What Is The Historical Context Of The Movie Fargo

Jordan Truitt & Andrew Cosh
Mr. Everett
Film Studies
11 May 2016
Fargo (directed by Joel & Ethan Coen)
Social/Historical Context 1. The film, Fargo (1996). directed by Joel & Ethan Coen is a reality based crime drama that is composed around a true story. The events portrayed occurred in Minnesota during the year, 1987 and surround a kidnapping and violent murder of a man who conducted a murder on his own wife. The survivors and parties involved requested name changes prior to the orchestration of the movie, but besides that, everything is told exactly how it happened. There have been rumors that state that the movie was inspired by 1986 film, Murder of Helle Crafts which is about a husband who throws his wife into a wood chipper

which sparked a train of thought and similarity in the director. No scenes were actually filmed near or in the town of Fargo, North Dakota and overall had a total budget of $7 million and reeled in $60.6 million in box office sales worldwide. The American Film Institute named the project one of the 100 greatest american movies of all time in 1998 and labeled it a political and criminal genre-based masterpiece.
Director 1. Career- Joel & Ethan Coen were born in Minnesota, USA. They are well known producers and writers in the film industry and are popularly known as the “Two Headed Director” due to their 17 films they have done side by side. They are versatile directors and have dipped their toes into each genre throughout their careers. Fargo was one of their best pieces of work in regard to their filmography as a whole and are also known for works such as No Country For Old Men (2007), Raising Arizona (1987), & True Grit (2010). They have been working together since 1984 with their first film, Blood Simple. They are famous for multiple films mostly thanks to The Big Lebowski, A Serious Man, and No Country For Old men.
Their film’s contexts mostly surround principles of criminal realism movie making, for example, a movie such as Fargo possesses extremely realistic elements in it’s plot and theme based on the fact that it’s film noir is considered to be a suspense crime drama.

Fargo is a reality based crime drama and during the time, the movie was a big success and inspired and influenced many other directors to mimic the genre and distinct style of the Coen brothers but was also influenced heavily by Murder of Helle Crates. Although, it wasn’t the first of it’s kind, it expanded the reign of crime related dramas in the long run.
In regard to factual production, Coen brothers explained that they based their script on an actual criminal event, but wrote a fictional story around it. "We weren't interested in that kind of fidelity," Joel Coen said. "The basic events are the same as in the real case, but the characterizations are fully imagined ... If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept."
Fargo was a huge milestone in the careers of the Coen brothers and was a huge milestone in regard to it’s genre. It will be forever praised as one of americas criminal classics and evolved it’s era’s film production.

Summary
Fargo is a crime drama that takes place in the state of Minnesota. The main character Jerry Lundegaard is unhappily employed as a car salesman in Minneapolis. He is unhappy primarily due to the fact that he is deep in financial debt, and becomes so hungry for money that he desperately hires two hit man, Steve & Peter to kidnap his own wife and eventually kill her. Jerry is doing this so he can collect the will from her extremely rich father-in-law and pay the criminals their cut and live on with his life debt-free. All's going well for him until the two killers end up shooting a state trooper, practically jeopardizing their plans in the long run. New characters are introduced on the way when they get involved into this case of a local crime gang and a powerful and ferocious kingpin.
Analysis
Narrative- The movie is told in a pattern that is not linear.

Instead it was filmed in an episodic pattern that included three sets of characters who casually flow into one linear structure. The roles of the hero and villain were not established until half way thru the film due to the bizarre style in which the story it told. The Coen brothers used an “all knowing/god-like” narration in regard to the way they used the camera. The film heavily surrounded the ideology of cause and effect as well.
The use of setting in the film was to express the isolation that the characters feel. This was to add a more emotional connection from the screen to the audience. The use of solitude symbolizes how excluded and alone Jerry and his killers are from the rest of society.
Roger Deakins was in charge of the film’s cinematography, he used many different styles of stocks and lit up many of the parts of the films.
Jerry Lundegard is played by William H. Macy, Frances McDormand plays Marge Gunderson, and Steve Buscemi plays Carl Showalter. They all add a unique and accurate image on the roles they

played.
Fargo was unique in regard to the fact that it was edited with Parallel and Graphical editing which can be seen by vigilantly observing specific scenes. (35mm).
Sound- The score to the movie was by Carter Burwell. Each song was symbolic in relation to the current scene. The score is norwegian and characters use heavy accents to add to the foreign flavor of the film itself. The sound was collected thru a Color Dolby SR
Writing- Joel and Ethan Coen both wrote the screenplay to the movie. They wrote it in a way where they could tell the true story in a realistic fashion. They wanted to draw a more emotional response from the audience which is why this movie is so damn good.
IV. All of these aspects of the movies creation all work together so well by producing a dramatic tone that has a interesting and distinct story. By blending these two together, the Coen brothers had the power to tell the story in any way they wanted, and with talented and minds like theirs they took advantage and told it in a spectacular format.
IV. According to other websites and articles such as IMDb.com Fargo got a 8.2/10 score. The movie has been nominated for tons of rewards for sound, acting, writing, etc. The American film institute also named it a top 100 movie in American movie history and as the coen’s best masterpiece.