Before I begin, I want to say a word on film archetypes. Cinema has a language that is clear and easy to follow, especially since everyone in the present has grown up with television and movies. This language can change over time. For instance, in old movies such as Murnau's Sunrise, the good girl is blond and fair, a clear example of purity. There is another woman in the film. This one has dark hair, smokes cigarettes, and wears darker colored clothing. From the first frame she appears it is clear that she is a vamp, a stark contrast to the innocence of the blond. Since then, cinema's attitude toward blonds has turned them into more wild creatures. Blonds are ditzy and like to have more fun, while brunettes are often more intelligent, especially if they have glasses (see ANY dumb teen comedy or raunchy college flick). These are gross oversimplifications, but they are useful when there are only two hours to tell a story. Good and evil often have to be exaggerated and simplified in order for the audience to know who is who.
This brings us to the presentation of villains in cinema. It is all too common for bad guys to be unapologetically bad. Think of any Bond villain, historical epic, or children's film. Bad guys LOVE being bad guys. True, there are times when the villain is more complex and sympathetic, but they always seem to steal the show. There's a glamor to evil. In cinema, evil is always big, loud, impressive. This way, when they are finally defeated, the audience can safely know that the hero did the right thing in vanquishing them. This brings us to today's villain.
Jerry Lundegaard, Fargo (1996) SPOILERS!!!
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) has an incredible plan. Hire two goons to kidnap his wife in exchange for half the ransom and a new car, which would bring Jerry a sorely needed 40 grand. That's not all, however. Jerry plans on asking for a bigger ransom from his father-in-law without telling the two hired kidnappers, and intends to keep the money himself. In most movies, this is the kind of plan that would be concocted by a devious mind with the gusto to actually attempt such a caper. Think of all the horribly complicated heist movies (Die Hard with a Vengeance, Ocean's11, 12, 13) where the plan relies on every little detail being followed with precision. The people pulling them of are of the sharpest minds and stunning talent. Jerry is no such thing. He's confused, incompetent, easily flustered, and overall a failure. From the very beginning of the film, before the plan is even explained, it's clear that Jerry is a small man. His manner of speech is quaint and sheepish. His stature and facial expressions lack confidence. He wears a dorky hat. He looks completely out of place in the bar where he utters the first line in the movie, "I'm, uh, Jerry Lundegaard." That's it? he doesn't even sound too confident in his own name! When asked by one of the criminals why he doesn't just ask his father-in-law, Wade, for the money, he stammers and can't confess the fact that he just isn't man enough to do it. Then there is this scene, where Jerry suffers a serious let-down and loses face in front of his father-in-law.
What was he thinking? He's in way over his head, and winds up with nothing for his efforts.
Fargo does have a conventional villain in Peter Stormare's Gaear Grimsrud, the silent, cold-blooded killer, but Jerry brings something new to the table. This would-be mastermind is absolutely pathetic. Naturally, nothing goes according to this plan. Due to events set in motion by him, seven people wind up dead. And where is Jerry at the end of all this? Crying out in desperation, he is arrested in his boxers trying to escape out a motel window. He isn't even given the dignity to go down in glory like the conventional movie villain. Even though he deserves what he gets, I can't help but feel bad for the guy.
In short, Fargo demonstrates a very real truth about evil. It isn't glamorous or romantic to be a bad guy, but small, pathetic, and pitiful. Jerry's life is in ruins because he thought he could get away with it. Instead, he has a dead wife, a traumatized and motherless son, no father-in-law, faces serious charges, and no money. He's left with nothing but shame.
0 comments:
Post a Comment