{"id":93378,"date":"2020-10-12T14:00:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamerant.com\/fargo-fx-best-kind-of-movie-adaptation\/"},"modified":"2020-10-12T14:00:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:00:12","slug":"fargos-secret-to-greatness-is-one-simple-thing-decency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/10\/12\/fargos-secret-to-greatness-is-one-simple-thing-decency\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo’s Secret to Greatness Is One Simple Thing: Decency"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s fair to say current TV is overflowing with adaptations. Books (comic or otherwise) are the typical source, with Lovecraft Country<\/em>, The Boys<\/em>, Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>, Umbrella Academy<\/em> and Watchmen<\/em> only some of the acclaimed shows that translate (or continue) stories from page to screen. Yet an interesting trend\u00a0are adaptations taken from the same visual wavelength, transferring them from films to TV. This is nothing new, of course, since popular shows like M*A*S*H<\/em> and Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> both originated as feature films. But the increasing respectability of TV quality, and streaming services having films and TV on the same platform, has led to an equalization between the two. In a competitive industry, TV adaptations bring in-built familiarity with the film branding, while being longer-running and cheaper to produce. It reaps the rewards of the films with less of the risks.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s Ratched<\/em> \u2013 a prequel series to the award-winning 1975 film One Flew over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/em>, based on the Ken Kesey\u2019s 1962 novel \u2013 is only the latest example of this. Cobra Kai<\/em> is a continuation of the 80s hit Karate Kid<\/em> films.\u00a0Westworld<\/em> was based on the 1973 Michael Crichton picture. Films like She\u2019s All That, High Fidelity, Limitless, What We Do in the Shadows<\/em> and Snowpiercer<\/em> have all been stretched into TV series. Disney+ is capitalizing on recognizable franchises of Marvel and Star Wars<\/a> to tide fans over between cinematic installments (which Disney already did through the numerous cartoons based on their animated hits) with shows like The Mandalorian<\/em> and WandaVision<\/em>; a purpose Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/em> seemed to fulfill before that show pivoted into its own direction. \u00a0Most film-to-TV adaptations don\u2019t remake the plot so much as the premise. They take Westworld<\/em>\u2019s A.I.-populated theme-parks, or Snowpiercer<\/em>\u2019s constantly-running class-segregated train \u00a0and populate them\u00a0with new stories. But how do you uniquely adapt a world that is close to our own? How do you reinterpret something \u201cbased on a true story\u201d?<\/p>\n

RELATED: HBO’s Watchmen Makes History With a Squidfall of Emmy Wins<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Fargo, North Dakota, only appears briefly at the beginning of the Coen Brother\u2019s acclaimed 1996 black-comedy-drama, most of which is set in Minnesota. Although with a fourth season <\/a>now airing, Fargo<\/em> initially felt like the most egregious film-to-TV adaptation, banking upon the reputation of a film\u00a0that needed no follow-up or expansion. Fargo<\/em><\/strong>, much like the Coens\u2019 Big Lebowski<\/em>, was a subversion of classic crime-noirs. The criminals were greedy and pathetic instead of organized and professional, their plans flying out of their control. It wasn\u2019t set in grimy corrupt cities but the snowy and friendly Midwest. And\u00a0the crooks\u00a0are not pursued by some morally-grey chain-smoking P.I. but by the smiling, heavily-pregnant detective Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). How could you expand this premise and these characters into a TV show? How do you create regular installments of something so sweetly benign?<\/p>\n