winters bone essay

This film takes place in the Ozark hills of Missouri in Christian County. The context is extremely important for the film: the Ozark hills are an area known for being very rural and remote. Such conditions allow for the making of methamphetamines. Moreover, this rural area supports the viewer’s understanding of why Ree Dolly has such a hard time feeding and caring for her family.

In the squirrel scene, we see the central character, Ree Dolly and her half-starved younger brother and sister hunting for their dinner. The long shot used provides a sense of a bond among the family as they can all be seen sitting alongside each other, even as Ree says bless you to her younger brother, something so small provides the details about the closeness and the kinship amongst the siblings. Their tatty clothing, which is evident in the long shot, indicates the family’s poverty – they look soiled, old and ill fitting, possibly indicating that they may have found them, were given them, or maybe even made them rather than buying them themselves. Although the central character Ree is only 17, she is portrayed as a strong matriarchal figure (because she has not yet been broken in a world where men seem to make the decisions), due to her broken home, caused by the absence of her meth making father, who has skipped town to avoid jail, and her mentally ill mother, who is slowly fading into insanity. The fact that Ree is prepared to hunt to provide food for her family denotes this (in addition to denoting their poverty). The gun in her hand is a physical symbol of her power and importance within the family, and the way in which she lets her younger sister share the power connotes the undertones of strong women within the community. Ree is shown to have adapted to the poor living conditions when her brother asks when deer will come out. Her reply – ‘at morning or at night’ – shows she has more than common knowledge when it comes to wild animals, conveying she has experience: having to provide meals for her poverty-stricken family, regularly. As she is placing the rabbit on the table to be prepared, we are given a long shot with someone’s house in the background. The house too indicates the extent of the poverty of the community, as it appears to be more like a shack or a cabin, seemingly being made almost entirely of wood, most likely from the land they live on.

To me, the cup scene highlights the themes of kinship and strong women, as well as patriarchy. There is a clear hierarchy made apparent in this scene with social issues like violence also being displayed by the women who brutally attack the 17 year old central character, showing no remorse - Merab emerges from the house holding a steaming mug. Two women follow her out and resort immediately to violence highlighting the realness. The two women then stand over her, stating she must be “crazy” to have come to Thump Milton's. Thump Milton (who they all presumably relate back to somehow), due to his male gender, would have more control over the women. The brutality of the scene may cause the viewer to think about the root of the problems, bringing them back to the issues within the Dolly family. The meth production proved to have devastating results not just by the disappearance of Ree’s father tearing the family apart, but also seemingly caused the mother’s mental illness.