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Apologies in advance if I'm posting a duplicate thread, or I'm in the wrong section of the forum. I'm new here, see?

I'm writing an essay on the Coen Brothers for a Film Studies course, and I have to produce some 'primary evidence' to inform my response. I thought I might use some of the replies in this thread as part of this research. Basically, I'm looking at why the Coens draw so heavily from film noir in many of their projects, and specifically in Blood Simple and The Man Who Wasn't There. I've considered a few of the most significant factors so far:

1) Their philosophical beliefs (fatalism/nihilism are both suited to noir)

2) The decade in which the Coens came to prominence, the 1980s: an arguably conservative + nostalgic period for America, with a former B-movie actor as president

3) Their views on traditional gender roles: the 1940/50s potent male lead is far removed from Ed Crane, The Man Who Wasn't/Isn't There

OR

4) Personal preference - Joel and Ethan reject high-minded theorising, and instead make films that affect the audience on a purely emotional level. Film noir's pessimism and occasional black humour are just aspects of a style that they pastiche successfully.

It's useful to know how individuals respond to the Coens' style, even if you don't explain conclusively the directors' intentions.
Any thoughts?

The Coens movies makes me feel comfortable, and unsure at the same time. Their style is so damn great and you notice somethings that's in all the movies, like:
1. In all of them there is some reference to judaism or some of the main characters ar jewish(Barton Fink, Walter Sobchak, Bernie Bernbaum and so on).
2. There is a battle between good and evil(The Dude, Walter and Donny vs. The Nihilists in The Big Lebowski, HI vs. Leonard Smalls(The biker) in Raising Arizona, Abby vs. Loren Visser in Blood Simple, Gaer Grimsrud vs. Marge Gunderson in Fargo and so on).

Barry Sonnenfeld, the cinematographer to their first three movies and Roger Deakins, the cinematographer to the movies between Barton Fink and No Country For Old Men has helped them with the visual style.
The noir is probably in all of their movies, in one way or the other or perhaps in just a few scenes.