LIFESTYLE Catch-12: Fargo than the places they occur and the people who commit them. In the American imagination, remember, real crime only happens in urban spaces and among marginalized groups -- Black and immigrant (usually Italian, Mexican, Irish, or Jamaican). But reality bites and Fargo, now in its fourth season, sinks its teeth in by introducing whiteness into the frame as equally sinister, criminal and violent. Fargo episodes
Shantella Sherman WI Special Editions Editor At first glance, the AMC television series Fargo sets off few bells and whistles. The crime drama follows the denizens of some sleepy Midwest town through organized crime, murder, mayhem and good old-fashioned debauchery. What makes the tales so engaging, has less to do with the crimes
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gain traction from their opening scenes with a disclaimer: This is a true story. The show’s content falls from the pages of local and federal case files – and only the names of the innocent have been changed for protection and privacy. America has a particular fascination with the Midwest that it rarely acknowledges. Journalism students, for instance, must familiarize themselves with the enunciation patterns found in the Midwest as they represent the standard for news broadcasts. Yet, until Fargo, American Gothic found few representations in television and film. Instead, places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and even the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., are fashioned in pop culture as characters, rather than places. They are larger than life and perfect vehicles for escapism, whodunit dramas and gritty romances. Think for instance of productions like Taxi Driver, Cotton Comes to Harlem, I Like It Like That, Trading Places, and the more recent television series Luke Cage. Consider the ways in which the subway system, brownstones, and bodegas bring the storylines to life. Until only recently Hollywood breezed past storylines in places like Wisconsin, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota without much thought. But using the 1996 film Fargo as bracketing,
5 Cast members from Fargo. (Courtesy photo)
AMC quickly found a niche audience interested in seeing behind the shutters of “salt of the earth” households engaged in high-stakes crime. Having lived in Nebraska for several years and
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traveled the Midwest while there, many of the everyday depictions of life on the Plains in Fargo ring true. Few people set the alarms on their cars or homes, most people drove five miles under the speed limit to keep from accidentally breaking the law and being polite (even if bigoted) was the hallmark to good citizenship. Therein, perhaps lies the appeal: watching the good guys do bad things. Fargo follows the mechanics of pulp fiction with various interrelated storylines running simultaneously and seemingly independent of each other. “It’s a big challenge, every one of these — to come up with both a crime to hang it on and a large cast of characters on a collision course — each has to be new and interesting and have a different point of view. But we are exploring certain archetypes that are inescapable on a moral spectrum,” Noah Hawley, Fargo executive director said in a New York Times interview. “There always has to be a Marge and a Jerry and a [Steve]
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