No Country For Old Men...meaning?

Question

A friend of mine told me this was a very good movie but that you have to pay very close attention to it to get the meaning. I paid close attention, but...I don't get it. What's the meaning supposed to be?

p.s. Lmao, yahoo suggests I put this in the LGBT section.

Answer 1

I'd summarize it thusly: the future is an ugly place.  Or, the present is an ugly place, and getting uglier.  Note the befuddlement that Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) has with the presence of Chigurh (Javier Bardem).  Bell is the past; Chigurh is the future.  Also, randomness (or chance, or whatever you want to call it) is the driving force in life.

Also note that the title comes from a poem by W.B. Yeats, "Sailing to Byzantium":

           That is no country for old men. The young

            In one another's arms, birds in the trees

            - Those dying generations - at their song,

            The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

            Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

            Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

            Caught in that sensual music all neglect

            Monuments of unageing intellect.

That's pretty funny about yahoo.  I think the LGBT section is their default category for questions that the automated system has no clue for categorizing.

Answer 2

Life is arbitrary, and ultimately, meaningless.

Answer 3

Great answer Gizzie!! Enjoy the 10 Points.