We live what we have wrought.
Fargo seasons 1-5. Captivating, in excess.
I am compelled to point out that such shows are symptoms of what we bemoan: violence is inherently part of who we are, and we seem to be doing our very best to continue to propagate its ethos in our culture. With every mass shooting we search for answers. The answer lies in you: you will watch this shit, and enjoy it.
Fargo is eminent writing, casting, acting, and directing. It is wildly entertaining, entangling multiple facets and spins of the worst part of human nature. The most entertaining parts of our nature. We revel in the subjugation, the sadism, the corruption, and the death. We hate it, but we love it. That’s who we are.
We have come so far, only a generation our two into mass media that let us explore in exquisite detail the gore that feeds something primal in our primeval, limbic system. The rush is undeniable – if you feel nothing but anguish at violent justified vengeance, then you are perhaps among the few at the evolutionary forefront. The rest of us will watch horror, gore, murder, dominance, power, corruption, crime, evil… any kind of violence you can think of, and thoroughly enjoy it.
Take Keanu Reeves: Sweet, caring, good-looking, cool. Everybody loves him. In that, he has much power. An enormous amount of good-will and status. And what does he do with it? John Wick. A despicable dysentery of films glorifying senseless gun violence, all justified by retribution for the death his dog. I jab at Keanu, not because he’s unique, but because he sparkles exceptionally. There are countless others who talk a good game in terms of peace in the world, but fail to live it. Think and you’ll know them.
Fargo is one such. You can spin it any way you like. A commentary on the ceaselessness of the human spirit, to conquer, dominate, pervert. We are rescued by the plucky heroine, who goes it alone, defeats the villainous, the evil as a concept itself, even. She justifies spending some 40 hours watching of people shooting each other to bits; we are not them, we just enjoy the bad guys getting theirs. But only after we have watched, and completely salivated over, the crimson means to her end. It is then here we are mistaken, thinking we can justify this pornography of brutality, this endless duress that human put fellow human under. The in-group/out-group dynamic justifies the spectacle. Our evolutionary past explains it, our lust for retribution demands it. Because when we watch it, we enforce it. That is the frightening secret: if we glorify it, we promote and engender it.
Ask in times of ultimate distress how anyone could do this to children, and there is your answer.
