Cinematography In The Coen Brother's Film Fargo

With the use of lighting and camera angles, cinematography helps capture the story for the viewer. In the movie Fargo, the cinematography is used strategically to capture the story of one man, Jerry Lundegaard, who is blinded by wealth and power. Although Lundergaard is the main character, he is not the hero. In fact, He is a sad and selfish man who is actually very successful in life, but is blinded by his own greed. Released in 1996, the Coen brother’s movie, Fargo, uses cinematography to portray a brutal winter, psychopaths, a warm, and a very pregnant police officer. In the opening scene, the viewer is introduced to Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) who walks into a dimly lit bar with soft natural lighting from the ceiling lights. As he enters, the …show more content…
After the violence and murder at the beginning of the film, the viewer is shown a wholesome character that is shown with soft light showing only emphasizing her face. The cinematography shows that she is peaceful and non-threatening.
In conclusion, the Coen brothers captured the winter’s brutal fury and Lundergaard’s foolish scheme with the use of strategic cinematography. I showed the use of eye level camera angles and soft lighting to introduce the viewer to the main character and his cohorts. Next, I showed that with the use lighting, the viewer is given warmth from the dark winter and psychopath personalities by our goodhearted police officer and the hero Marge.
The explicit meaning of Fargo is about the common person, who has everything he needs, but is blinded by his own greed for power and money. Lundergaard already has what he desires, but he feels powerless in the shadow of his father-in-law. The implicit meaning I learned from Fargo is open up your eyes to the people around you. Everyone wants to have high status in society, and if we all stopped and looked around, we would see that we have already achieved just