Topic > Color and Light in "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men"

The language of color and light Words and images are the fundamental method of communication within a film. They drive the plot forward and provide the audience with a way to understand the characters' thoughts. However, one of the most important methods of communication within Fargo and No Country For Old Men is the use of color and light, which provides commentary on justice, morality, and revenge. The style, or ongoing filmmaking habits employed by the Coen brothers, in which they use color and light, transcends all of their films and provides further reinforcement of the thematic narrative. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Fargo begins with a barren, desolate land, covered in bleached white snow. It provides little scenery, other than the tall, ominous statue of Paul Bunyan over the city of . Snow, a single component of the environment, provides 90% of the color in outdoor scenes, blanketing the city in white. White is often used in literature to represent justice, innocence, purity and virginity. However, throughout the film, blood is splattered on the snow and nature itself, often while a character is doing something immoral such as chopping up his partner's body in a shredder or shooting a policeman and killing all bystanders. The bright red against the opaque white of the snow creates contrast not only in color but in meaning. Red, especially blood, is seen as violence, hatred and anger. What's the point of putting seemingly different meanings into one shot? It shows the mixtures that these qualitative traits can have, with the snow stained with the blood of many immoral characters. Margie spills Gaear's blood as she shoots him, and Jean's father shoots Carl in the face. The Coen brothers imply that no human being can be perfectly moral, and those who break the law may not be the muscular, armed, tattooed thugs that the media portrays. Jerry, is the most immoral character in this film, despite being the weakest character in terms of brute strength. He willingly risks his wife's life, leaving his son motherless, leaving his father-in-law for dead, and condoning the deaths of witnesses. In Margie's words, it was all for “Just a little money.” His actions have caused the deaths of many people, yet he seems anxious and surprised when the people he hired killed more people. Not only did he hire criminals, but he didn't even think for a second about the possible consequences. Yet despite being the cause of so many deaths, he is simply a shady middle class car salesman. The common perception of criminal minds is completely different with Jerry Lundegaard. Misperceptions are evident in No Country for Old Men, where the most dangerous man in the film, Chigurh, is initially ignored or treated like a normal person. The man he kills at the beginning of the film while jacking up his car, or the death threat to the gas station attendant, all start this way. And as such, he is capable of killing many innocent people with little to no resistance. In the film No Country for Old Men, the setting is yet another bland, barren wasteland. Instead it is desert and the land is a brownish orange color. Little plant life is found, filling the shots with singular color. As Llewelyn Moss walks across the drug cartel battlefield, blood is splattered on the ground, dogs are dead and bodies are strewn everywhere. All of this took place in the beautiful and secluded landscape of the Texas desert. Drugs and dealers mix in a quiet and peaceful environment and follow the same ideas as.