Criminological Movie Fargo

Criminological theories are found in our society, emphasised through popular culture, literature and the media. Two theories can be used to interpret the well-known movie ‘Fargo’. The first is Merton’s social structural strain theory and the second is Beccaria’s perspective on rational choice. Both criminological theories will analyse the actions of the protagonist of the crime-based film Fargo.

The movie Fargo, released in 1996 was directed by the Coen brothers Ethan and Joel was set in 1987 in North Dakota and Minnesota following a true story through violence, suspense and comedy. The protagonist, Jerry Lundegaard, played by William H. Mercy is a car salesman in a small-town of Minnesota, living an ambitious middle class life. Lundegaard

Merton recognised that individuals receive messages from society, which set acceptable behaviours to follow. He noted that a majority of citizens abide the acceptable behaviours, though there are numerous pressures that associate with the American Dream and the importance of the economy, which leads individuals to participate in deviant behaviours. Merton associated criminality and deviance with the American Dream goals, and how people attempt to achieve them, particularly the wealth component (Murphy & Robertson, 2008). Merton argued in 1938 that within unbalanced societies, the discrepancy between success goals and the endorsement of the means to achieve the goals, combined with limited opportunities manufactured the state of anomie. Further, Merton suggested that the anomic conditions in society were likely to tempt strain upon individuals, forming criminal behaviour adaptations. Particularly, the strain theory emphasised that those with high monetary aspirations are likely to innovate, resorting to unlawful activities, with the desire to channel success (Antonaccio, Gostjev & Smith, 2014). The strain theory connects to social causes, linking criminality with selfishness and egoism as the desire to