NCFOM and Spectatorship

• How is spectator alignment created in NCFOM?

  The Moral ambiguity of the character of Chigurh. To passive spectators, Chigurh is simply a nihilistic serial killer who kills everyone and everything is his path - prop of the oxygen tank. However, to a more active spectator, Chigurh obviously has a strong moral code which is represented through the prop of the coin. This is seen in multiple scenes, but when Carla-jean refuses to play his game at the end, she gets killed. Chigurh leaves everything down to chance, and is a victim of this himself in the car crash at the end
• How is spectator alignment created in NCFOM?

  Through performance - Patriachal movie, in which Carla-Jean is presented as the princess who needs saving who complains all the time. This is represented through her performance and facial expressions under the constant relocation under the command of Llewelyn. Spectators become empathetic because she, along with many other women, are reduced down to side characters which ultimate deaths carry no baggage or feelings.
• How is spectator alignment created in NCFOM?

  Llewelyn presented as a classic proppian hero because he just wants to get the money in order to support his family through the prop of the money and dialogue
• How far do your chosen films demonstrate a constant shift between passive and active spectatorship?

  If spectators are passive rather than active, they will not ask questions or shift their perspective when the events require them too. More passive spectators are more likely to accept a preferred reading of a text
• How is spectator alignment created in NCFOM?

  Unconventional storytelling and no "Happy ending" trope - causes spectators to become frustrated with the lack of conventional storytelling. For example, in the film, there is a lack of a clear protagonist, abrupt off-screen deaths we never see e.g. Llewelyn's death, the ambiguous ending with Ed Tom Bell's dream, the philosophical dialogue e.g. "You can't stop what's coming" and the minimal use of music - natural sounds such as wind, and the occasional low drone