Want vs. Need: Ethan Coen’s Fart Poem
Posted: April 17th, 2009 | Author: Jacob Rhodes | Filed under: True Stuff | Tags: cynicism, humor, poetry | 1 Comment »What a very Coen poem!
The title line is by far the best (most would agree that this poem is stronger in concept than beauty): “The drunken driver has the right of way.” I wonder what MADD would say.
Philosophically speaking, I think a problem arises quickly with his use of “right.” Even in the world of the poem, we know that “right of way” is given to those who follow the rules. He uses the term with tongue-in-cheek, putting himself in the shoes of a sober driver who is scared for his life. And we laugh with the speaker. But after a short chuckle the joke is over and we are stuck with the philosophy. It’s much like a fart: funny at first, then it just stinks.
Does the poem vindicate the irresponsible inebriate? Does it say (with a cynical smile), “Drive on, drunkard! Might makes right!”? Not quite. That wouldn’t be palatable. Coen avoids the hassle of actually making a judgment. He merely observes: bad people tend to get what (they think) they want. But there’s a problem here. Is getting what (we think) we want all there is to life? Raskolnikov was eaten alive by that question in Crime and Punishment. And his revelation, summed up in a dream, draws the answer out clearly: might-makes-right is anarchy. That’s Kubla Khan, Hitler and Madoff.
I once heard it said that a story is a tragedy if a character gets what he wants, and a comedy if he gets what he needs. This will be a fun distinction to play with in narrative: what we want vs. what we need.
After all, is it the drunken drivers that we look up to? Of course not.
Somebody open a window.
I think Coen’s poem merely complains about the injustice of the world… it doesn’t say that “might makes right.” It just says that at the end of the day, might seems to triumph. The question then becomes: why does injustice often triumph? What is triumph in the end? What is the end? Christianity appeals to the afterlife, which is critical. I think the poem actually decries the injustice of it all, and in so doing, it points toward justice. He’s actually pretty clear that right/wrong exists… but that “The guiltiest feel free of guilt.”
But it’s done with the typical Coen cynical smile. Nobody can claim that we live in a just world. But laughing at the injustice giving up?