2.4 Essay – ” Fargo ” by The Coen Brothers.

‘ Analyse how film techniques were used to present an idea in the text. ‘

The 1996 thriller fargo directed by the coen brothers. The theme is often the takeaway from the movie, the life lesson and it ties in with the concept of the film that creates discussion and especially “ Fargo “ in particular. 20 years later, this famous film is still being watched even by us as teenages, and in this essay we are analysing how film techniques were used to present an idea in the text. This idea, is the theme of greed and how corrupt it can be and this is shown very clearly throughout.

The coen brothers use the idea of low angles as an effective film technique to convey the characters different emotions and the way they control situations- how powerful they are.
The characters assume if you have problems, money can fix it, and that money fixes anything so much that it consumes them.
In life, to be successful means having certain achievements and planned goals, These can be anything from social status, social justice, or in this case, having money is the answer to everything. If you have enough sense, this could be true but not to the extent that Jerry, Carl and Gaear went to. They were all driven by the thought of money so much that it destroyed them – almost consumed them so much that if they had any good sense before it had definetely disapeared now. All they were solely focus on was money and they went through a great deal of effort to get it. Jerry had a great family – his wife came across in the film as a lovely lady with a caring heart. Mr lunderguaard had a good business, so overall a happy life with mostly everything he could want. The coen brothers do not tell the viewer why Mr Lunderguaard needed the great deal of money, there may well be a reason why they did this. Is it because the viewer may have change our perspective of what we might have thought of him? I could strongly disagree, nothing excuses hiring two men kidnapping his wife and say that greed and money really is the soul root of all evil.
During the movie the characters are shown in many different scenes but many of them with low camera angles, which conveys a sense of makes a character look more powerful, and makes the audience vunrable and small by looking up at the character in the scenes. It is obvious that the characters think that with more money comes success and authority so when the coen brothers shot them at a low angle, this was very intentional. Their thirst for money is so ambitious, that is what they focus on which is why Greed is such a big theme in the film and although the word “greed” is never said once in the movie, it is clearly shown. The characters dont have as much power as they imagine they do but that point is also important too. Money and Greed is consuming their whole mindset and controling them so much they dont actually fully comprehend who they are as a person in society and how much the stand in the social ranks. They think their plan is so amazing and it will all go well, but as we all know, nothing is ever perfect.
Carl is viewed as a significantly authoritive figure and this is shown in the scene where Jerry’s father-in-law goes to try and get his daughter back, but carl shoots him in the process. Just after this happens, there is a low angle on carl because he has got what he wanted – the money. Therefore he has dominance in the scene and wade seems powerless and small. Although he get’s the million dollars, he also gets shot in the jaw by wade before he dies so nothing ever goes perfectly to plan, with actions comes consequences.

Everything you need to know about the relationships and nature of the characters in the film is shown precisely through the setting in the scene. Gerry Lunderguard seems very calm and collected which ties in with the locations of the scenes he is in. Such as, bleak white and boring snow in Minnesota, or a bar and he is shot in most frames by himself to portray that he is very lonely and does not have many relationships with other characters throughout the film. The movie has a real sense of community, and most of the characters are very kind in the way they act. The characters are very welcoming and friendly, but at the same time it feels as though they really keep to themselves but are happy. It is obviously very midwestern, because it takes place in Minnesota. Carl is very talkative and seems to come across as annoying, and does not have an accent which really puts him out of place for a start. Everyone is calm and collected except him, he’s all nervous and all over the place. This shows what greed does to you, it ruins your headspace and morals and is over all not good for you.

Carl and Gaear are the opposite of Marge and Norm Gunderson. This is because they are different personality wise and this is shown through camera shots. Carl and Gaear are often shown in close ups which depicts that they are stedious, corrupt and deceiving but most of all, greedy. All of these emotions were carefully portrayed and constructed by the characters themselves but most of all, the use of a close up camera shot.