Written by Rachel Redfern.
Fargo, the 1996 black comedy from the Coen brothers, featured a beloved, innocuous female lead–a demonstrably unique, pregnant chief of police, seemingly full of Minnesotan goodwill and rural sensibilities, yet surprisingly quick and courageous. FX decided to do a remake, and personally, when I first heard this, I felt there was no way a network spin-off could ever mimic the ingenuity of the original: it seemed like nothing but a bad idea.
But after viewing, Fargo is the rare kind of remake that manages to hold true to the aesthetic sensibilities of the original while expanding the world/characters.
Within the pilot however, I had a few concerns. Without revealing too many spoilers, the philosophy of the main characters was overwhelmingly skewed toward the idea of the “hen-pecked” “downtrodden” American male, completely emasculated by a society that demands respect and a lack of violence. At first then it appeared we were viewing a hyper-masculine awakening of the main character, Lyster Nygaard (Martin Freeman) and cheering him on as he committed his first acts of violence.
Similarly, the fantastic character of a less-young female chief of police, so outside of a tough and rumble portrayal normally shown, was no longer present, it seemed. Instead, there was a traditional male police chief–steady, measured, respected, with a pregnant wife and a cohort of bumbling deputies. In fact, in general, Fargo is overwhelmingly a male show, playing host to a lot of casual, intense violence.
The themes of savagery and aggressiveness sort of manage to double-back on themselves, however, where male characters are often referred to as predators and wolves, yet the two most savage characters are also the smallest and the most sensitive to bullying. There’s an underdog quality to the violence as those who are humiliated and emasculated, suddenly turn on their oppressors. Breaking Bad subtly led us down the dark side over five seasons, blurring lines between right and wrong all the time. Fargo though goes straight for the jugular and within the first few minutes we see a main character fundamentally change as he commits his first act of violence. Fargo is less about exploring the grey areas and developing an anti-hero in the vein of Walter White and Don Draper; rather it takes a more literal battle between good and evil, echoing its own biblical themes and references.
So, there are obviously several straightforward evil men running around Fargo, but where are the women, I asked?
But then, up came Molly Solverson and her ridiculous last name. Fargo DOES have a delightful female protagonist in the vein of the great Marge Gunderson. She’s smart, unassuming, and tenacious. In reworking the original, Noah Hawley has given us a new character to enjoy, but definitely evocative of Gunderson. Newcomer Allison Tolmon (Molly Solverson) brilliantly acts the part and has even been careful of viewing the original Fargo so as not to confuse her character and that of Gunderson: “I think the series lives and breathes as its own entity. I felt that I’d given myself enough time to work with Molly that I could go back and watch Margie and that I would’ve created enough distance between the two of them that she wouldn’t bleed over into Molly, which was my concern.”
Molly is the moral center of the show; there are no grey areas here either–Molly is the good guy, dedicated to peace and justice and an eye roll towards the overwhelming incompetence she encounters from the men in her office. And to give Noah Nawley credit he’s accomplished something very difficult in a female TV show character: he’s made her relatable. She’s competent, confident, silly and quirky, the very-real embodiment of a girl you’d probably watch a movie with on a Friday night.
So while the show still lacks a lot in the female character department, do we consider it a failure or success that there’s at least one, dynamic and unique female character? Even one as delightful as Molly Solverson.
__________________________________________________dd
Rachel is a traveler and teacher who spent the last few years living in Asia. Now back in her native California, she focuses on writing about media, culture, and feminism. While a big fan of campy 80s movies and eccentric sci-fi, she’s become a cable acolyte, spending most of her time watching HBO, AMC, and Showtime. For good stories about lions and bungee jumping, as well as rants about sexism and slow drivers, follow her on Twitter at @RachelRedfern2
Thank you for this. I’ve been having the same discussion in my head (which, I think, has made it difficult for me to truly enjoy the show).
I kept comparing the two narratives: in the movie, Lundegaard doesn’t kill his wife out of some outrage for not being manly enough. He’s a budding sociopath, sure, but without evil. He orchestrates a kidnapping thinking that he’ll get the money and the wife. Nygaard, however, kills his wife himself in a fit of rage because she thinks she married the lesser brother. For me, that was the original sin of the show, basing itself of such a sexist death. That’s what made me like it, but not love it.
And add to that the role of chief. In the movie, Margie is the only real female character as well, but by being the chief she is so predominant that we even forget to question “is this feminist or not”. I love Molly as a character, her tenacity and perseverance, but those are traits you need when you’re the only good cop around and, for some reason, aren’t the boss. (BTW, after Tolmon’s response to tweets about her weight, I’m beginning to like her as a person too, not just the character she plays).
It’s good to know somebody else is also thinking about this and that I’m not just a nitpicker.
” Nygaard, however, kills his wife himself in a fit of rage because she thinks she married the lesser brother. For me, that was the original sin of the show, basing itself of such a sexist death”
sexist death? he didn’t kill her for thinking him lesser but for her endless emotional and verbal abuse. If you switched the sexes you wouldn’t find it sexist, you’r praise her for killing the abusive b****** and removing herself from the shackles of his abuse.
” Margie is the only real female character as well,”
So let’s see; the vegas stripper who married a wealthy man to to provide a life for her she couldn’t and then screwed the insurance agent to make sure she got her money was not?
the girl who ‘dreamed of a man taking her away from all this (cleaning rooms)’ since she could not was not?
If Lester and Malvo and the host of either cruel, stupid or incompetent men on the show represent ‘real male characters’ then surely they do.
I lost count but somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 people got killed on that series, 4 of them women. Is that sexist?
Why can’t you just let a great show with nuanced characters but male and female be what it was? Do you think only women have the traits needed to be boss but arent’? Can ANYTHING be on tv or the movies without being fodder for feminism/sexism?
Do you mind that none of the killers were women? Did you notice that every woman who was killed was killed instantly (his wife, his other wife, the two women in the elevators) while the deaths of most of the men were gruesome and often prolonged? Is this sexism? Or did you just not notice or care.
The writers final sentence underscores all of the above:
“In fact, in general, Fargo is overwhelmingly a male show, playing host to a lot of casual, intense violence”
Because violence of course belongs to men, especially casual intensive violence. Thus you can overlook 45 men getting brutally killed, 2 male killers, a host of incompetent men, and at the center of it all a highly competent female deputy sheriff who is almost solely responsible for the ‘happy ending’ as being a sexist show that diminishes or trivializes women of all things.
Tonight is the series finale, I have no idea of how it will end, but I’m there to the last second.
Wait, now Lester’s murder was based on sexism? He killed a verbally and emotionally abusive mate. I guarANtee you if you switched those roles women everywhere would have been REJOICING when she bashed her bullying abusive dehumanizing husband in the head.
Here’s the breakdown of the sexism in the film;
Man, savage, ruthless bloody selfish killer
Man, craven, cowardly, kills his wife, covers it up, discovers his inner strength in the process and becomes a bloody selfish killer in the process
Man, clueless, ambitious, cruel and condescending to his brother
Man, coward, let’s the first bloody killer go
Man, idiot and coward, botches the investigation into the murders
Man, ex-cop, stoic, protects his daughter and family
2 Men, fbi agents, dumb as rocks, shot in the face and throat
Woman, abusive emotionally and verbally, gets killed because of it
Woman, who yearned since she was a teenager for a ‘man to come take her away from all of it’ (sexist? nah)
Woman, self serving, uses her body to find a man to ‘take her away from all of it’
Woman, brave, smart and relentless
Abusive woman dies
Wife who found ‘prince charming’ dies
Bad man dies
Bad man 2 dies
Stupid FBI agents die
FBI Agents die
Hit men die
multiple other men die
Cowardly man redeems himself because of his love for a woman
Brave smart woman lives and becomes chief of police
yeah, sexist show with no female character development.