Gender, Race and Class in: Winter's Bone
Mike Lake
WMS 271.01
GRC at the Movies – Winter’s Bone
One of the most important themes in the movie Winter’s Bone is the submissive and ridged, traditional gender roles women adhere to throughout the film. Men are always portrayed as being in the authoritative position, and only two examples of women standing up to this authority come to mind. Class plays a major role in the movie as well. If ree were from a high-class family her house likely would not be up for her father’s bail. Racially, this is not a diverse film. All the major characters are white, and that tells us a lot about the community that this movie is set it in. There are many important statements regarding gender, race, and class in the film Winter’s Bone.
The movie carries with a very small diversity of class. Every character that was portrayed and developed was of the lower class, with the possible exceptions being the policemen, the bail bondsman, and the army recruiter. The implication is that those are people who drive from another part of town to the community Ree and her family live in. Other than those mentioned the movie is set in a poor, rural community in Missouri. Ree and all her neighbors live in small, rundown houses that are very spread out from one another. Inside, each house is cluttered with cheap furniture and little to no leisure activities. Ree lives with her depressed mother and her two younger siblings Sonny, age twelve, and Ashlee age six, are seemingly even poorer than the rest of their neighbors. Ree attends high school, is the one source of income and raises the children all without the help of her mother. A study done in rural Appalachia on young mothers showed that all the participants had two things in common; living in poverty and the support of their mothers. (Rezek) While Ree is not the mother of Sonny and Ashlee, she is their primary caretaker. If the women in the study lived in poverty despite the support of their mothers, one can only imagine that the
WMS 271.01
GRC at the Movies – Winter’s Bone
One of the most important themes in the movie Winter’s Bone is the submissive and ridged, traditional gender roles women adhere to throughout the film. Men are always portrayed as being in the authoritative position, and only two examples of women standing up to this authority come to mind. Class plays a major role in the movie as well. If ree were from a high-class family her house likely would not be up for her father’s bail. Racially, this is not a diverse film. All the major characters are white, and that tells us a lot about the community that this movie is set it in. There are many important statements regarding gender, race, and class in the film Winter’s Bone.
The movie carries with a very small diversity of class. Every character that was portrayed and developed was of the lower class, with the possible exceptions being the policemen, the bail bondsman, and the army recruiter. The implication is that those are people who drive from another part of town to the community Ree and her family live in. Other than those mentioned the movie is set in a poor, rural community in Missouri. Ree and all her neighbors live in small, rundown houses that are very spread out from one another. Inside, each house is cluttered with cheap furniture and little to no leisure activities. Ree lives with her depressed mother and her two younger siblings Sonny, age twelve, and Ashlee age six, are seemingly even poorer than the rest of their neighbors. Ree attends high school, is the one source of income and raises the children all without the help of her mother. A study done in rural Appalachia on young mothers showed that all the participants had two things in common; living in poverty and the support of their mothers. (Rezek) While Ree is not the mother of Sonny and Ashlee, she is their primary caretaker. If the women in the study lived in poverty despite the support of their mothers, one can only imagine that the
Bibliography: Rezek, Jan. (2010): n. page. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.drake.brockport.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=103&sid=662e985b-36ed-4357- sullivan, mark t. (2006): n. page. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.drake.brockport.edu/ehost/detail?sid=4dff5184-b197-4315-96b4-6d68bd48892d@sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==