History Film / Fargo

Like many of the Coens' films, ''Fargo'' takes liberal inspiration from FilmNoir, [[AuthorAppeal one of their favorite subjects]], but rather than being a straight GenreThrowback (like ''Film/BloodSimple'' and ''Film/MillersCrossing'') or an AffectionateParody (like ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' and ''Film/HailCaesar''), it's perhaps best described as a ''subversion'' of the genre. The story is a fairly straightforward tale of [[CriminalProcedural criminal intrigue]] and [[PoliceProcedural a dogged cop on a mission]], but it derives much of its subtle BlackComedy from its setting, taking place in the famously friendly, folksy Upper Midwest. Likewise, Frances [=McDormand's=] character Officer Marge Gunderson is a famous subversion of the archetypal HardboiledDetective, being a [[NiceGuy perfectly nice and well-adjusted]] [[ByTheBookCop police officer]] who spends most of the film galumphing around in a bulky parka while heavily pregnant.

* Nice Guy: Marge is friendly, kind, and respectful to everyone she comes across. In a twist, her easy manner just makes her more awesome and helps her a lot when investigating. Many police investigators in real life use the same tactic to get people to open up to them. It's not only her attitude towards interviewees and suspects. She tells a police officer his blunder of thinking "DLR" was the first part of a license number (when officers use that to indicate dealer plates), but does it in the nicest way possible, then cracks a joke to make him laugh and relax. The only time this veneer gets close to shattering is when she meets with an old classmate who unsubtly hits on her and is obviously trying to get a date with her -- knowing she's ''married'' -- and even when he puts her arms around her and she tells him off (gently), she apologizes.

** Showalter. He knows Grimsrud is an AxCrazy psycho who has murdered four people over the past few days, but still stupidly picks a fight with him over the car and refuses to pay him a few hundred dollars for it, even though he had $920,000 hidden somewhere that Grimsrud knew nothing about. He pays dearly for that mistake.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Most versions of the movie, theatrical and home video release, begin with a [[RomanAClef statement that the story was true, with names changed to protect those still alive.]] Yet the typical "all names and events are fictitious" disclaimer still appears in the end credits. Although they changed their story a couple of times - at one point they claimed they had read the story about a car dealer arranging to have his wife kidnapped, to undercover cops pretending to be criminals, which led the Coens to write a story about if the kidnapping had actually happened. The Coens eventually confessed that the entire story is fictional, and the statement is a thematic device meant to help the audience suspend disbelief. Apparently someone complained, because some DVDs are missing the pre-movie statement. Since the first bars of the opening theme play over the statement, it's replaced with a black screen during that time for those discs. However, as of the UsefulNotes/BluRay release, the statement was reinstated, and hasn't been removed since, so your DVD may vary.

* BeingtEvilSucks: A bit of a running theme throughout the film is how the criminals all suffer and harm each other and innocent people in the pursuit of money [[spoiler:which they ultimately don't get.]] By contrast Marge, the most kind person in the film, is content with her life and by the end she and her husband are, "doing pretty good."

* DissonantSerenity: Practically everything that Grimsrud does. It's as if nothing can shock him. Averted when he's watching a soap opera on TV. When one of the characters [[DramaBomb dramatically (and acting rather badly) proclaims]] that she's pregnant with the other character's baby, he drops his fork in shock, but when Showalter comes crashing in through the door bleeding from a gunshot wound to his mouth, he's completely unfazed.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Wade is a textbook example. He refuses to lend his son-in-law any money at all (even backhandedly mocking him for it), and screws him over on an investment. [[spoiler:His insistence in handling the money drop-off because he doesn't trust Jerry ends with his death (and the death of a parking attendant because he sees Showalter when he is making his getaway) and Showalter being injured]].

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: In theaters, and on the original versions of the DVD, the movie was preceded by a [[RomanAClef statement that the story was true, with names changed to protect those still alive.]] Yet the typical "all names and events are fictitious" disclaimer appears in the end credits. When asked, the Coens stated this was a device to encourage people to suspend their disbelief. Apparently someone complained, because later pressings of the DVD are missing the pre-movie statement. Since the first bars of the opening theme played over the statement, it's replaced with a black screen during that time for those discs missing the statement. However, the Region 1 UsefulNotes/BluRay and the version shown on {{Creator/Netflix}} still maintains this statement, so Your DVD May Vary. The only things that may be based on reality would be Jerry using nonexistent dealership vehicles to scam loans from GMAC ([[https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/09/dealer-swindled-6-billion-general-motors/ as happened from 1980 to 1991]]) and the scene where Gaear is stuffing Carl's remains down the woodchipper. Such a method of disposing of a corpse had been done before, as Richard Crafts of Newtown, Connecticut [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Helle_Crafts was convicted in 1989 of murdering his wife]] on November 19, 1986 and disposing of her body with a woodchipper.

The film is famous for having almost none of the plot take place in Fargo, UsefulNotes/NorthDakota. It instead largely takes place in Brainerd, UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}}, but apparently that wouldn't have made as good a title for the film. It also popularized (or demonized) the Minnesota accent, with its singsong Scandinavian influences and northern twang. Super.[[note]]pronounced SOOPER[[/note]]

It's also famous for the urban legend about a Japanese tourist freezing to death while searching for the treasure that Buscemi's character hides in the film. You betcha.[[note]]Said tourist was in fact suicidal, and deliberately went there to die. She did make a crack about Fargo, but the state troopers misunderstood it, ya?[[/note]] It was enough to spawn a [[https://vimeo.com/66512803 documentary about it]] — sadly more based on Film/LaJetee than the Coen Brothers' film style -- and a [[Film/KumikoTheTreasureHunter fictionalized account]] starring Creator/RinkoKikuchi.

* EightiesHair: The hookers Margie interviews, and Jean to a lesser degree.

* BigEater: Marge seems to be almost obsessed with food, although she justifies it InUniverse by her pregnant status, a common variant of the WackyCravings. The only food she seems to NOT like is her husband's eggs!

** Carl does most of the talking in the first scene, interrupting Jerry, repeating the one thing his partner says, and suggesting an easier alternative to Jerry's plan after demanding every minute detail of it. He's a ControlFreak.
** Gaear says nothing during the first scene apart from a single disgusted remark suggesting that Jerry could ask his wife for the money instead of kidnapping her for a ransom. He's full of contempt for other people.

* SuspiciousSkiMask: Gaer Grimsrud and Carl Showalter wear these as they kidnap Jerry Lundergard's wife, Jean, in a scheme cooked up by Jerry to scam his father in law for the ransom money. Humorously, the kidnapping sequence begins with Carl walking up to the glass door of the Lundergard home while Jean is watching television and does nothing but stare at him with a confused glare as he peers in.

* FatalFlaw: {{Greed}} is a common one, while [[spoiler:Gaear's]] is probably trigger-happiness ({{Wrath}}) and [[spoiler:Wade's]] is {{control freak}}ery ({{Pride}}).