I'll fuel some fire on this debate by noting:
I decided to watch Fargo Season 1 all over again. It had been awhile and I really didn't remember any of it going back in so it was almost a new experience.
Yes...Season One is a LOT better than Season Five, more complex in the plotting, less political and with a great central performance by Billy Bob Thornton, who had a real star persona going there for a few years playing deeply amoral characters(Bad Santa, Bad News Bears, Ice Harvest) who see everyone else as dupes. He's so damn FUNNY when he does his evil. His intelligent expressions. His biting deadpan line readings. A great"movie star actor" who never really got to be a movie star.
However, one "subplot" as Fargo Season One moves along is that, after a sympathetic police chief -- who had intended to support his female lieutenant for his job upon retirement -- is murdered, ANOTHER cop -- white, male, incompetant, and fatally unwilling to investigate murders to conclusion -- gets the polcie chief job and continues to stymie our female cop in her investigation.
The white male cop blocks the female heroine cop at every turn -- until -- two black FBI agents(comedy team Key and Peele) arrive and annoucne to the white male cop that the female cop is brilliant, put everything together, had it all laid out. In short, two black characters and a female character versus a dumber, jealous white male character(played by the now-a-lot more famous Bob Odenkirk, I might add.)
So...perhaps Fargo the TV show has been woke all the way back to Season One.
And again I say: that's TV today. That's what writers write, that's what writers know(from other writers and they don't want to rebel) and that's what a lot of Hollywood writers think(including white male writers, who are probably very nervous about their job security a lot of the time.)
CONT
reply
share
roger1 (2351)
3 months ago
So..watch or don't watch. Or watch with a grain of salt. I would say that the performances of Billy Bob Thornton and (to a lesser extent) Jon Hamm made it worth enjoying the show and simply understanding that the plots would be written that way.
But wait: Season One ALSO has a heroic white male "cop turned mailman"(to support his tougher cop wife), played by Colin Hanks, son of Decent Tom.
But wait: He may be a dweeb, but Juno Temple's husband is loving and supportive and never treats her bad.
So we get a few sops to positive white male characters.
And Billy Bob Thornton may be an evil and diabolical white male villain in Fargo Season One, but he's the most entertaining character in the show.
PS. I don't think the original movie of Fargo is very political at all, but female cop Frances McDormand is clearly smarter than her male deputy(on the "DLR" plates) and solves the crimes. Still, nobody in that movie puts her down for being a woman and she really gets nothing but support from the men around her(including from her husband who evidently quit the force when they got married because she was the better cop.)
reply
share
Melton (2305)
3 months ago
For a crime drama set in Minnesota it is ridiculous to not have at least one straight white male role model.
Season 1 has, as you say, Colin Hanks. He’s a very decent man and a good cop. He has a moment of cowardice early on but ultimately grows a pair and hunts and kills the big bad.
It’s not much but it’s enough, and lightyears ahead of S5 which is man-hating feminazi woke garbage. Every white male is either evil or, in Dot’s husband’s case, a pathetically weak castrato.
reply
share
rexamillion (26)
3 months ago
Yes it’s always been there, like it is in 95% of TV and movies. But it’s a matter of degree, how much is worked in to the plot.
And the degree in terms of how it’s presented. Season 4 was obviously a reaction to what was going on at that time with BLM etc. But it just wasn’t subtle about it, they had to whack the audience over their yards and make damned sure we get the enlightened message.
But boy this season is even worse, and each episode got cringier and cringier. I started tapping that FF button more and more! They can’t help themselves, the message has completely taken over and telling an interesting story takes a back seat.
The plot is just an afterthought, (can an entire plot be a McGuffin??), just a vehicle for pounding us over the head with the white bad, male bad, conservative bad, Christian bad lesson. And If you are evil enough to combine any of those traits, whew!
A good storyteller knows the story comes first, and if you want to get some moral or message across you can work it in. These guys now start off with the message they want to deliver then lazily throw some story wrapped around it. No subtlety at all.
All three of the first seasons were good in their own different ways, but these last two became unwatchable dreck as the episodes went on.
reply
share
Melton (2305)
3 months ago
Very good analysis.
‘Fargo’ is just a Trojan horse for woke propaganda now. I won’t be fooled again.
reply
share
roger1 (2351)
3 months ago
But boy this season is even worse, and each episode got cringier and cringier. I started tapping that FF button more and more! They can’t help themselves, the message has completely taken over and telling an interesting story takes a back seat.
The plot is just an afterthought, (can an entire plot be a McGuffin??), just a vehicle for pounding us over the head with the white bad, male bad, conservative bad, Christian bad lesson
---
Part of what's going on here, is that in America, we are heading into an election year, Trump is a factor again, and -- seriously -- a lot of these Hollywood folks feel that they are "doing their civic duty" by re-inserting right wing villainy into their shows. Maybe it will calm down a bit after the election.
When shows "go political," I always feel like the writers room has been allowed to let dumber people in. Politics(as opposed to government action) is pitched to about an 8th grade education. Campaign ad commercials are written as if to 8th graders. Its the same with our now-political talk shows. So Fargo evidently had to drop its sophistication level accordingly.
reply
share
rexamillion (26)
3 months ago
One show that wrapped in politics, definitely a liberal bent but at least tried to criticize democrats some along with republicans was called Braindead.
It was a summer series on CBS I think starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
It’s pretty darned funny and has a general point that our politics are becoming more extreme on both ends. I enjoyed it and especially because it uses humor to get its point across.
What kinda humor? Well our recent political splits are being controlled by alien ants eating half of people’s brains, of course, duh!
Anyone coming here from either side should try and find it, give it a shot.
reply
share