‘Fargo’ creators approach violence differently from the Coen brothers

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Hollywood often uses blood and gore for entertainment. If you need proof, look no further than any of Quentin Tarantino’s films. 1996 movie Fargo there was a fair share of the gruesome scenes but Coen brothers used that violence to challenge the audience, as opposed to entertain them. So when Noah Hawley create Fargo adapting the series in 2014, he wanted to approach that gory aspect in a similar way to its predecessor.

“I never wanted violence to be just entertainment. Thinking about Fargo, with the Coen brothers as role models, the violence in their films is always abrupt and always gruesome,” Hawley said in an interview with Mr.. “My approach in Fargo suggests that on-screen violence is a useful way to help viewers check out what they want to happen. You think you want violence because we are trained to want violence, but what if violence is ugly and terrible? It’s not so easy, I hope, rooting for one to kill another.”

Hawley challenges so-called film industry norms, where audiences are conditioned to assume that violence is the answer to problems. He commented: “In Season 2 of Fargo, Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst Caught between two crime families. We thought, ‘Whoever they send to kill these two, we’re after Kirsten and Jesse,’ but then they sent their little boy with cerebral palsy. Who are you rooting for now? It puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position, considering what they think they want. ”

Hawley draws parallels between the show and modern society that inevitably make viewers question how they have been conditioned by the content they watch. “I describe Fargo as an expression of who we aspire to be, nice and kind, versus the people we fear the most, evil and emotionless,” he said. “But then I watched the school board meetings and I thought, ‘Look at all these self-proclaimed nice and nice people threatening teachers with violence. The decency has disappeared? Or did the evil and emotionless people corrupt them? ‘”

Whether you watch Fargo or not, Hawley made a valid point that the manufacturing process should be considered. Should projects be allowed to use violence as a form of entertainment, or is this simply building an unhealthy tolerance that numbs viewers to real-world acts of horror?