![]() Mayhew, a famous writer that Barton looks up to but turns out to be nothing but an abusive alcoholic. The woman’s name was Audrey and she was the wife and personal assistant of W.P. The only explanation for what could be in the box that Charlie leaves with Barton is that in the box lies the head of the woman Barton fink slept with and found dead in his bed in the morning. He sets the hall of the Hotel Earle in flames, kills the two investigators who found him, and calmly explains to Barton that he is still the same old Charlie that Barton knows. When Barton finds out that Charlie is a serial killer who takes joy in chopping the heads off of his victims, Charlie doesn’t try to deny anything. He lives in the Hotel Earle, tells Barton that he sells insurance for a living, and is nothing but nice to him throughout the whole plotline. Charlie Meadows is what Barton would call a “common man”. He plays a pleasant type of character in most movies, which is also how he is presented to the audience at the beginning of Barton Fink. John Goodman is known to play roles that the viewer sympathizes with. ![]() The Coen brothers wrote the character of Charlie Meadows especially for John Goodman. Charlie tells him that everything that is important in Charlie’s life is in that box. The object that remains a mystery at the end of the film is a box that Charlie gives to Barton. I will be looking at symbolism in the “Hotel Earle”, the hidden meaning behind the painting of the woman, the mysterious unopened box and the countless references to the head and the mind. In this film, the Coen brothers cleverly use scripted puns as well as cinematic play with colors, sounds and reoccurring objects. He lets his perception of Hollywood drive him away from the perfect muse, the “common man” right in front of him, his friend Charlie. When he is presented with wrestling as the theme for his film script, a theme that Barton knows next to nothing about, he searches for a muse to feed off of. They use the theme of writer’s block in Hollywood, and let Barton create a 1940’s Hollywood in his head, because he has never truly experienced Hollywood. They rely heavily on both cinematic and scripted symbolism, with the intention of giving the audience an insight to the workings of Barton’s mind. ![]() The Coen brothers use a few different approaches to portray the story of Barton Fink to the audience. The conflict of making money and preserving one’s artistic integrity is a conflict that subtly makes its way throughout the whole film. In his head, he creates a Hollywood that is against everything he stands for, yet knowing that he needs to do the best he can, he loses track of what he actually stands for. As ironic as it could get, Barton moves to Hollywood where he gets as far away from the “common man” as possible. In the beginning of the film, shortly after he is praised for his fantastic work in theater, he makes it clear to everybody around him that he has the intention of writing plays for “the common man”. As soon as he gets to Hollywood, we begin to witness his struggle with writer’s block. ![]() When the people from Capitol Records offer him a salary of 1000 dollars a week in order for him to move to Hollywood and write for the pictures, the financial incentive drives him to accept the offer. In this film, Barton Fink is a playwright who has caught the attention of a Hollywood production company called Capitol Records, after he writes a play that is a huge success in New York City. Further more, an author needs to have a clear perception of whom he is writing for, and what’s being asked of him. Once he’s established himself as successful, he must not lose track of his muse in order to reach greater success. In order for a writer to keep his artistic integrity and continue to evolve as a writer, he needs to be well aware of who and what he wants to write about.
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