Winter’s Bone Close-Up (“Cattle Market” Sequence)

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

Ree stands behind bars, which the camera looks through to show her or the men in the seats. This presents her as physically segregated from the men, who are above her, and do not notice her. This is reinforced when she walks along the walkway above the cattle cages. She is shown, in a wide shot, to be physically trapped in and removed from the men, also shown through the juxtaposition to the caged in cattle below her. However, she is shown to rebel against this entrapment, shouting and running, facing the opposite direction that the cows do. A close up of a screaming calf at the end of the scene represents Ree’s struggle, her panic and helplessness, and her slipping control over the situation.

The cattle cage environment is shown through a cold, blue and silver colours palette, and the dark area below the walkway seems large and imposing, as if it were stretching on forever. Close ups of cattle throughout the sequence build a sinister tone, and build contrast between Ree and them, both of whom are trapped, scared, out of control and relying on their fates to be decided by men above them.

Sound –

A loud, non-diegetic composed sound rises in the sound mix throughout the scene, disorienting the audience and giving the scene a dramatic tension, alongside a sinister, ominous undertone. The blaring, distorted, unintelligible voice of the auctioneer over speaker remains present in the background, evoking the sense of this being a masculine, “anti-feminist world”.

Editing –

Mise-En-Scen –

The men in this scene are all made to look like a singular mass, each one indistinguishable from the other, wearing similar clothing, typically with facial hair, white, middle aged.

Performance –

Ideology:

The auction is completely male-dominated space, where some stand physically higher than the rest of the room, and all the men sit above Ree, most not even noticing her. This makes Ree look physically smaller in this space. Close ups show that the men all look the same, an anonymous mass of masculinity. Ree is out of place here, seen in how she is below the men, behind bars, and when she walks in she does so beside a dog, who also looks out of place here.

Ree is also shown to be out ignored and separated from the men when she shouts down at Thump Milton, who physically cannot see or hear her. She does not have a voice, but she continues to shout and give chase to Milton, defiant against her segregated and enclosed space in society.