Barton Fink ending/symbolism (SPOILER)
Lisa M Corp
: <00mbs...@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu> wrote:
: > I recently viewed Barton Fink. It was very well done, but I was confused
: > by the ending. Does anyone have any thoughts, explanations as to why
: > it ended as such (on the beach). I know there's a lot of symbolism,
: > so maybe I missed some of it.
: > Thanks,
: > Mike
: Oh dear, you've touched a sore point with me here. "Barton Fink" is one
: of my favourite movies, but like you I'm damned if I can figure out what
: the beach scene at the end means, and it's been bugging the hell out of
: me for the last two years. I do have a hare-brained theory, but it's
: pretty dumb, so bear with me.
: The girl asks him "What's in the box?" and he replies "I'm not sure",
: and then she asks him "Isn't it yours?", and again he says "I'm not
: sure.". A better answer to the first question is, it's either the
: collection of Muntz' belongings which Muntz said it was (everything
: of value in his life can fit in one small box), or Audrey's head
: (which the cops couldn't find). Symbolically, Audrey's head is
: everything of value in Mayhew's life, since she's written his books,
: and also everything of value to Barton, since he's in love with her.
: As to what the answer to the second question means, the only honest
: answer I can give is "I'm not sure". Pardon my feeble attempts at
: humour. Then Barton asks her "Are you in pictures?" (recalling the
: complementary picture in his room at the Earl), and she replies
: "Don't be silly", which might mean either that the movie business is
: silly and/or that Barton is losing his mind and/or that everything at
: his hotel is an illusion (or at least some twisted form of reality).
: Finally, she looks out over the ocean and the seagull nose-dives into
: the water. At this shot, the girl sitting next to me in the theatre
: broke out in fits of laughter. That's as good a reaction as any I
: suppose, but the shot might symbolise Barton's plan to be the great
: Socialist Playwright crashing back down to the hard realities of
: cliched Hollywood B-movie plots.
: Well, I said it was pretty lame-brained. Anybody else got an
: alternative explanation, because it truly is a mystifying scene.
: Please feel free to rip this analysis to shreds.
: Harry Roat Jr, from Scarsdale
This may seem just as lame, but with a movie like Barton Fink I just tend
to go with the flow. It's a great movie and I just try not to think too
much when I watch it. It's more the affect the movie has over all than
trying to get into the psychology of it. Does this make any sense whatsoever?
Benjamin Gold
>: Finally, she looks out over the ocean and the seagull nose-dives into
>: the water. At this shot, the girl sitting next to me in the theatre
>: broke out in fits of laughter. That's as good a reaction as any I
>: suppose, but the shot might symbolise Barton's plan to be the great
>: Socialist Playwright crashing back down to the hard realities of
>: cliched Hollywood B-movie plots.
The bird diving into the water was completely unplanned, it just
happened while they were shooting. So it was not part of whatever tightly
woven fabric the Coens had written, but it can have it's own meaning. It
is not a major piece to the puzzle, though.
--Ben Gold
ROBERT LEON BERNSTEIN
ideal, of capturing the plight of the common man. Although he thinks he's
connected with John Goodman at some level, we understand, particularly by the
end, that Barton is really somewhat of an outside to both Hollywood, and the
world of the common man. The picture, a Hollywood cliche, seems to point to
what Barton claims to hate about Hollywood. Yet he betrays his disdain, it
seems that the image is calling him, literally as we hear the sounds of the
beach at times. Although Barton seeks some kind of dark truth through his
writing, he is also attracted by the Hollywood ideal, the framed cliche which
he actually enters at film's end. After the whole ordeal, and even though the
wrestling picture wasn't quite what the industry has in mind, his struggle
leads him to seek the ideal, but of course, the picture is distorted--
particularly because Barton is in it, with the "box." The film finishes with
the framing of a Hollywood cliche, infected with Barton's foreign image which
is almost an affront to the beach image. By the film's end, both the Hollwood
ideal, and Barton's desire to ascend to something quite the opposite, fail to
maintain themselves, each frame of mind invaded by the other. Well, I know
this might all sound like a load of crap, but it's the reading I gathered
after thinking about the film and after what others had to say. Hope this
raises something, at the very least, contempt for a liberal arts education.
--Rob--
J. Martin Cassady Jr.
>From: lc...@mailer.fsu.edu (Lisa M Corp)
>Subject: Re: Barton Fink ending/symbolism (SPOILER)
>Date: 13 Apr 1994 20:25:20 -0400
>mcss...@dct.ac.uk wrote:
>: <00mbs...@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu> wrote:
>: > Thanks,
>: > Mike
Gee whiz, I'm just a postin' fool tonight.....
Explain "Fink"? Tall order. Here are a few of my favorite things to point out
about it, though:
The hotel is definitely Hell. Fink gets into the elevator (w/eerie reddish
light & weird old operator) and says "6" (his floor.) The operator says "6"
and pulls the lever. Cut to elevator arriving at 6th floor, & the op says
again, "6." Hence, the number o'the beast (666.) Oooh, scary!
True story: while "Fink" was playing in a theater in Roanoke (The Grandin, a
very cool theater about 30 mi. from here) an old hotel in town was gutted by
fire. Its name, naturally, was the Hotel Earle.
"Barton Fink"/"Eraserhead" parallels:
Turturro's hair/Jack Nance's hair
Lady in postcard/Lady in radiator
Lots of sticky gooey liquids
Goodman's ear infection/Nance's nosebleed
Facial lesions
Protagonist rides elevator up to tiny room where he lives
Weird & possibly malevolent next-door neighbor
Protagonist gradually slips into insanity, depending on your interpretation
- Can anyone add to this list?
Anybody ever notice that Gabriel Byrne's character in "Miller's Crossing"
lives at the "Barton Arms?"
For that matter, ever notice that Nicolas Cage's character in "Raising AZ"
gets a job with "Hudsucker Industries"? (note patch on his coveralls in scene
w/M. Emmet Walsh)
Who's seen "Hudsucker Proxy?" Any comments? Reviews have been mixed but
everything they say makes me want to see it (whenever it comes to this
cultural backwater.) The worst Coens film is better than most directors best
film anyway.
-"He's a man! We wrestled!"
-"You're a sick fuck, Fink."
JMC - Blacksburg VA
<mar...@vt.edu>
Eric Hodges
the lights came on in the theater. To me, this symbolized the end of
something important.
My favorite part was when the shutter flickered 24 times each second.
I was mesmerized.
--
hod...@sugar.neosoft.com
*****************************************************************************
One day you'll wake up and Hello Kitty will be staring you right in the face.
Prepare for the day.
*****************************************************************************
David Meek
But, did the lights come up immediately, or was there a slight pause?...
(which would indicate an addition to the Iran-Contra/faked Moon landing/Kennedy
assassination/Whitewater/Coke Classic conspiracy subplot of the film).
Funny...when I watched Barton Fink, the shutter flickered twenty-*three*
times a second...maybe I was watching the Director's Cut.
--
---David Meek--...@jove.acs.unt.edu----U. of North Texas----Denton, Texas---
George! What's the matter? | My teen-angst bulls*** has a body count!
Stanley, you don't want to know. | --"Heathers"
Huh? Why did I ask? --"UHF" | Gimme some sugar, baby. --"Army of Darkness"
Chess Piece Face
Jr.) wrote:
> "Barton Fink"/"Eraserhead" parallels:
> Turturro's hair/Jack Nance's hair
> Lady in postcard/Lady in radiator
> Lots of sticky gooey liquids
> Goodman's ear infection/Nance's nosebleed
> Facial lesions
> Protagonist rides elevator up to tiny room where he lives
> Weird & possibly malevolent next-door neighbor
> Protagonist gradually slips into insanity, depending on your interpretation
> - Can anyone add to this list?
Also
--Both films use a similar narrative technique where they cut to what seems
to be a dream sequence and follow through the rest of the story without
resolving whether or not it was a dream or (if it was) whether it ended.
--Decapitation.
--And indoor plumbing seems to take on a godly role in both films.
I saw a lot of connections between the two movies also. But none of my
friends were buyin' it. I feel vindicated ;-1
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