The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Fargo
written by Joel and Ethan Coen
Fargo is a gripping movie with an unusual
structure. The "good guy" - a charming pregnant woman who is the investigating
officer of the crime that drives the story - is not introduced until we are
thirty minutes into the film. Is she the hero?
Yes and no.
In fact, in dramatic terms, this film is best explicated in
terms of its anti-hero, a sleezy salesman whose hare-brained scheme
drives the story. In this sense, the "hero" (police officer) becomes a
dramatic antagonist - though in another sense, "fate" and the anti-hero's own
ineptitude conspire to do him in.
Fargo does not show that the 3-act paradigm doesn't work but rather
demonstrates that it has great flexibility. This means you should not think
of "three acts" as "rules" to stifle your creativity but as the storytelling
foundation to which to bring creative new interpretations.
The bottom line is that Fargo works so well because it is driven by
a central maxim: "American movies are about what happens next." In terms
of the 3-act paradigm, the script can be analyzed both in terms of
its anti-hero (the interpretation I prefer in structural terms) and its
hero (the interpretation I prefer at the level of meaning).
The Anti-Hero Focus:
- The Hook (1 min.)
- The sleezy anti-hero arranges with two crooks to have his own wife
kidnapped to help him out of a financial jam.
- The Complication (11 min.)
- A legitimate deal may rescue the anti-hero - but he can't call
the arranged kidnapping off.
- The Hero's Call to Action (18 min.)
- Legitimate deal won't work: anti-hero has to go through with kidnapping scam.
- Plot point: Act I (21 min.)
- Anti-hero tells wealthy father-in-law that his wife has been
kidnapped.
- Plot point: midpoint (48 min.)
- "Blood has been shed" - crooks ask anti-hero for more money.
- Plot point: Act II (80 min.)
- Anti-hero flees interview with investigating officer - all looks lost.
- Climax & Resolution (90 min.)
- Anti-hero is arrested in motel room while trying to flee.
The Hero Focus:
- Hook & Complication: same as above.
- Hero's Call to Action & Plot point: Act I (33 min.)
- Margie begins to investigate the case
- Plot point: midpoint (56 min.)
- Margie meets anti-hero for first time.
- Plot point: Act II (77 min.)
- Climax & Resolution (85 min.)
- Margie captures remaining crook. "There's more to life than a
little money, you know." Her husband wins a painting contest. "We're
doing pretty good."
Big Sequences
- The kidnapping of the wife. (14 min.)
- Killing the cop and the two witnesses. (26 min.)
Notes
- Foreshadowing:
- Don't give the reader/viewer all your information
at once but tease them with little bits at a time, foreshadowing its true
impact. The antagonism between the anti-hero and his father-in-law is
foreshadowed early (5 min.), as is the antagonism between the two crooks
(12 min.) - and both will have monumental consequences.
- Local color:
- An "extraordinary world" does not have to be Jurassic
Park to be colorful. Here the local "Finlander" culture adds great charm
and humor to an otherwise gruesome story.
- Parallel narratives:
- We follow the sleezy husband (anti-hero) and
the investigating officer (hero) in parallel, alternating story lines. This
can be a very effective device in a mystery.
- Show, don't tell, emotion:
- When the anti-hero is refused the deal
that may prevent him from going through with his hare-brained scheme, he
exits to throw a temper tantrum while scraping ice off his windshield. This
is a wonderful, purely visual scene: the stark cold whiteness of the landscape,
the tightening screws on the anti-hero.
- Unusual characters:
- Our hero is a pregnant woman and local "Finlander" police officer, and
the unusual quality of this goes far in captivating our interest.
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MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
8/97