Fargo

“He who is not content with what he has, would not be content with what he would like to have” – Socrates. Greed is the root of all evil. These endless desires keep many awakened at night wondering what could have happened if they could turn back time and change something. Will we ever be satisfied? Or will the temptations forever keep us awake? In the film, ‘Fargo’, directed by the Coen Brothers, the application of film techniques: shallow focus, the close-up shot and diegetic sound illustrates the idea of greed. Shallow focus on various characters illustrates how greed causes people to go to the extremes to possess what they desire, the close up shot on various characters reveal how greed can take a toll on people’s emotional status and the use of soft, short and slow diegetic sound on characters can develop the idea that those without greed are often able to appreciate the smaller details to life.

The Coen Brothers developed the idea of greed with the deliberate application of shallow focus on various characters. Shallow focus reveals how greed can cause people to go to extremes for individual desire. Gaear, a daunting and self-centred character, is often shot with a shallow focus to reveal that he is full of greed. Shallow focus illustrates this because as it directs the attention towards the character blurring the rest of the image, it reveals that the characters focus is solely on himself. The out of focus background reveals the character neglects the consequences of his actions, nor does it matter. Gaear does not care about his relationships or environments. The focus is on Gaear, revealing he is a frightening, formidable character driven by greed. With shallow focus showing how a character is self-centred with no thought of consequence, it illustrates how greed can cause people to go to extremes for individual desire. With no thought of consequence, people exceed limits as constraints become non-existent. People begin to break laws, ruin the environment and destroy relationships all for perhaps a little bit of money. As actions are derived by greed Gaear is shot with a shallow focus in the car after aggressively shooting a cop due to him being almost caught kidnapping Jerry wife for ransom money. The Coen Brothers have applied various focuses throughout the film to reveal the level of greed a character possesses in various scenarios. They do so to show how much will a character has in attaining their desire. Contrasting shallow focus with deep focus depicts to the audience which character may be greedy and which characters may be considerate. The focuses clearly enable the audience to be able to differentiate those who may be out of town and those who may be locals in Brainer. Brainer, an isolated small town, often have very friendly locals. In contrast, city people are often characterized stereotypically as egotistical and rude. In 1984, the Coen Brothers produced their first ever film named ‘Blood Simple’. Shallow focus is also applied to develop the same idea. Julian Marty, an intimidating character, is illustrated through shallow focus. When seeing his wife Abby fall in love with another man, Julian is outraged as he wants Abby all to himself. Julian becomes jealous, hiring a detective to eventually kill both her and her love. Greed has taken over. The mindset has shifted to ‘if I can’t have her no one else can. A specific moment where this is revealed is when Julian is shot with a shallow focus when meeting his detective Loren in an empty building. He is entirely focused on murdering his own wife as he acts of his desire, Although the desire in both films is different the Coen Brothers have still shown how shallow focus can be applied to illustrate the idea of how greed causes people to go to extremes. Through the application of shallow focus, it has conveyed the harsh reality of greed in a worldwide context. The audience learns that often as humans we get trapped in focusing on ourselves, influencing our decisions for the best outcome for us individually. Temptation suddenly becomes an obsession. Desire suddenly outweighs our morals. Consequence suddenly disappears. But with the world being composed of a society rather than individuals these action effect everyone. From the occurrence of crime and destruction of relationships as humans, if we took the time to prioritize morals over temptation, we will flourish like flowers in an orchard rather than a lonesome flower in the winter. This would make the world a beautiful and better place. With the deliberate application of shallow focus, the Coen Brothers have been able to present the idea of how greed can cause people to go to the extremes for individual desire.

Specific characters have illustrated the idea of greed through the application of the close-up. It develops the idea that greed can take a toll on people emotionally. Jerry, a sensitive and ambiguous character, is often shot with a close up to reveal how greed has tormented him emotionally. The close up illustrates this because with the character filling up most of the space, this reveals that the character is selfish as the character is the primary focus of the shot. Diminishing the background reveals that Jerry ignores his surroundings. Surroundings become irrelevant as the close-up zooms in on Jerry’s arrogant, greed driven personality. Jerry believes he deserves what he desires. The impression is created that he is ‘big-headed’. The enlargement of the face also concentrates the attention towards the characters emotional status. Through the frown of the eyebrows, jitter of the crinkles and enlargement of the eyes the audience feels the discomfort of emotions. Correlating how the close-up shot reveals that a character is greedy with how it enhances a character stressful emotion, it illustrates how greed can take a toll on people emotionally. As greed manipulates Jerry, he is shot with a close-up when Wade refuses to hand $750,000 to Jerry for investment. This conveys Jerry’s emotional tension as his plans do not go his way. Deliberately, the Coen Brothers applied the close-up shot on various characters in the film in order to reveal when greed has affected characters emotional wellbeing. The audience is able to depict whether a character’s plan in attaining what they desire has gone wrong. Audience members are able to connect with the characters to experience the same emotions. This builds up tension. The audience is no longer a viewer but instead a character in the film. With the audience placed inside the film, this illustrates a greater understanding of how greed can cause people to become emotionally unstable. ‘Blood Simple’ another film directed by the Coen Brothers have many emotionally unstable characters due to greed. This is also developed through the close-up. Convinced he has lost the love of his life, Julian becomes irritated. He is angry. The greed of not having this woman has provoked these raging emotions. A scene where it captures Julian’s emotions is when he is shot with a close-up when trying to kidnap his love, Abby. The close-up reveals his anger with the sweat, clenched jaw and frowned eyebrows as he attempts to regain his desire. With the deliberate application of the close-up in both films, the Coen Brothers have illustrated how greed can take a toll on people emotionally despite the different desires. Success. Failure. Words that cannot be defined. However, as humans, we are still set under the false impression that they can be. Through the use of social media, we are convinced that this is the perfect body or this is the wealth you should have or this is what you need to survive. No wonder greed is present in our society. Greed continues to grow like fruits on a tree where the media is the sun, water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We no longer cherish what we have but instead sadden on what we don’t. When achieving our selfish desires seem impossible the unbearable emotion of hatred and sadness arise as the fruit gets too big and falls to the ground. Greed is driven by social media. As a result, greed has created negative effects upon society such as suicidal, crime and mental health issues. As a society, we must learn from our actions in order to remove these false impressions of what success looks like. This way greed may diminish as the emotions of happiness emerge from perceiving our life as a success. The deliberate application of the close up by the Coen Brothers have not only revealed how greed can take a toll on us emotionally; it has taught society that we must change the way we use social media.

Diegetic sound, which is often applied as dialogue, develops the idea of greed. The soft, slow and short diegetic sound on characters illustrates the idea of how those without greed are often able to appreciate the smaller details to life. This diegetic sound was applied to the character Marge in the form of dialogue. With Marge’s dialogue often being spoken softly, slowly and concisely, Marge is demonstrated as a loving and caring character. Diegetic sound illustrates this idea because of the tone in which it is spoken. The soft tone creates a sense of tranquillity and peace as if the diegetic sound was the sound of crashing waves. It reminisces moments in my life where I experienced a similar sense of gratitude and appreciation. For me, it was my time in Milford Sound. The smile of the sun, sway of the trees and the dance of the rivers captivate my individual experience of a similar tranquillity. This calming mood reveals that the character is neither self-centred or greedy, appreciating the finer details to life. With the diegetic sound being slow, it creates an impression that time has slowed down. The character no longer rushes. Marge beings to take the time to appreciate her surroundings. She no longer thinks about herself admiring the finer things to life. Lastly, with the diegetic sound being short, it reveals how the character would rather admire than speak. With the combination of the soft, slow and short diegetic sound it illustrates how those without greed are often able to appreciate the finer aspects to life. Marge, a very considerate and unselfish character, demonstrates this when she lectures a criminal named Gaear in the car after arresting him. “And those three people in Brainer. And for what, for a little bit of money. There’s more to life than a little money you know… And here you are, its a beautiful day”. Numerous characters with various styles of diegetic sound were deliberately applied by the Coen Brothers to reveal which characters are greedy and which characters are grateful. The diegetic sound enables the audience to depict which characters have strong relationships and which characters have weak relationships. The soft, slow and short diegetic sounds convey that these characters must have strong relationships as they care about themselves and others equally. In contrast, those characters who are greedy shown by a deep diegetic sound must have weak relationships as they prioritize themselves over others. The 2017 film ‘Wonder’ is another film which develops this idea. Jack Will, a clever 5th grader, is shown developing this idea. In the beginning, Jack is self-minded trying to maintain his popular status at school. The principal has instructed him to help a new kid named Auggie. Auggie is no regular. Suffering a rare facial deformity invites other kids to bully him. Jack disregards the trauma Auggie faces as he still focuses on his desire of being one of the ‘cool’ kids. However, with the realization that he is greed is preventing one from for being happy, Jack sacrifices his desire. Auggie becomes one of his best friends and Jack is now able to appreciate the finer things in life such as putting a smile on someone else’s face. “People say you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone”. With greed being a regular occurrence in people’s lives, it is understandable why people are often ungrateful of their current lifestyle. Think about those third world countries. Poor, isolated, helpless. Do those people complain? Are they not grateful when they scavenge a few grains of rice. Now think about us. Living in a clean, healthy and well-nourished country. Yet we still complain about the dinner we have at the table, the house we live in or the shoes we wear. No wonder we refer to the phrase ‘first world problems’. As individuals in a society, if we could all just eliminate greed within and cherish what we want we may able to banish the term ‘first world problems’. As a result, more individuals will become grateful, appreciating the finer things in life. So, “Enjoy the little things in life because someday you will realize they were the big things”. With the deliberate application of diegetic sound by the Coen Brothers has illustrated how those without greed are often able to appreciate the smaller details to life.

Greed. The devil on our shoulders. Why do we continue to listen to it? How has it become a motive to our society? Will this ever change? Or will we continue to let those with supposedly more authority starve our resources leaving the rest to suffer? In conclusion, the film Fargo, directed by the Coen Brothers, the use of the film techniques: shallow focus, the close-up and diegetic sound have illustrated the idea of greed. Shallow focus on various characters illustrates how greed can cause people to go to the extremes, the close up reveals how greed can take a toll on people’s emotional status and application of soft, slow and short diegetic sound reveals how those without greed, are often able to appreciate the finer details to life.

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