On Watching Theology, Joe and Melissa take a single film and examine it closely, looking at the assumptions and ideas in the story. Every episode considers the theological, philosophical and thematic elements of a film, listening closely to what the author has to say, and interacting with those ideas. (It's more fun than it sounds).

Joe watches too many movies. He grew up in central Washington, earned his B.A. in Education and Fine Art, an M.A. in Theology and currently works in the printing industry. During school, he fit in a few film classes. He is interested in writing, theology and hopes to one day compose the ultimate Joe Versus the Volcano commentary track.

Melissa has a B.A. in History and an M.A. in English with an emphasis on Film Studies. She has taken classes on everything from silent to romance to post-colonial films and much in between. Her research and interests lie mainly in feminist film theory, women in film, Hitchcock and the studio era. At the end of the day, however, she just loves films; from Notorious to Die Hard!

Go to watchingthedirectors.com for more from Joe and Melissa.

Show DescriptionWatching Theology

Barton Fink (1991)

Watching Theology September 11th, 2007

wt_barton.jpgSome films are clear - you know exactly what you're getting and exactly what you're supposed to learn. Then there's Barton Fink. In the midst of a bad case of writer's block, the Coen Brothers scripted this tale of a talented playwright with his own unusual case of writer's block. Barton leaves the promise and glory of the New York elite for the heartless, business world of Hollywood. Along the way, he checks into the Hotel Earle, meets Charlie and has probably sold his soul.
On this edition, we take a few glances at this metaphor-rich story about a man's self-delusion and the unfortunate fellow residents of, what may be, Hell.
Watching The Directors next edition: Sept 18 - John Hughes
Next WT edition: September 25 - Fred Wilcox's Forbidden Planet (1956)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 11:20 am and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Barton Fink (1991)”

Erik September 11th, 2007

Oooooo, Barton Fink! "Where's my honey!!!"

danny October 2nd, 2007

Hey guys,
Do you watch "My name is Earl"?
Pretty much theology in it, isn't it?

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