Component 1b: US Film Since 2005 (Spectatorship)

Explore how far the two films you have studied demonstrate the filmmakers’ attempt to control the spectator’s response.

Plan:

Intro – The filmmakers of Winter’s Bone demonstrated this to a large extent, as the spectators are encouraged to emphasise with the female characters, specifically Ree, who represents a group of repressed women, and encourages the audience to oppose the men in the film, who are represented as oppressive and ignorant. No Country For Old Men does not demonstrate this to as much an extent, as the film’s deliberate denial of conventional audience viewing pleasures, like a satisfying ending or a climax to a tense scene, leaves the film’s messages and themes more open to interpretation.

Winter’s Bone squirrel dream sequence, how it encourages us to emphasise with Ree.

Winter’s Bone squirrel gutting sequence, how Teardrop is represented as belittling and arrogant, in contrast with Ree, who is presented as an unconventional parental figure.

No Country For Old Men opening sequence, the film does demonstrate the attempts to provoke the audience to feel disgust at the killings, and like Moss through his careful and wise demeanour. However, his tracking the money and not giving the suffering man any water contradicts this, and presents him as a more ambiguous protagonist, one who we may not like.

Coin toss sequence, how Anton is made ambiguous by showing the man mercy against our expectations, and also how the scene denies conventions and allows the audience to come to their own conclusions/responses on the themes, meanings, characters of the film.

Ending sequence – no shootout, sudden character death, one character simply retiring, all leads to a denial of convention, forcing the audience to come to their own conclusions, also seen in cars crash scene and Anton’s reasons for killing Jean.

Conclusion – Winter’s Bone demonstrates the filmmaker’s attempts to control the spectator’s ]response, but No Country For Old Men largely doesn’t.

Essay:

Winter’s Bone demonstrates the filmmaker Debra Granik’s attempts at controlling the spectator’s response to a large extent due to the encouragement for them to empathise with the women of the film and oppose the men via representations of the two groups. However, the filmmakers of No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers, do not attempt to control the spectator’s response as to as high an extent, as the film denies many audience expectations and conventional viewing pleasures to encourage and allow them to come to their own conclusions.

Winter’s Bone demonstrates Debra Granik’s attempts at controlling the spectator’s response to a large extent, as seen in the squirrel dream sequence, where the spectator is encouraged to empathise with the protagonist Ree. The squirrel in the dream is shown to represent Ree through the juxtaposition of shots of it and smaller squirrels, reflecting Ree’s responsibility as a protector of her younger siblings. The increase in the editing pace of shots of the squirrel, in distress, alongside a sharp and jarring rise in the diegetic sound mix of a wood-saw, shows that the squirrel in terrified at the sign of impending danger, further shown through shots of trees burning, and the squirrel clinging onto its tree, its home. The spectator is encouraged, therefore, to sympathise with Ree, shown here to be clearly struggling to protect her home and family from the impending danger of repossession and homelessness in the winter. We also associate the blaring diegetic sound of wood-saws with the men of this traditional rural community, showing them to be the source of Ree’s struggle. Therefore, the filmmaker’s attempt to influence the spectator to empathise with Ree and oppose the men who are causing her problems, reflected in this dream sequence.

The filmmakers of Winter’s Bone also attempt to control the spectator’s response to admire Ree and her tenacity as a parental figure, and oppose the film’s antagonists, men, represented by Teardrop in the squirrel gutting sequence. Here, Ree is shown to be an unconventional role model to her siblings, teaching them to hunt despite being a woman, filling in a traditionally male role in this patriarchal community. The low angle shot of her aiming a rifle with the two younger siblings beneath her highlight her strength and defiance of the conventions of the male-dominated system. In this way, Granik attempts to influence the spectator to respect Ree, who goes against unlikely odds in this orthodox, sexist community for the sake of her family’s welfare. The audience is also influenced to oppose and dislike the men of the community, represented by Teardrop, whose clothing is dirty, with an unkept face that presents him as a repulsive human being. He belittles Ree by grabbing her face, showing that he feels he has power over her, as he is a man, and also mocks her by waving cocaine in her face, taking some himself and so highlighting the character’s degradation. Ree’s defiance, however, by meeting his eyes and refusing to be intimidated by his aggression, further encourages the spectator to support her and root against Teardrop.

Whereas Winter’s Bone demonstrates it’s filmmakers’ attempts to control the spectator’s response to a large extent, No Country For Old Men makes it’s themes more ambiguous and, therefore, open to interpretation, as seen in the opening sequence. At first, the spectator is encouraged to view Anton as a clear-cut villain and Moss as a stoic protagonist. The brutality of Anton’s initial murders of innocent people in contrast to his seeming lack of emotion represents him as an inhuman sociopath, and so the spectator is encouraged to disagree with this actions. Moss, on the other hand, is portrayed as calm, composed and intelligent, carefully surveying a crime scene and assessing where the money could have gone to with a careful methodology, presenting him as a responsible, experienced veteran. Therefore, the spectator is encouraged by the filmmakers to support him on his journey. However, the characters are not entirely clear-cut in how they are represented as good or bad. Moss, for example, does not aid the dying man begging for water, and kills a wild animal while hunting, which presents him as cold and relatively uncaring of other’s suffering. He also decides to steal the money he finds, with no explanation of why he does so. The spectator, therefore, is allowed to read the character’s actions independently, and may decide that he is doing it so support his family, or out of simple greed. In this way, the protagonist is not entirely good or conventional, and is left more ambiguous through his actions. Therefore, the Coen Brothers do not always attempt to control the spectator’s response.

The filmmakers No Country For Old Men also allow the spectator to respond independently of their influence or direction through the actions of Anton in the coin toss sequence. Here, Anton is established further as a cruel and intimidating figure, who seems to enjoy threatening an innocent gas station clerk and seeing the man’s frightened reactions and desperateness to get away from Anton, as evidenced by the line “You don’t know what your’e talking about” when the man says that he needs to close his shop. This prompts the audience to further dislike Anton’s character, however, the scene ends, surprisingly, without any bloodshed, Anton allowing the man to live because of his lucky call of a coin toss. This presents Anton as a man who only kills out of necessity, as seen in his murder of the police officer in the opening sequence to escape the police station. This small level of benevolence further perpetuates Anton’s image as an embodiment of death, leaving the spectator to come to their own conclusions on the character. Even if their reading of the film is aberrant, the Coen Brothers allow them to make respond to the messages and themes of No Country Of Old Men, without being fed information through explicit character actions.

The Coen Brothers also do not attempt to control the spectator’s response in the ending sequence of No Country Of Old Men. In this sequence, the film ends in an anti-climatic way, Moss being killed offscreen before his final duel with Anton, and Sheriff Bell simply retiring. This abrupt and emotionally unsatisfying ending goes against typical western movie conventions where the distinctly and recognisable good protagonist triumphs against the detestable and undoubtedly bad antagonist, instead allowing the villain to live while the hero dies randomly and without dignity, shown to be lying in his own blood in a random motel doorway, killed by a group of unknown gangsters. The abrupt conclusion to this rivalry does not try to coerce the spectator into feeling happy or frustrated with the ending, as the ambiguous nature of the ending instead encourages them to come to their own conclusions. Although most audience members will likely feel unsatisfied at the sudden ending, they are given the freedom by the filmmakers to make their own minds up on what the meaning of the film is, and to respond in an individual way, rather than a conventional ending to the story telling them how to feel, i.e happy that the villain failed. The ending sequence also allows the spectator to respond independently by again presenting Anton as a somewhat merciful figure. Although he hunts done Carla Jean because of his promise to Moss to kill her, he gives her the option of staking her life on the coin toss. Her refusal to play, in his philosophy, essentially forfeits her life, and so the murder is to him, justified. Even though the spectator is encouraged to sympathise with Jean through her loss of husband and mother and clearly mourning for the deaths, having done nothing herself to provoke Anton’s aggression. Still, the spectator, while likely viewing Anton as cruel and uncaring, will see that he has a code he sticks to, and Jean refused her chance at survival, and so are given some measure of independence here in responding to the film Therefore, No Country For Old Men demonstrates it’s filmmakers’ attempts at controlling the spectator’s response to a small extent.

Winter’s Bone demonstrates it’s filmmakers’ attempts at controlling the spectator’s response to a large extent, as Debra Granik influences the audience to emphasise with and support Ree, a strong woman who stands against the injustices and inequalities of a male-dominated, sexist society, and encourages the spectator to oppose said society and the oppressive men in it, represented by the repulsive and mocking Teardrop. No Country For Old Men, however, demonstrates it’s filmmakers’ attempts at controlling the spectator’s response to a small extent as, although they are encouraged to view Anton as cruel and Moss as stoic and wise, both characters are given a sense of ambiguity, through Anton’s harsh but strict moral code and Moss’s cold lack of compassion and the ambiguous reasons for stealing the money, alongside the unconventional ending that does not force or encourage the spectator to respond positively to a typical victory of good over evil. Instead, neither side wins, and the spectator is allowed to decide the meaning and significance of the abrupt conclusion.

Component 1b: US Film Since 2005 (Ideology)

How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes of your chosen films?

Plan:

Intro – Very important, as a feminist ideological analysis allows for various meanings to be extracted from a film with an implicit ideology, winters bone, which comments on feminism in an anti-feminist world. It would not be as effective an approach to no country for old men as an approach of determinism, which allows for the films implicit messages about the important role of chance in death to be analysed.

A feminist ideological analysis has been very valuable in an analysis of winters bone due to the films implicit messages about the inequality of genders and traditionalist gender roles in a rural, orthodox community (Insert Granik quote), e.g., opening sequence.

It has also been valuable due to the films denial of the male gaze and passing of the bechdell test (insert context here). It also goes against the patriarchal traditions of a male-dominated society by utilising a strong protagonist and villainous male characters who serve as obstacles to her, e.g., cattle market sequence.

No country for old men is better analysed through a deterministic ideological approach, due to the films implicit emphasis on chance and randomness in death, e.g., coin toss sequence.

An ideological approach of chance is also valuable due to the films abrupt conclusion, which also emphasises the role of chance in fate, e.g., ending sequence.

A feminist ideological analysis of Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010) is very valuable, as it allows for the films implicit messages about inequality in male-dominated society and the strength of an unconventional female protagonist. A deterministic ideological approach is more valuable in developing understanding of the themes of No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007).

Essay:

A feminist ideological analysis is very valuable in understanding the themes of Winter’s Bone due to they film’s implicit messaged about the impacts of inequality between men in women in a traditional, patriarchal society. A feminist analysis of No Country For Old Men is less valuable, but a deterministic approach would be valuable due to the films messages about the role of chance and the random nature of death.

A feminist ideological approach is very valuable for developing an understanding of the themes of Winter’s Bone, as the film is “a feminist film about an anti-feminist world”. This can be seen in the representation of gender roles in the opening sequence of the film, where Ree, a young woman, takes paternal responsibility and cares for her family, e.g., combing her ill mothers hair and walking her younger siblings to school. She is shown to have traditionally masculine traits, e.g., she clearly desires to enter the military, as seen in her longing look through a window at students training to join. This is in defiance of the men in the rural, isolated Ozarks community, who are shown to have dominance and the roles of protectors, such as when Tonya’s husband warningly approaches the Sheriff at the end of the scene with a knife, showing him to consider the property his territory, protecting the women in it. This shows that there is a clear gender divide, as the women, like Tonya, passively care for the cattle and the land, while the men hunt, as evidenced by the dead game that Tonya and her husband cut up. Therefore, a feminist ideological approach is very valuable in understanding the themes of the film, as the film comments on the inequalities of a traditional, patriarchal society where men are dominant in authority and control over women.

A feminist ideological approach is also very valuable in understanding the themes of Winter’s Bone due to the film’s denial of traditional, male-dominated industry film conventions. The film passes the Bechdell Test, as it follows primarily female protagonists in a struggle against a system that is unfair towards them for their sex. This can be seen in the cattle market sequence, where Ree stands out alone in a room dominated by only men, showing her to be isolated, an outsider in this macho community. The films also denies the Male Gaze, as Ree is not glamourised for the arbitrary viewing pleasures of male audience members, instead wearing dull, baggy clothing, with little makeup and a role as both mother and father, performing traditionally male tasks, like hunting in the squirrel gutting sequence and teaching the children to cook, like at the end of the opening sequence, when she shows them how to cook a deer stew.

A feminist ideological approach is also very valuable in understanding the film’s themes as it allows for the audience to understand the explicit representation of men being oppressive and tyrannical over women in this society, alongside the sharp sex divide and subsequent inequality this causes. This can be seen in the cattle market sequence, where the juxtaposition of shots of frightened cattle and a desperate Ree emphasises her entrapment in this harsh system, alongside her physical enclosure behind walkway railings, similar to the cattle in cages. As she shouts desperately for Milton’s attention, he neither hears nor sees her, representing the isolation of women in the society by the men, who are only concerned with their own positions of power over the women. A sharp increase in the non diegetic composed score increases the tension of the scene, heightening the audience’s panic, immersing us in Ree’s desperate position and, therefore, helping us understand her helplessness in this oppressive system. Therefore, a feminist ideological analysis to Winter’s Bone is very valuable in understanding it’s themes.

While a feminist ideological reading of Winter’s Bone is very valuable for understanding the implicit feminist messages and themes of the film, it would not be as effective in understanding the themes of No Country For Old Men, which would be better served by a deterministic ideological analysis. The film largely focuses on the significant role of pure chance and randomness in death, as seen in the coin toss sequence. In this scene, tension is built through interspersed rises in the non diegetic composed score, slowly dollying in on claustrophobic over-the-shoulder shots of the two men, and a drawn out silence in the sound mix add’s a strong sense of anxiety and suspense to the scene. However, despite the strong suggestions that the scene will end in a dramatic climax, the clerk simply calls the coin toss correctly and Anton leaves him alive. This abrupt and unsatisfying end to the scene means it made no impact on the plot. However, it serves to emphasise the importance of chance in death, showing that sometimes, even when death is expected, it may not come, as ultimately the process is random, represented here by the purely random decision of a coin toss. This theme is perpetuated by Anton’s representation as a grim reaper-like figure, with black clothing, an emotionless tone of voice, and uncanny, even inhuman characteristics, like finding enjoyment in the man’s fear, as seen in his knowing smile when he says “I can come back then”, implying he will kill the man in his sleep. The themes of death in this scene is also represented by the noose-like ropes hanging behind the clerk’s head, representing his brisk encounter with death, denied only by a random coin toss.

A deterministic ideological approach to No Country For Old Men is also very valuable in developing understanding of the film’s themes due to the large role that determinism plays in the ending sequence. As in the coin toss sequence, much time is spent throughout the film to raise tension, presumably buildings towards a final showdown between the protagonist, Moss, and the antagonist, Anton. However, Moss is killed offscreen while having idle conversation with a random woman, shot by people we do not know and left to die in an undignified way, bleeding in a mole doorway. This sudden emotionally unsatisfying and jarring ending to Moss’s journey serves to remind the audience of the way that death works, chance. It does not wait for events to reach a crescendo, and strikes suddenly, without warning, and leaving us confused. This can also be seen in the death of the poolside woman, who had no involvement in events, but became just another victim of random, careless violence. The sudden nature of the event is perpetuated by the first person perspective, shaky handheld camera movements putting us in Bell’s position during the shootout. Upon discovering Moss’s body, he is shocked, the unexpected event prompting him to retire from his career in dismay at and fear of the uncaring violence that permeates the film.

A deterministic ideological approach is very valuable in understanding the themes of No Country For Old Men also because of the way that random violence plays out in the final sequence of the film. In the final scene, alongside Moss’s sudden death, his widow, Carla Jean, is killed by Anton, who represents an emotionless death, as evidenced by Anton’s clear lack of sympathy for Jean, who has recently lost two loved ones and has done nothing to deserve death. In this scene, Anton himself is also nearly killed in a sudden car crash. Leading up to the crash, we see that he is following traffic codes by crossing a junction at a green light, causing him to presume that he is safe. However, the random nature of the crash, perpetuated by the fact that it does nothing to progress the plot, reinforces the theme of determinism. Similarly to the coin toss scene, death does not occur here, but the random near-death-experience shows that violence can still happen at random. The fact that Anton himself, the personification of death, is a victim of the randomness of violence reinforces the indiscriminate nature of death. Therefore, a deterministic ideological approach is very valuable in understanding the themes of No Country For Old Men.

A feminist ideological analysis of Winter’s Bone is very valuable to understanding the film’s themes due to the implicit imagery in the cattle market sequence displaying the helpless situation of women like Ree in an “anti-feminist world”, the denial of the male gaze, the exposure of the inequality between traditional gender roles and a strong protagonist who does not fit specifically into male or female societal roles. A deterministic ideological approach to No Country For Old Men is more valuable in understanding the film’s themes of the unpredictability and uncaring nature of death, as seen in the unforeseeable deaths of Moss and Carla Jean in the ending sequence, and the miraculous chance encounters with death of Anton and the gas station clerk in the ending and coin toss sequences. Therefore, a feminist approach to Winter’s Bone and a deterministic approach to No Country For Old Men are very valuable in understanding the themes of the film’s. However, using one of the two analyses on both films would not be very valuable, as the two hold very different messages, the former focusing on the perseverance of a strong female protagonist in a male-dominated society, the latter emphasising the random, cruel nature of death.

No Country For Old Men Close-Up (Closing Sequence)

Multiple events in the closing sequence reinforce the primary crocus of the narrative, chance and it’s role in death. Firstly, Carla Jean, a woman who has had almost no role in the events of the film, is killed by Anton merely because he promised he would do so, presenting him, again, as an incarnation of death. However, he leaves her life up to the role of luck with a coin toss, saying that “This is the best I can do for you”, implying she at least has a chance of surviving this way. However, she guarantees her death by refusing to call the coin. Therefore, the only character in the film to not play Anton’s game of chance has a certain death as a result, proving that to deny death is to guarantee it.

Another way in which the role/importance of chance is reinforced is through Anton’s own near death experience in a random car crash. He follows the rules of the road, going past a green light, but is nearly killed by a sudden, jarring car crash. He survives, but is left seriously injured. Not only does the random crash signify the role of chance, but Anton surviving does too, showing that often events may be random and have no consequence, merely happening by pure chance or misfortune. In this way, it reflects the survival of the gas station clerk from earlier in the film. He survives by pure luck, and in the end, the seeming pointlessness of the scene serves to back up the role of chance in death.

Also, Bell’s conversation with his relative also evidences the role of chance. They speak about the relative being crippled by a man who recently died in prison, and Uncle Mac, who was suddenly shot down in his porch and died in the night after. The grim nature of the sequence of random, uncorrelated violence further perpetuates the vital role of chance in death, or even ones life, shown in how Bell’s relative still lives, despite his brisk encounter with death. His serving and the man who crippled him shows the randomness of death, alongside the pointlessness of the encounter. The man’s life has been ruined by a random event. Ceaseless, meaningless chaos. The very reason that Bell retires. Even Bell’s line (I’m older now than he ever was by twenty years.”, speaking on his father, shows that death does not wait on or is correlated to age. Hence the random and brutal deaths deaths of younger and aspiring men like Moss in the film.

No Country For Old Men Close-Up (“What’s Coming” Sequence)

The ideological approach of chance is backed up the by nature of Moss’s death. All the film, he has been built as a protagonist who will engage in a climatic shootout with the villain. He engages in idle conversation with a random woman during a bright day, a relatively pointless scene that feels safe for the audience. However, we then see the aftermath of a random shootout with Moss, with almost no buildup to it, from a relatively uninvolved characters perspective. Moss was killed, in an undignified way, offscreen by a group of characters we never knew. This reinforces the role of chance, alongside the uninvolved woman’s death by the pool, showing that death is uncaring of your role in events, and is so random that it may even come, abruptly and without warning, at the hands of something you were not expecting. This unnatural, unsatisfying ending for the audience confirms the films primary ideology of chance/its role in death, or life.

Bell’s lack of direct involvement with the main narrative in the film, and his role as one of the films few survivors and the one who contemplates the chaos once it is over, reflects his luck at surviving death merely by not being too closely involved in events.

No Country For Old Men Close-Up (“Call It, friend-o” Sequence)

This sequence serves to establish Anton’s behaviour as a harbinger of random death, brought about purely by chance. Anton does not wish to kill the gas station clerk, instead leaving his death up to the flip of a coin. In this way, he exemplifies the qualities of death. Uncaring of morals or warrant, but unstoppable and often random, unprovoked.

The ropes placed behind the clerk’s head signify death, alongside Anton’s appearance. He wears dark, simple clothing, with a bizarre haircut that almost emulates a cloak hood, painting him as a grim reaper like figure.

Tension is built throughout the scene through claustrophobic over the shoulder shot reverse shots between the men, which slowly dolly in after Anton’s threats are less veiled. A subtle, non diegetic composed score players at a small interval builds a steering tension in the atmosphere, alongside the more abundant use of silence which raises the suspense towards what we expect to be a climax. However, the lack of one further cements the ideological approach of chance and luck, as the man lives, against our expectations (established by the tension built throughout the scene), showing that death is random, and so may not occur even when expected. Therefore, the outcome of this scene, where a person who did not warrant death survives through sheer luck of the coin landing heads, contrasts later scenes in the film where characters die or are injured by random events, like car crashes, or abrupt shootouts.

Important quotes:

“You stand to win everything, call it.” This line means that if the man calls the coin correctly, he simply gets to continue living, perpetuating the role of chance in death, which may often not happen despite our expectations, and a near death experience, much like this scene, can feel pointless or inconsequential.

“You’ve been putting it up your whole life, you just didn’t know it.” Here, Anton virtually tells the man that all his life he has been travelling toward death. Despite this seemingly backing up a fatalist ideological approach to the film, the coin toss makes the final decision, and its random approval of the mans right to continue living counteracts this quote by Anton that death by his hands is the man’s fate.

No Country For Old Men Close-Up (Opening Sequence)

Looking at the film from an ideological approach of chance and the role of randomness in death, we can see the first allusion to this mentioned in the narration by Ed Tom Bell. He speaks about the chaotic nature of crime nowadays, speaking about the murder of a 14 year old girl. While the murderer was believed to have done it as a crime of passion, the brutality of the story is the first sign that Bell feels lost and “overmatched” by the chaotic and unprejudiced violence in the world. This same violence can be seen in the brutal, uncaring killings that Anton Chigurh commits in the next few minutes. He seems to exhibit no emotion as he murders two innocent people simply because they are an obstacle to him, showing him to serve as a sort of embodiment of the cruel and uncaring nature of death. These two people did not deserve or provoke it. They simply died due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lywelyn Moss is established as an experienced, careful and methodical character through the slow paced, patient hunting sequence. He does not rush into the drug deal gone wrong, instead he carefully and methodically surveys the scene and investigates what happened. His monologue to himself, “but if you stopped, you stopped in chase.”, confirms that he is calm, intelligent, and composed. He even waits a long time before approaching the body of the last man standing, and while looking into the bag of money, contemplates to himself for a short time before leaving with the money.

Ideology Brainstorm

A reading of No Country Old Men would benefit from an ideological approach of chance, as the film contains many underlying themes that require an active spectatorship to realise. The film focuses much on the role of chance in the fates of its characters, many of whom die or survive by sheer luck. Nothing is predetermined, many left up to random chance, seen in the use of the coin toss. Feminism would not be a good approach to take for this film, as there are few female protagonists, and the film does not pay much attention to gender roles, like Winter’s Bone.

For Winter’s Bone, a feminist ideological approach is valuable as the film strongly implies that to be the core of its message. The film follows female characters in a male-dominated community, and throughout the film overrides the patriarchal society through female characters taking initiative and control for themselves. An ideological approach of chance would not suit this film, as it does not focus on randomness or luck, etc.

Winter’s Bone Close-Up (Closing Sequence)

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

Sound –

Editing –

MIse-En-Scen –

Performance –

Merab is threatening, and shows no sign of fear with a rifle aimed at her, showing that she is used to violence. Ree, also, is bloodied, aggressive and quick to anger.

The Sheriff at the end of the scene looks disgusted by the sight of the hands, whereas Ree has no visible reaction to it, having, seemingly, overcome her grief. The man is the coward here., the one displaying hysteria.

Ideology:

In summary, the film is about a woman struggling against problems forced on her by a patriarchal society, and in the end survives by her own resilience, independence, and help from a group of women. The men in the film either represent the threats she faces, such as the bale bondsman or the Sheriff, or the toor of her problems, like Thump Milton and Jessop, or are entirely useless to her, again like Milton or Jessop.

The story is not resolved through a violent climax, as it would typically be in male-dominated Hollywood. Instead, the resolution contains only female characters, and overtly avoids a showdown or a fight. Therefore, the film is atypical, following women from a woman’s POV, made by women, resolved in a rare way. This choice to go against violence is seen in Ree choosing to leave her gun behind, on trust, putting herself at risk to protect her family. In contrast, Teardrop, at the end of the sequence, implies to Ree that he is going to kill Jessop’s murderer. Due to a sense of toxic masculinity and a belief that he is bound through some sort of flawed, invisible code of loyalty or honour, he puts himself at risk not to protect the family, but to enact petty revenge, only exacerbating the cycle of violence. Ree was only ever involved in this situation out of necessity, wherea Teardrop had no actual need to take revenge. It is his choice, and he, weakly, decides to pursue violence, rather than protecting his family, like Ree did. Ree even chooses to stay home and help the kids rather than following g her dream and joining the army, sacrificing her own life for theirs.

Often in film women are objectified. Here, the opposite happens, as Jessop serves only as a corpse, an object. And in the end, a woman saves the day. Ree commits to a horrific task of removing her fathers hands, all to protect her family, despite the obvious trauma it causes her. Alongside this, in her final conversation with the Sheriff, Ree holds the leverage, not the man, as he pleads with her not to expose him as a coward. She knows this, mocking him, and leaves knowing that she has the power over the man, not the other way around, for once.

In the final scene, Ree, her mother and the daughter do the laundry, whereas the boy, Sonny, just plays idly on a nearby skateboard. The chicks that Teardop gives to the kids as a gift represent the children taking on their own parental responsibilities.

Winter’s Bone Close-Up (“Squirrel Dream” Sequence)

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

The scene is shot entirely differently to the rest of it, done in black and white and in a smaller 4 by 3 aspect ratio, with a grainy, vintage video quality that evokes the aesthetic of a documentary or home video. This creates a surrealistic, intimate feel to the scene. The scene feels real, yet surreal and metaphoric.

The camera movements in the scene are disorienting, moving randomly and shaking. A worms eye view and an arch shot around a tree trunk put us in the squirrels POV, evoking the sense of panic and rushing momentum of the scene, also helping us understand the fear that the squirrel has.

Ominous imagery like burning woods and a canted angle shot of vultures disregarding their carrion create a gloomy atmosphere and imply that danger is encroaching on Ree’s life at a rapid pace, and that she cannot do anything about it. This is also seen in the shot of the squirrel clinging onto its tree, it’s gone, protectively, played before a wide shot shows the woods burning up, conveying a sense of finality and doom.

Sound –

A loud, imposing and disorienting diegetic sound of chainsaws dominates the sound mix, putting the viewer on edge, as it does the squirrel. It evokes a feeling of impending doom, emphasises by the images of fire and the frantic squirrel, as if the animal, representing Ree, is being closed in on by threatening forces. The sound also emulates the wood cutter that Ree was using earlier in the film, a device typically used by men. Therefore, the sound of it used here can be interpreted to mean the approach of men, cutting down the woods, which here represent Ree’s home and lands.

A non diegetic composed score dominates the sound mix. It is overbearing, discordant and imposing on the audience, building tension and a sense of chaos in the scene, alongside a sense of impending doom. This sense is also created when the sound of chainsaws is louder the second time it plays. This same chainsaw sound also foreshadows Ree’s later task of sawing off her father’s dead hands. The entire scene, in fact, implies that Ree will have to make drastic decisions to save herself from a cruel, tragic fate.

Editing –

Mise-En-Scen –

Performance –

We understand the imposing sound of chainsaws to be intimidating the squirrel due to it’s frantic, panicked and darting movements. It looks around as if searching for a threat, and runs as if trying to avoid one.

Ideology:

The squirrel in the dream represents Ree, with smaller squirrels dependent on it, as it panics and tries to avoid an imposing, unstoppable approaching force that traps and encloses her, helpless. The whole scene evokes her slipping control over her circumstances as she nears losing her home.

In conclusion, this sequence presents Ree as trapped in by a cruel system and an even crueler fate that she is almost hopeless to survive, which approaches her, her home, and her family at a rapid pace.

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.

Winter’s Bone close-Up (“Squirrel Gutting” Sequence)

Key elements:

Cinematography –

The woods stretching into the background of the shot of Ree and her siblings look monotonous, grey and dead, evoking a quiet, still, empty environment.

Ree is shown in the shot to be the one in charge, centrally framed, surrounded by her shorter siblings, with the prominent rifle aimed.

The camera focuses on the gutting of the squirrel, displaying the gruesome nature of this lesson the kids have to learn.

When Ree is cutting wood, she is shown in a wide shot, showing that she feels trapped in her environment, reflecting her struggle with poverty, surviving, and finding Jessop. This shot also allows for us to see the large mound of discarded tyres littering the foreground, further establishing the poverty of the community, alongside the large, imposing barn that Ree stands in, which is made crudely out of wooden planks. Tight over the shoulder shots during her conversation with Teardrop increases the tension and uncomfortable nature of the moment.

Sound –

The choice of only using diegetic sounds in the sequence create a sense of realism, and evoke a silent, dead atmosphere, also giving the film a more serious tone.

Editing –

Mise-En-Scen –

An example of Ree being presented in a way that denies the male gaze by being naturalistic and unappealing is through her chapped lips. Teardrop is also presented in a realistic way, presented as a man who is clearly living in depravity and addicted to a harmful drug. He looks menacing, and this is also shown through Ree’s clear discomfort around him.

Performance –

The characters act in a naturalistic way, seen in how Ree tells her brother “bless you” after he sneezes. This presents her as caring, polite and a realistic person. Her behaviours and mannerisms are naturalistic. She is also shown to be a strong, if harsh mother figure, sternly telling her brother to get used to gutting the animal. She takes on the attitude of a stern mother while doing a typically male job, acting as a parental/teacher figure. She is also clearly knowledgeable on the subject of hunting, showing her experience and her comfort ability/skill in these traditionally male roles.

When Ree receives news of Jessop’s burned car, she gives no apparent emotional reaction, presenting her as mature, composed and strong. It also shows how disconnected her father is from her family. Teardrop is patronising to Ree, calling her “little girl” and trying to intimidate her by grabbing her face after she confidently tells him that she wont sell her land. She does not seem afraid though, meeting his gaze and refusing to shy away. In this way, she is presented as being above Teardrop morally, physically healthier than him. He blinks slowly and speaks in a way that makes him sound slow or inhibited or tired. She speaks with confident clarity, while he has to rely on intimidation to sway Ree. This subtle power dynamic is also seen in how she is clearly disapproving of hid cocaine usage, which she literally turns her nose at. This shows that she recognises her responsibilities as a parent figure and role mode. She also confidently and sarcastically tells Teardrop “not so far”, when he asks if she is addicted to it herself yet. Despitre all this, Teardrops aid through money, advice on how to financially support herself, his enquiry about Ree’s mother, all suggest that he does care about her and the family’s welfare.

Ideology:

Ree is further shown to be the one with responsibility, caring for the family by hunting, a traditionally male role. However, she also cares for the children, teaching them to fend for themselves, a maternal role. This role as mother and father at once is seen in her life lesson of “never ask for what ought to be offered” to her brother, and, in contrast, her teaching them to hunt animals for food. By acting as a maternal and paternal figure, she is presented as un-gendered /in a way that is not particularly one gender or another. Rather, she is an individual, not a stereotype. In this way, the film denies the male gaze. Ree is also shown to fill masculine roles by her cutting wood with a wood splitter in the next scene.

The young girl seems to be taking most roles, as she pulls the guns trigger, and intently watches the gutting, showing her concentration and eagerness to learn. She shows no signs of disgust at the gutting, and does not shy away from the corpse. In contrast, her brother seems upset by the sight, and is clearly bored while waiting for a squirrel to appear. In this way, the female character actually takes on more responsibility than the male one. She represents the next generation of women who will take up traditionally male roles.

Ree fills all teacher/parental roles in the film, presenting her as neither feminine or masculine, but independent and strong, selfless and confident.

Winters Bone Close-Up (Opening Sequence)

Overview:

We are introduced to Ree, her family, and her daily life in the rural Ozark’s. We see that she is struggling financially, having to rely on her neighbours for food and giving away her horse as she cannot afford hay. We also learn from a tense interaction with the local Sheriff that her father, Jessie, has been released from prison, but since he is not appearing for court, the house and lands that Ree lives in are at risk of repossession as they are up for her fathers bond. She commits to finding him before she loses everything.

Key elements:

Cinematography –

The rural environment is shown through a cool, silvery blue colour palette which evokes a cold temperature and still, dead atmosphere. The inside of the home is a contrasting warm, dimly lit, orange palette that evokes a feeling of warmth and homeliness, emphasised by the intimate moments that Ree shares with her family, such as when she looks after her mother and her brother shows them the stray dog he found.

The family is shown to be struggling with poverty and are trapped in it by the way that the kids are shown through a frame within a frame between railing bars near the start of the scene as they play with kittens.

Ree is shown to be isolated when she looks through a window to her siblings in class, and when she looks in on the military trainees, she watches through a physical, translucent barrier, showing that she is held back from joining. She is isolated from adults, people her age, and younger people. Also, the brightly lit hall where people train evokes her ambition and desire to join herself. She is also shown to be trapped by the wide shots eh is shown in, such as when she walks away from Sonya after giving her horse away, simulating her feeling of being trapped by her poverty.

Sound –

The non-diegetic composed score accompanying the establishing shot of the rural environment immediately establish the Missouri Ozark’s as the setting of the film. The song is somber and melancholic, accompanied only by the diegetic sounds of the children playing, lending the film a quiet, dull atmosphere.

The moment that a non-diegetic droning increases in the sound mix rises to add tension to the scene where Sonya questions Ree on where Jessop. It is made more tense by the relative silence that has building up to it.

Editing –

The slow pace and relative silence of the opening scene establishes the loneliness and bleak situation that Ree is in.

Mise-en-scen –

They environment of the Ozark’s is immediately presented as empty and hollow, with dead grass, dark trees, grey skies and sparse, wooden homes surrounded by litter.

The poverty that Ree and her family live in is established through the grim looking food, cluttered and cramped house, messy garden filled with disregarded kids toys, tyres and farming equipment, and the gone-off food the starved and cold looking dog has to eat. The children have no beds, instead sleeping on the chairs and sofa. In contrast, the school seems bright, clean and warm.

The clothing of all the characters in the film is gender-neutral, in that it does not present any characters as more feminine or masculine. This is true for Ree, whose clothing is baggy, with muted colours, and looks as dull as the Ozark’s she lives in.

Ree looks much younger than the older characters in the film, such as Sonya, which, in turn, presents them as more experienced and weathered. Also, by presenting the women as similar to the men in their clothing, or by having older female characters, the movie denies the male gaze.

The sheriff is presented as an outsider by his clean, shiny car and presentable uniform . It shows that he is not like the locals, and conveys Ree’s discomfort near him and subsequent distrust and coldness towards him.

Performance –

The children are shown as innocent and happy, unlike Ree, who clearly takes on the hardships of being a young carer, and so seems relatively hapless.

Ideology:

The films ideology is explicit in that it follows mostly women, the story being told through a female perspective (a female who revolts against conventional female roles in a patriarchal society), and features a strong, self-reliant woman as the protagonist. Much of the audience’s satisfaction also comes from seeing this character overcome the challenges she faces, many a result of the rural, patriarchal community she lives in. However, it is also implicit in that this theme is built up throughout the film as an underlying idea, the main focus of the film’s narrative being the hunt for Ree’s missing father, her growth as a strong female character a large, accompanying aspect of the story.

“A feminist film about an anti-feminist world”.

This quote is backed up every time that a female character goes against a clear gender stereotype or role in the rural society of the film.

Ree is immediately established as the protector of the family, serving as what would traditionally be ‘the man of the house’ in most rural, isolated country communities such as this one. From her first appearance, she looks tired as she hangs up clothes as the children play around her, literally looking up to her. Ree also stands above her mother, showing her responsibility as the carer of the home and the family, without any present or able minded adults. She is established as an independent self-reliant woman by her teaching the children and caring for her mother. We also see her taking the maternal role by teaching the kids lessons and giving them roles, the girl takes on the job of feeding the god and the kittens, the boy looks after a dog he found in the woods, Ree teaches the girl maths and spelling, the boy manners, and both of them how to cook. We also see her looking in on the kids in class, with a hint of pride on her face, presenting her even more as a mother figure.

Ree is presented in a way that denies the ‘male gaze’ theory, wearing baggy and dull clothing, shown in dim or overcast light, surrounded by an unclean home and being seen washing her face in a sink, a realistic but unattractive moment. She is not glamorised by makeup or eye-catching clothing. She is presented as a real person, who is not sexual or treated as a sex object to any extent, rather the opposite.

At school, Ree seems to be avoiding the child-care training room, where women are clearly being indoctrinated into the patriarchal role of being the carer of the house and children. However, there is a man in there being trained to hold a baby, which is a reversal of traditional gender roles in the rural community. This is also seen in the emphasis placed on the women training to join the military. She is not just forced to be a strong individual, but seems to want to be stronger, striving to join the military. This is also evidenced by her seemingly being embarrassed to ask for help from Sonya when she gives her horse to her and her teaching her brother to “never ask for what ought to be offered”.

Ree’s neighbour, Sonya, looks after the horses, a traditionally male dominated farming role. She is also later seen carving up game with her husband, rather than just him doing it. At the same time, though, her husband warningly approaches the sheriff as if protecting his local community, taking on the traditional, protective male role.

The sheriff is clearly hated by this small community, seen in how cold Ree is toward him. Ree takes on the mothers role again here, telling the sheriff “you better just tell me” after he fails to talk to her, symbolising Ree’s assumed responsibility as the mother, and the hardships that involves. She is resolute in her task to find Jessop, interrupting the sheriff and telling him, confidently, that she will find him.

When Sonya enters the home, she addressed Ree first, then the kids, then Ree’s mother, showing the authority and dynamic of who shares most of the responsibility in the home.She also stands up for herself when Sonya accuses her of knowing where Jessop is. The ending of the scene exemplifies Ree’s sacrifice of her comfort to look after her family, seen when she lets out her anxiety at Sonya’s accusations in a huff, then, before having time to relax, turns and begins teaching the kids to cook deer stew.

The film technically does not pass the Bechdell test, as while there are multiple names female characters, their main source of discussion, motivating factor and the thing that drives the plot forward is Jessop’s disappearance, a male character (although, when Sonya and Ree first speak, it is about a horse, so…you be the judge of this!). However, it denies the male gaze, displaying realistic female characters through the perspective of a woman who goes against traditional, patriarchal roles in society.

Ree’s appearance is realistic, the film one of social realism, presented as a person who is not sexual or sexually suggestive in any way.

Feminist Film: An Introduction

Feminism is an ideology that advocates women’s rights and equality between the sexes, such as equal pay for women, rather than women earning less than men.

Feminist Film:

Feminist film is film that holds a feminist ideology, made by a feminist director, that push feminist ideals to the audience, who may have a preferred, aberrant, etc. reading of the film. These films will focus on women, typically having female protagonists, their roles, place in contemporary society and the society itself. It may present men as antagonists or obstacles, and may present women as victims of the society.

The Bechdell Test:

The Bechdell Test, created by Alison Bechdel, is a test that determines the representation of women in film. It determines this by a checklist; does the film have two women talking about something other than a man? It can also be determined by if the film even contains two named women. The test indicates the active presence of women in fiction in general, rather than a specific piece, calling attention to a lack of equal gender equality in fiction. It is evidenced that films that pass the test gross more on average than films which do not.

The Male Gaze:

The male gaze, initially coined as a concept to analyse the representation of women as objects rather than people in advertising and media, is the act of presenting women in fiction from a masculine perspective, presenting them as sexual objects for male viewers to desire. It has three perspectives: the man behind the camera, the male characters within the film, the male viewer.

No Country For Old Men Contextualised

The film is based of the 2005 novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy which centres around the violence associated with the drug trade at the border between the U.S and Mexico. The film strays from the book in a few regards, choosing to keep the plot somewhat unresolved at the end, for example, not explaining what happened to the drug money. It does share some qualities though, such as the persistence of Anton, who eventually escapes, leaving Bell contemplating his place in the modern world.

The directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, are known for producing darkly comedic, rural crime thrillers. In the film, they utilise minimal sound design and editing to raise tension through the simplicity of how the scenes are presented to us, allowing the audience to become immersed in the atmosphere and enthralled by the slow buildup, which the Brothers take their time with establishing, before a short but explosive, bloody climax. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer, is recognisable for his use for dark lighting, characterised by strong shadows and sharp contrast tween light and dark, to raise suspense and tension through the films visuals.

As a pair of auteur directors, the brothers have much creative control (Roderick Jaynes edited No Country For Old Men, a fictional name made up as a disguise for the films actual editors, Joel and Ethan Coen), there are reoccurring motifs throughout their filmography. Their films often take place in rural Southern American, dry, expansive landscapes where morally grey characters driven typically by money are hunted by psychopathic hitmen, involving surreal dream sequences and shocking climaxes, and also use reoccurring actors like Frances McDormand and John Goodman. Their films are almost always crime-centred, following immoral characters with dry senses of humour that results in the films often holding qualities of dark comedies. No Country For Old Men makes few attempts to be funny.

They have won many awards, No Country For Old Men winning four like best adapted screenplay and best director, three BAFTA awards and two Golden Globe wins, so fifteen wins overall, with 101 nominations overall (for all of the previously mentioned awards). Their films tend to turn profits, e.g The Big Lebowski had a budget of $15 million and made $46.7 million, No Country For Old Men had $25 million and made $171.6 million, O’ Brother Where Art Thou had $26 million and made $72 million.

No Country For Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 2007)

No Country For Old Men (Jone Coen, Ethan Coen, 2007) follows Llewelyn Moss, a man who is out hunting one day when he stumbles upon a drug deal gone arry, and comes home with a satchel with $2 million in it. He is pursued by Anton Chigurgh, a sociopathic hitman who ruthlessly always every person who he encounters on the road to finding Moss, often leaving their fate to the decision of a coin toss. Finally, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell follows the chaotic trail of the crimes and tries to save Moss from his own ambition, contemplating the nature of the modern world and the ceaseless violence that permeates within it.

The film utilises moments of long, drawn out silence to build tension, alongside hard lighting to raise suspense and terror within the audience. It is brutal, using strong violence to convey the cruel nature of the world and the character Anton’s ideology. It ends nightly unconventionally, killing off the protagonist offscreen by an unknown group of people before the final showdown that the film has been building up to. It gives out with a whimper, not a bang, the antagonist getting away and the constantly tense film ending with a somber monologue from a character who remained on the sidelines throughout most of the film. This goes against everything that the film has been building up to, shocking the audience and stopping the films placing dead in its tracks. Despite the films violence, it also involves highly profound themes of ambition, evil, despair and human cruelty. This is exemplified through Anton, who, despite being an inhuman killer, has his won set of rules and even morales, often refraining from killing someone whom you expected him to, or killing someone’s for no reason other than he made a promise to do so.

I loved this film. It was gripping from start to (almost) finish, with a thought provoking story and some extremely memorable sequences. I rate No Country For Old Men ★★★★★!

Spectatorship Visualised

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010) follows Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) who searches for her missing, drug making father who has put their house u for his bond and is not appearing at court. If she is to save her family from the bitter cold of the winter, she needs to find her father, dead or alive.

This is an independent American film, with a feminist ideology that resides in the undertone of the script, as the films takes place in a setting where the men often abuse their wives, who hold traditional roles in society. I liked many sequences, particularly Teardrop’s confrontation with the Sheriff, due to the tension of the moment and the subtext of the dialogue. I also liked the ending, which was suitably shocking for the buildup of the rest of the film. While there were only 2 characters that the audience can attach to, that and the general chilly atmosphere lent the film a cruel, isolated, hopeless tone.

I rate Winter’s Bone ★★★★!

Ideology Visualised

Component 1b: US film since 2005

For this component, we will be looking at a U.S mainstream film, No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007) and an independent film, Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010). The specialist study areas are ideology and spectatorship. Past exam questions suggest that these will be asked in relation to core study areas such as sound, etc.