“Unraveling the Chaos: How Noah Hawley’s ‘Fargo’ Transforms Mundane Life into Dark Comedy Gold”
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Chaos as Fargo‘s Structural and Narrative Component
Hawley admits he doesn’t outline his fiction. He focuses on a single character, place, or event and builds on that, beginning a journey that leads to surprising results. The development he sees in his writing is usually a discovery, and that kind of change shows itself often in Fargo, with characters that can go from mild-mannered to outright devious from beginning to end.
Looking at Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) in Season 1 is one example of transformative writing. Though such a change for any character might be envisioned ahead of time by a writer, Hawley shows Lester enter his final state after a series of unfortunate events. Broken, mistreated, and introduced to an agent of chaos named Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton), Lester’s life changes forever and falls into immediate disarray in a single day.
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