Winter's Bone Film Analysis

When I watched the movie adaptation of Winter’s Bone for this class it marked the third time that I had seen the movie. I was very familiar with it, but this time I had knowledge of the novel that I hadn’t possessed in my previous veiwings. I noticed new differences between the two. In the adaptation, Ree, played by the then-emerging actress Jennifer Lawerence, is a powerful character who balances taking care of a family with the responsibility of hunting down the whereabouts of her missing father. Lawrence, in her typical fashion, makes herself into a commanding and forceful young woman; moreover, this was in part due to the content of the plot, but also largely caused by the choice to cast Jennifer Lawrence, an actress known for being a powerful
In particular, the muted, even dark, lighting of the movie helped to encapsulate the grave and haunting feel that was present throughout the whole novel. During the independent film, it was unmistakable that the events that were about to unfold on the screen were going to be heavy. Even the camera angles allowed for the film to give the viewer a raw and obtainable experience. Also, to connect the picture back to the novel from which it originated, the set of the houses and town were identical to how I feel they were represented in the novel, but I also admit that I may be biased since I had seen the oscar-nominated motion picture prior to reading the novel. A few of the items that stuck out to me while rematching the film were the differences between the two works. For starters, in my other Reading Response I discussed the image the Daniel Woodrell gave of Ree Dolly being a young girl wearing a dress in combat books in the ice of winter. This is a complete 180 from the Ree Dolly presented in the movie, where Lawerence runs about in gender-absent clothing that, while being far more practical for the setting, took away an important aspect of the character that made her so