Elements in Fargo
Cherokee Watkins
Professor Landay
The Language of Film and TV
18 December 2014
Final Essay
The movie Fargo is a great example of a film that accurately uses the language of film in order to communicate what is going on. It is a movie in which you really have to pay attention to keep up with what is going on. There were many things that stuck out to me, but a few really stood out from the others; first the dialogue, second the camera shots, and third the characters.
To begin, the dialogue in this movie is extremely funny. I noticed that most of the “good” people had the stereotypical Minnesotan accent and the “bad” people did not. I think this had to do with communicating the unwavering positive reserve of the people, even when faced with tragedy. This is shown when Marge leans down to look at a State Trooper that was shot and killed and says: “Looks like a nice enough guy,” in her funny accent. Another thing I noticed was the dialogue of Gaear Grimsrud; he practically says nothing the whole movie. This tells of his dark personality and how he is a ticking time bomb. He always looks blank and out of it but will suddenly come out of it if angry; most times hurting others. His lack of dialogue and Carl Showalter’s abundance of dialogue clearly foreshadowed their butting heads and eventually Gaear killing Carl.
The camera shots in this movie were very intelligent. The shots helped to communicate the emotion of the scene to the audience. One scene in which I loved the camera shots was the car chase. Gaear is chasing a car in order to kill the passengers that witnessed his accomplice disposing of a body. He is trying to go his fastest and the camera goes back and forth between his face of determination and a shot from the very front of the car just showing the road going by. I think this shot was brilliant. By putting the camera in that position it gave the audience a feel for the determination of Gaear and also communicated the speed of the car. When watching this
Professor Landay
The Language of Film and TV
18 December 2014
Final Essay
The movie Fargo is a great example of a film that accurately uses the language of film in order to communicate what is going on. It is a movie in which you really have to pay attention to keep up with what is going on. There were many things that stuck out to me, but a few really stood out from the others; first the dialogue, second the camera shots, and third the characters.
To begin, the dialogue in this movie is extremely funny. I noticed that most of the “good” people had the stereotypical Minnesotan accent and the “bad” people did not. I think this had to do with communicating the unwavering positive reserve of the people, even when faced with tragedy. This is shown when Marge leans down to look at a State Trooper that was shot and killed and says: “Looks like a nice enough guy,” in her funny accent. Another thing I noticed was the dialogue of Gaear Grimsrud; he practically says nothing the whole movie. This tells of his dark personality and how he is a ticking time bomb. He always looks blank and out of it but will suddenly come out of it if angry; most times hurting others. His lack of dialogue and Carl Showalter’s abundance of dialogue clearly foreshadowed their butting heads and eventually Gaear killing Carl.
The camera shots in this movie were very intelligent. The shots helped to communicate the emotion of the scene to the audience. One scene in which I loved the camera shots was the car chase. Gaear is chasing a car in order to kill the passengers that witnessed his accomplice disposing of a body. He is trying to go his fastest and the camera goes back and forth between his face of determination and a shot from the very front of the car just showing the road going by. I think this shot was brilliant. By putting the camera in that position it gave the audience a feel for the determination of Gaear and also communicated the speed of the car. When watching this