It’s kind of funny – I never really registered anything odd about that until talking to several people from further east or south who took only that away from the scene.
The local Chinese Cultural Society here predates Vancouver’s incorporation by ten years. There’s no dissonance at all for us seeing asian people speaking with standard accents and inflection – especially since the dialect spoken in Fargo so closely resembles more familiar Canadian english variants, eh? 
For the record, I consider Fargo to be one of the five best movies ever, maybe even the best. I completely agree with the Rosenbaum/Ebert explanation of the scene with Mike Yanagita, but it took a few viewings for me to get it. I was so completely blown away by his character and the complexity of that scene the first couple of times, that I failed to connect it to Marge’s revelation regarding Jerry during the scene where she learns that Mike lied about his life. It only became obvious after seeing it for maybe the third time. But then, I’m slow like that sometimes.
She is questioning Jerry about the Tan Sierra stolen from his lot. He can’t seem to find the numbers, the tan sierra is linked to the murders of the couple and the policeman.
Clearly my ear needs refining. Might I trouble you for a letter of reference to Professor Higgins? 
Is it? I thought that Upper-Midwestern Scandahoovian accent was strictly a south-of-the-border phenomenon.
Hehehehehe.
In all seriousness, although the accents are from the same “accent family” (is there such a thing?), they are quite different. I’ve lived in both places. Heck, there’s different Yooper accents as well, most notable between generations. Old Yoopers sound different than young Yoopers.
The Minnesota accent has its base in Norwegian and Swedish, along with some Canuck thrown in for good measure. Us Yoopers are more heavily influenced by Finnish, which is one weird language. It’s even common for sentence constructs in English have roots in the Finnish. For example, it’s common up here to hear people drop the preposition in certain phrases (“We go Green Bay” is probably the most common). From what I’ve read, that’s a remnant of Finnish.
I just re-watched the movie and the phone call showing that the guy was was lying definitely makes a light bulb go off in Marge’s head.
Yes, that was essentially my point, in my response to the other poster. When she visits Jerry the second time, it’s not because she now suspects him of having his wife kidnapped. She is not yet aware of any kidnapping at all.
It’s one of my favorite movies, but I never wondered about that scene, particularly. The movie works beautifully as a whole, so I never questioned whether any part of it was really necessary. But I also never noticed that it was a turning point because I guess I never really realized that Marge was a little too credulous before that. In retrospect, I can see that you all are absolutely right, but it never occurred to me that she actually believed what Jerry was saying in the first interview. I thought that she knew that he was lying about something all along. Why did she go back then? I figured it was just an interrogation technique–like playing good cop/bad cop all by yourself.
And while we’re on the subject–Norm is the bestest movie husband ever!
I second the, ‘duh–gotta pick up this on DVD, why haven’t I yet’ thing. I loved this movie, and it’s one I would watch again every so often. (Most movies I don’t feel that way about, so I don’t buy a lot of movie DVDs.)
I agree the scene is there for a reason, and I saw it as Margie experiencing duplicity and realising that things are not what they seem to be on the surface. It also shows her character’s appealing, good-hearted nature, as well as being fairly amusing.
What an interesting thread. I’ve seen the movie several times and the scene never registered as dissonant with me, I was unaware there was any speculation about it
Ciera.
I hated this movie…
Among my all-time favorite movies.
I’m of Prairie Scandahoovian stock, and I have long-dead grand aunts and uncles who sound just like they’re from Minnasooooada. Of course, they’re the ones who spoke Icelandic at home (and half of 'em came up through North Dakota).
What, still? Maybe you should call a priest.
We really need a rofl smiley.
So you came in here just to shit on the thread? Why don’t you fuck off back to a thread that interests you, then?
And he delurked to do it, evidently*. :rolleyes: Personally, I don’t think he had any significant effect. You might want to just let it go.
*Check the join date and the post count.
I find it hilarious (in post #8) that actor’s real name is “Steve Park.”