”? In the article, FATE VS. FAITH IN AMY TAN’S THE KITCHEN GOD’S WIFE by Aleksandra Izgarjan, Fate is described as “the suggestion that a higher power knows the next move and that we are at the mercy of that force”. Chigurh, however acts as though he is this force. He places the responsibility of the dictions that would be made by this higher power that is referred to as fate, all in to chance; a flip of a coin. After the diction is made by the coin, rather the person who’s fate is being decided lives or dies, then he proceeds to enforce that diction. In the film No Country for Old Men Chigurh walks into a gas station and into the life of an innocent bystander; an elderly man who is behind the counter. After a brief conversion with the man, he then asks him to “call it”. He wants him to choose heads or tails on the coin; if he gets it right he lives, if not he dies. Luck or fate must have been on the old man’s side that day because he chose correctly and was therefore spared; Chigurh let him live. Even though he seems to use this “system of fate” as an excuse for his actions, it is him who is making these dictions not a higher power. This is Chigurh’s way of controlling his world and everything in it; he is very extreme in this way. There are no systems involved in this process unlike he would want one to believe. This is not the work of fate or any higher power; this is only the work of a controlled crazed serial killer. Even though in that seine of the movie he relies on the chance of the coin, it was him that made the initial dictions to put the innocent bystander’s life in question in the first place. The highest form of control that one can have over another is to control rather him or her lives or dies; it is this feeling of power and control that drives Chigurh to commit these random acts, not some moral disposition. There is another known mythical character that follows this same pattern, he is referred to as the “Grim Reaper”. The Grim Reaper is personified death. this metaphorical representation of death comes when it has been decided by the proper authorities (the higher powers) that it is time for someone to die. Chigurh however, is not the proper authority when it comes to making these dictions. He is more like a Death vigilante. A self proclaimed Grim Reaper, who has assumed control over whoever’s lives that he comes in contact with.