I'm David Bianculli, professor of television studies at Rowan University, in for Terry Gross. TL DR: everyone's a phony, but what do i know maybe not.This is FRESH AIR. I think it was intended to inspire introspection. But in complete opposition to these ideals, Charlie is murderer, a person who would rob others of "peace of mind", the cruelest type of human.īut truthfully, at it's core, Barton Fink is a film so fraught with symbolism and surrealism that it could be interpreted so many ways. He presents himself first as an insurance salesman, claims to offer people "peace of mind" and talks about the cruelty of people who refuse him. As Charlie puts it, Barton is a "tourist with a typewriter" while he is living it everyday.Ĭharlie is probably the most stark contrast between principle and action to the point of being downright irony. Any "pain" has been almost entirely self imposed at this point. Barton however says that writing comes from a place of great pain, but Barton, as of yet has only experienced success and greatness. Mayhew and Barton have an argument on the root of inspiration Mayhew, who is a miserable alcoholic, whose career has gone sour, and doesn't actually write anymore equates writing with peace. He was a great novelist, but now writes nothing at all a writer who does not write. Mayhew, who is effectively Barton's future, is entirely a fraud. Lipnick chastises Barton for writing a film about suffering, when Barton finally learns suffering and is capable of translating that into story his truest interpretation of suffering, yet it isn't given opportunity to be shared with the world. He is to be a slave to the studio, producing scripts which will never see the light of day. And by the end of the film Lipnick tells Barton that his opinions are basically worthless. Lipnick presents the studio job to Barton as an opportunity, a freedom for all his expression, telling him "the writer is king" at his studio, but instead Barton is assigned a project rather than being allowed to create freely. Other characters also represent some sort of hypocrisy as well. Finally, Barton is driven to elevate the common man by telling their story, but almost completely avoids listening to Charlie's stories and often conveys a sense of contempt for Charlie. His contrarian nature continues when he arrives in California and chooses a hotel which better represents his false sense of connection to the common man but then complains to the staff about the accommodations and about his fellow tenants. He is contrary in his actions down to the very notion that Barton wants to represent "low culture" in a place generally associated with "high society". He seeks to play to the common man, but wants to continue in the "high art" of Broadway stage performance, while the common man more typically seeks entertainment at the movies. Even his attitude toward the film industry is contradictory. The critical success of his stage play about the common man lands him a job that would further remove him from his subject matter, and while he preaches about staying in touch with the roots of his inspiration, he takes the job none the less. but he holds himself to so much esteem that he naturally separates himself from "the common man". Which is in contrast to the real world, outside of his own head.īarton himself consistently claims to be writing about the common man, for the common man. I've always understood the hotel to be symbolic of Barton's mind, if it is hell, maybe it's his personal hell inside his head. I think the main theme of Barton Fink is hypocrisy, the dual nature of man, to be able to exist with a set of principles, but to wholly subvert those with your actions.
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