Narrative Design of Fargo

The 1996 film, Fargo was directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Unlike many films, Fargo was not filmed in a linear pattern; instead, Fargo was filmed in an episodic pattern with three sets of characters that gradually flow into one linear path. Fargo also has an unusual set of characters, with the true roles of the protagonist and antagonist being shown and understood towards the middle of the film. The film was set in 1987 and took place mainly in Brainerd, Minnesota. The film focuses on the characters and the details of the plot, rather than the subject and story itself, to allow the audience to perceive the film as a case investigation using an omniscient narration with the camera. The first part of film focuses a lot on the characters and how they relate to one another by case and effect. There are three main characters in the film are: Jerry Lundegaard, Carl Showalter, and Marge Gunderson. Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesmen who is in desperate need of money, he arranges to have his wife kidnapped to get money from his wealthy father-in-law. Carl Showalter and his partner Gaear Grimsrud are the hired kidnappers that gets into trouble and causes three homicides of a police, and two passersby. The murders results to a local police, Marge Gunderson to trace and investigate the event. Other than the three round characters, the film also contains a few flat characters like the two girls at the bar who slept with Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud and was later interviewed by Marge. The girls were minor characters, and their characters were given one dimension. Up until this point, the protagonist and the antagonist of the film are still unclear. We see Jerry Lundegaard as the protagonist and Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud as the antagonist. But as Marge starts the investigation and when she tried to question Jerry Lundegaard, the audience starts to see that Marge is the true protagonist, while Jerry Lundegaard serves as the antagonist who was the cause