thoughts about fargo (season 1, season 2 spoilers)
in my quest to consume widely renown mainstream content to maximize the utilitarian ideal of "watching a lot of TV', i have started watching the hit television TV series "fargo"
the coen brother's do this thing where they present the midwest in a surreal and intoxicating way. it's hard to explain, but my understanding is that their Whole Thing is making film and television with romanticized portrayals of the midwest.
it's like a normal rockwell painting! (with crime) the compositions are always very pretty, and it feels almost like a modern-day fairy tale.
one thing that stuck me the wrong way is that the portrayal is... Uncritical? the big thing is the police: they're good guys of uncompromising integrity, limited budgets, and occasional incompetence-through-goodheartedness. somehow, i haven't seen as much discussion of "is fargo copaganda?" as one would see for, say, brooklynn-99.
the uncritical portrayal extends beyond that. i get the feeling that the goal is to portray an idea of the midwest they grew up in, and there are limited ways to express "racism is bad" through that kind of authenticity, if they even intend to express that at all. (i think they do, roughly, but i would be spoiling some pretty important scenes in s1 and s2 especially if i did).
all this aside, the thing about fargo is that it's actually very very good. i'm enjoying watching it
each season takes place in a different point in time in the same overarching continuity of Midwest Crime, centering around Fargo, with (so far) a touch of the supernatural in each season. (satan shows up in season 1, aliens in season 2, etc.)
each episode starts with my favorite narrative framing device: lying to the viewer saying this is a "true story" despite it being hilariously evident it's not a true story. i love that.
what got me hooked on the show was season 1, where Key and Peele show up, in character, to do their Key and Peele routine. i LOVED that this show just had Key and Peele sketches built in. i've never seen something like that before.
still, i can't get over the fact that fargo is SUPER copaganda-y and all the communities discussing the show on the internet seem to be filled with people buying into the fairy-tale with the bone-deep conviction that TV shows are real.
it feels like a beef wellington: lots of reasons it's fancy and good, but mired in class things i feel weird about, and it's basically a hotpocket and i probably shouldn't be eating a lot of hotpockets.
that said, i'm about to go eat hotpocket season 2 episode 7, so ttyl