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Good points, Ahab.

AhabsOtherLeg wrote: But who do you usually identify with during scenes of extreme violence in films? The aggressor? If so, you scare me. I think most people feel more kinship with the victim, except in revenge movies, where the victims are first shown to be "evil" so their deaths can later be cheered.

I am usually trying to figure out what I would do in that situation to not become the victim. I don't really identify with either.

Joe Hillshoist wrote:

AhabsOtherLeg wrote: But who do you usually identify with during scenes of extreme violence in films? The aggressor? If so, you scare me. I think most people feel more kinship with the victim, except in revenge movies, where the victims are first shown to be "evil" so their deaths can later be cheered.

I am usually trying to figure out what I would do in that situation to not become the victim. I don't really identify with either.

I think you've stated the norm for all of us, Joe.

The wonky social science term is "parasocial interaction," meaning you identify with the people you see on the screen.

A permanent war mindset requires injecting the population with survivalist themes, like 'Swiss Family Robinson,' 'The Castaways,' and eventually 'Gilligan's Island.'

These are all Cold War moving image devices to get people to think in terms of surviving adverse conditions despite their relatively safe consumer lifestyle.

Here in the US there's an outfit called Scholastic, Inc. that has been funneling materials into the public school system.

In 1960 Scholastic put out a collection of survival stories with the cover theme being, of course, 'Survival.' It was almost all military stories.

Pure Cold War social engineering propaganda. And the same device is still being used in movies and tv.

Thanks FourthBase. I won't often make good points, so it's good to have them noticed.

Joe Hillhoist said: "I am usually trying to figure out what I would do in that situation to not become the victim. I don't really identify with either."

Um, yeah, me too, come to think of it. But my point still stands!

Hugh Manatee Wins said:"A permanent war mindset requires injecting the population with survivalist themes, like 'Swiss Family Robinson,' 'The Castaways,' and eventually 'Gilligan's Island.'

These are all Cold War moving image devices to get people to think in terms of surviving adverse conditions despite their relatively safe consumer lifestyle. "

Acht, well, that's my point dead then. Jaysus. I must admit I did identify with Llewellyn Moss, and his doomed attempts to cheat his fate, brought on by his innate kindness (the delivery of the water - not exactly Christ-like, and not one of his major character traits, but a detectable sign of goodness).
If ever there was a cinematic depiction of the attempted survival instinct of a decent (if none too moral) man, it would be him. And he was annihilated utterly. And his clan with him.

So I still think there is a message in the film, but I think it is pretty much the one that the Coens wrote in as the obvious meaning, the one we're all meant to see. Do a good deed and die.

A permanent war mindset requires injecting the population with survivalist themes,

This is actually a really insightful and interesting idea, but clearly it's a massive failure of logic to assume there can be no other reason for a work of art to contain survivalist themes.