Winter's Bone Task 1
How far does 'Winter's Bone' rely upon an understanding of it's social context. Refer in detail to at least one sequence from the film. [20]
Winter's Bone is an neo-realistic, independent film on a young member of the Ozark community looking for her father. The sequence I have chosen is when Teardrop shows up to collect Ree from the garage, where she has been attacked. I'm starting from the moment, when the garage door opens with close-ups of each of the people in the room, then a tracking shot of the door as it opens and stops at a mid-shot of Teardrop. Through this scene there is only the diegetic sound of dialogue, the garage and of the rain outside. When Teardrop walks into the garage there is a long shot, which shows how the surrounding people respond - the men act and speak first. There is then a mid shot of Ree, curled in a ball with blood on her face behind the women, who take up part of the screen, which highlights how weak and powerless she is, which in spectatorship may make an audience member align with her and feel sympathy for her. There is a close-up of Teardrop as he looks at the men in the room and asks if the guys hit Ree, then as Merab responds it cuts to a long shot behind Teardrop, showing the inside of the garage. While she walks forward, it cuts back to a close-up of Teardrop looking at her, and then to a close-up of Merab, where she replies that "No man here touched that crazy girl" - this conveys to the audience that the men don't get their hands dirty, so the women must, though this may lead some audience members to think that the women have power, even though it is a patriarchal society. The message of the scene is more clearly understood if you know the story's context. During their conversation it cuts from close-up to close-up of the two characters, until Thump begins walking towards Teardrop and it cuts to a mid shot of the room, as he walks he comes into focus and the camera pans to him from one of the other Milton guys. When Thump is face to face with Teardrop there is a cut to a close-up of Teardrop, then a cut to a close-up to Thump, as they face off. The character of Thump was only introduced in one other scene, which means that audience members don't have any alignment or allegiance with this character, so they lack any feelings towards Thump, and while Teardrop was previously introduced, he was violent towards Ree, so without the understanding that the Ozarks have a lot of family loyalty an audience member may be confused as to why Teardrop is even there. On top of that, the audience doesn't have a strong understanding of the family's hierarchy and the beliefs of the family to predict or comprehend what will happen. Though, it also shows close-ups of someone standing behind Thump, portraying the fact that a fight wouldn't solve the problems, since they are outnumbered.
There is a close-up of Teardrop as he speaks about his brother and why Ree should be let go, this conveys to the audience that despite being aggressive earlier, Teardrop is going to defend his family, it also shows that Teardrop can be persuasive. This shows there is a family loyalty, rather than telling you or you already knowing,which is a part of the verisimilitude, because people don't talk about their loyalty unprompted, it takes an act of loyalty to show it. When watching the scene an audience member must take an active viewing, since they need to pay attention to small details to understand the social context they underlays the plot of the story.
In my opinion, I take a negotiated reading of the film, this is because I did not fully understand what was happening through the film or what characters were saying. Even without knowing the social context before watching the film, I think I would've been able to pick up upon a few of the messages, as the movie displays many of the issues surrounding the Ozark community through dialogue and camera shots. We know that women in the community do most of the work, because we're shown the women working. We know they live in a patriarchal society, because we're shown that women must ask their partner before doing things. Most mainstream viewers are used to exposition on movies, so they're not used to having to take an active viewing of films.
Winter's Bone is an neo-realistic, independent film on a young member of the Ozark community looking for her father. The sequence I have chosen is when Teardrop shows up to collect Ree from the garage, where she has been attacked. I'm starting from the moment, when the garage door opens with close-ups of each of the people in the room, then a tracking shot of the door as it opens and stops at a mid-shot of Teardrop. Through this scene there is only the diegetic sound of dialogue, the garage and of the rain outside. When Teardrop walks into the garage there is a long shot, which shows how the surrounding people respond - the men act and speak first. There is then a mid shot of Ree, curled in a ball with blood on her face behind the women, who take up part of the screen, which highlights how weak and powerless she is, which in spectatorship may make an audience member align with her and feel sympathy for her. There is a close-up of Teardrop as he looks at the men in the room and asks if the guys hit Ree, then as Merab responds it cuts to a long shot behind Teardrop, showing the inside of the garage. While she walks forward, it cuts back to a close-up of Teardrop looking at her, and then to a close-up of Merab, where she replies that "No man here touched that crazy girl" - this conveys to the audience that the men don't get their hands dirty, so the women must, though this may lead some audience members to think that the women have power, even though it is a patriarchal society. The message of the scene is more clearly understood if you know the story's context. During their conversation it cuts from close-up to close-up of the two characters, until Thump begins walking towards Teardrop and it cuts to a mid shot of the room, as he walks he comes into focus and the camera pans to him from one of the other Milton guys. When Thump is face to face with Teardrop there is a cut to a close-up of Teardrop, then a cut to a close-up to Thump, as they face off. The character of Thump was only introduced in one other scene, which means that audience members don't have any alignment or allegiance with this character, so they lack any feelings towards Thump, and while Teardrop was previously introduced, he was violent towards Ree, so without the understanding that the Ozarks have a lot of family loyalty an audience member may be confused as to why Teardrop is even there. On top of that, the audience doesn't have a strong understanding of the family's hierarchy and the beliefs of the family to predict or comprehend what will happen. Though, it also shows close-ups of someone standing behind Thump, portraying the fact that a fight wouldn't solve the problems, since they are outnumbered.
There is a close-up of Teardrop as he speaks about his brother and why Ree should be let go, this conveys to the audience that despite being aggressive earlier, Teardrop is going to defend his family, it also shows that Teardrop can be persuasive. This shows there is a family loyalty, rather than telling you or you already knowing,which is a part of the verisimilitude, because people don't talk about their loyalty unprompted, it takes an act of loyalty to show it. When watching the scene an audience member must take an active viewing, since they need to pay attention to small details to understand the social context they underlays the plot of the story.
In my opinion, I take a negotiated reading of the film, this is because I did not fully understand what was happening through the film or what characters were saying. Even without knowing the social context before watching the film, I think I would've been able to pick up upon a few of the messages, as the movie displays many of the issues surrounding the Ozark community through dialogue and camera shots. We know that women in the community do most of the work, because we're shown the women working. We know they live in a patriarchal society, because we're shown that women must ask their partner before doing things. Most mainstream viewers are used to exposition on movies, so they're not used to having to take an active viewing of films.
Comments
Post a Comment