Final Project - Fundamentals of Western Culture by Sara Gerber 1. Comparing Life is Beautiful & Fargo a) The main claims in the films Life is Beautiful & Fargo: • Life Is Beautiful (1997) is directed by Roberto Benigni who also stars as the protagonist Guido. The film takes place in fascist Italy during the 1930s & may be divided in to two halves. The first is pure comedy, as Guido tries & succeeds to woo his future wife. The second half smiles through tears, as Guido is sent along with his son to a concentration camp. In this part of the film we see how Guido uses the only weapon he has – comedy – in attempt to hide the atrocities of the camp from his young son. Throughout the film there are hidden messages, riddles & moments that may challenge our philosophy on the human spirit. The film is about hope, implying that no matter how dire the situation is, one always may find the ability to control their fate. • In the Coen brother’s film Fargo (1996), the story begins in snowy Minnesota with car salesman Jerry, who desperately needs money to save him from bankruptcy. He decides to hire a couple …show more content…
In Fargo, there are some obvious intertextual references made in the film, particularly in one scene. When the two thugs come to kidnap Jerry’s wife & she flees to the bathroom, there is a shot of the door being broken down. This shot is extremely reminiscent of Kubrick’s The Shinning (1980), when Jack breaks down the door with an ax, uttering the famous line “here’s Johnny!”. A moment later we observe another shot which seems oddly familiar – when Jerry’s wife struggles to run out of the bathtub, she tears the shower curtain off the rod – we’ve seen this shot in another famous film: Hitchcock’s masterpiece Psycho (1960), in the classic murder scene in the shower. However, in Life is Beautiful there are no intertextual references made (at least, not mentioned in class nor that I could find on my own brief research). c) Similarities between Life is Beautiful &