Winter’s Bone heavily relies on the audience’s understanding of life in the Ozark. This is due to the fact that many scenes of the film rely on the context of life in the Ozark to make sense, and the uninitiated audience members could be left feeling bewildered. An example where this is the case is the scene where Ree is beaten for her continued investigation of Jessup’s disappearance/death. We see how this society is - with women being the ones with power while also being subservient to men. This is shown when Ree is actually attacked. She is attacked by a group of women, and is interrogated by women, yet it is all the men in the room who are holding all the power. This is represented mainly by Thump. He is a large man with an authoritative, almost cowboy/sheriff-esk costume representing his power within the community. His framing is also very dominating with him always taking up a large majority of the frame. With this he’s never positioned the same way as a woman. He will always reach the top of the frame, yet the cuts to the reactions of the women will have them framed just short of reaching the top. It’s like this with all the men in the scene, not just Thump.
Even with his introduction he ushers away the woman previously talking to Ree as it’s upon his authority to see that she’s dealt with properly. This, to the uninitiated, would seem somewhat strange as why would a group of women beat and torture Ree but still back down the moment Thump arrived? This leads to a passive viewer becoming disinterested in the film and dismissing it as “boring”, as the lack of exposition in the film makes it harder for them to understand and thus they switch off. The scene would leave an air of confusion and thus audience members would benefit from the context that surrounds the film. This harkens back to the idea of film spectatorship. Your average cinema goer who doesn’t understand the context ancd who is a passive viewer won’t relate/care for the film as opposed to an active viewer who is constantly challenging the films ideas, messages and methods of delivery.
Another moment where this sort of imbalance between actions and power status is when Teardrop arrives. He speaks directly to Thump and to no one else. He asks (the men) if they were the ones who hurt Ree. Merab responds saying it was the women not the men and Teardrop continues talking exclusively to Thump. He then tells everyone that he’ll be responsible for Ree. Ree then subserviently follows Teardrop to his car. Once again this illustrates the uneven balance between action and power. Theoretically, Teardrop should be talking to the people who beat up Ree and telling them that he’s be the one responsible. However, since Thump is the man in charge he speaks to him. Then with Ree being following obediently to the car. All throughout the film Ree has been headstrong in finding out what has happened to Jessup, but her subservience seems oddly placed without proper knowledge of the films context. Despite being headstrong, she still follows the social hierarchy of the Ozark.
Fundly enough, the films context is shown during the film, so if one is an active viewer of film, then they need not research the Ozark and the type of lifestyle people live in. However, as mentioned previously, a passive viewer would get easily bored and confused without the typical expository dialogue found in big budget mainstream cinema. Overall the films reliance on social context, while building a realistic interpretation of life in the Ozark, puts passive viewers at a disadvantage as they are likely to become confused, bored and uninterested.
