Sunday, October 26, 2008

Week Seven: Minnesota on YouTube

This is a trailer for the 1996 movie "Fargo." Most of the movie, contrary to the title, takes place in Minnesota (Minneapolis and Brainerd). The trailer's composition actually reflects the movie itself; it is half crime story about a man who has his wife kidnapped for the ransom money, half caricature of Minnesotans. Until Frances McDormand, who plays Brainerd cop Margie, no one has ever made the Minnesotan accent look so cute.

I continued to think about the idea of a "Minnesota consciousness" as I watched this clip. The first shot is an overhead shot of William H. Macy's character frantically scraping ice off the windshield of his car which is all alone in a snow-covered parking lot. To a Minnesotan, this shot is familiar, even mundane, but to a viewer from a warmer climate it might be a strange sight.

The unique thing about the movie "Fargo" is the juxtaposition between the "Minnesota Nice" of the William H. Macy character and the cops and the crime, gore and killing that goes on right alongside it. Dark moments of murder and blood are followed by the bright spots of "Oh, sure" and "You betcha." The overall impression of Minnesota is "Crime does not belong here."

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