Winter's Bone Social Context

How far does 'Winters Bone' rely upon an understanding of its social context? 

'Winter's Bone' is set in The Ozarks, a small community in Missouri that is blighted by rural poverty, lack of opportunity, low educational outcomes and a sense of separation of mainstream USA infrastructure. Secretive and inward looking with an emphasis on family loyalty and ‘kin’ based around patriarchal power but dependent upon strong, resilient women. Methamphetamine use and addiction has had devastating consequences on families and individuals. The reality of financial insecurity, violence, domestic abuse and mental illness is ever-precedent. An early scene that showcases the poverty of the area is when Ree visits their neighbour Sonya. Often, Ree and her siblings are forced to rely on the generosity of her for many food and provisions. At the film’s opening, we learn that Ree’s father Jessup has put up the family home and surrounding lands as collateral for a bail bond, following his arrest on suspicion of cooking methamphetamine].  A local police officer informs Ree that Jessup has disappeared; if he doesn’t return in time for his next court hearing, the collateral will be forfeit. Ree’s mother, worn out by the drugs and despair of her world, has checked out both emotionally and psychologically and seems entirely unaware of the family’s predicament.  Without parents, though only 17 years old, Ree must assume the role of both mother and father to her two younger siblings.  Her drive to preserve the family home for them, so she’ll be able to shepherd her brother and sister through to adulthood, lies at the heart of the movie. There is a key line in the opening scene with the police officer where Ree's mother is unresponsive to the officer's request to speak, and so Ree says "You better just tell me". This enforces Ree's responsibilities over important family matters, and the fact that the officer's attempts to speak to the mother are off camera represents how much of an insignificant and illusive role she plays in the running off the household. Another scene that showcases the poverty of the area is when Ree visits their neighbour Sonya. Often, Ree and her siblings are forced to rely on the generosity of her for many food and provisions. 

Ree also spends time teaching her younger siblings how to hunt squirrels, implying that they cannot afford enough food by their own means and must hunt to make ends meet. Depending on the interpretation, it is possible that another subtler depiction of the family’s impoverished can be inferred in a scene where Ree is showing her younger siblings how to gut and clean a squirrel just shot. Ree tells Sonny to pull the guts out of the squirrel and when he says that he doesn't want to, she responds "There's a bunch of stuff that you're going to have to get over being scared off", I interpreted this to Ree talking about matters much worse than gutting a squirrel, which is still a difficult thing to do as a young boy, meaning that as he gets older he will be exposed to much darker challenges, as Ree has learned by the age of 17. While gutting the squirrel Sonny asks Ree “Do we eat these parts?” To which Ree grimly responds “Not yet.” This could imply that if their situation gets any more desperate, they may be forced to resort to eating parts of squirrels that are not meant for eating, it's a similar product of desperation to the meth industry that haunts the community. 

Race does not play a large role in this movie, which tells you a lot about the community the movie is set in. None of the characters in the movie are people of colour. This tells the audience that the movie is dealing with an all-white, poor, rural community. This allows the audience to fill in information regarding this community based on what is already known about such communities. It also suggests that the community is isolated and doesn't mix with outsiders, most likely because it is an unwelcoming place and nobody would wish to move or visit there, the inhabitants are all people who were born and bred in the community and due to poverty and issues with the law they are trapped there. Winter’s Bone contains some of the predominant stereotypes held towards rural areas of the United States. Everyone in the movie speaks with a thick, southern drawl and make very uneducated choices in their diction and grammar.