(Credits: FX)
I stumbled upon the movie "Fargo" a few years ago while taking Film Appreciation here at Bradley with only a very limited knowledge of it beforehand. Since then, I have really come to appreciate the Coen Brothers' crafted story and black comedy elements that exist in a lot of their art. Evidently, others appreciated the same thing and wanted to see more of the "Fargo" universe, leading to the creation of the TV Show "Fargo" and its season one opening in 2014.
The way each season of the show is constructed has really made me fall in love with the way the story is told and how the characters act in. Each season, a (mostly) brand new cast of normal individuals stumble upon or involve themselves in a criminal scenario, the events of which eventually snowballs into so much more than the original premise. One of my favorite characters in this universe, and the one directly responsible for much of the events in season 1, has to be Lorne Malvo.
I particularly appreciate Malvo because he seems to be a love letter to all the rest of the Coen Brothers' work over the years. More specifically, there can be many parallels drawn to determine that he was, at least partially, based off the Coens' character Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men (2007). A cold and calculating hitman, Malvo stops at nothing to achieve his goals. To do this, he completely disregards the concepts of compassion or empathy.
But, if Lorne Malvo was just a generic cold hitman, he would not be that engaging. Instead, what really makes him one of my favorite characters is his general philosophy in life and the way it guides him intro representing something more than himself.
Malvo seems to be very grounded to the idea that humans are just animals, and that we live in a world in which the strong have the right to take from the weak, a right that comes from their strength and ability to defend themselves. For him, it is always "hunt or be hunted" much like the ways of the animal kingdom.
Do I agree with these principles? Absolute not. But they do serve as a great set up for an intriguing character that drives much of the movement and character interaction in season 1 of "Fargo". If it wasn't for the many biblical references and the way the show compares him to Satan, I would have ventured out to say that Malvo also tries to represent parts of the modern economic system we all live in. But "Fargo" actually already has a much better character in terms of that parallel: V.M. Varga from Season 3, who I will be looking forward to exploring in a future blog post.
I've always seen Fargo in the promos for upcoming episodes on FX or heard it referenced on other shows, but never really gave much thought into it. Also, I had no idea there was also a movie. Lorne Malvo sounds like the perfect example of what a character should be. The complexity that he offers in terms of his character and understanding his reasons for why he takes the actions he does can make the audience want to continue watching him to know how his story continues.
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