Winter's Bone and Inception comparative essay task

Film Studies                                                                                     

“How far do your chosen films (‘Winter’s Bone’ and ’Inception’) demonstrate a constant shift between passive and active spectatorship?”  

I feel that the style of spectatorship within a film differs on what stage the film is at, in my opinion. Whether it is at the gradual build up to the final scene or just the very beginning. Within the two sequences I will analyse, both will be at a specific significant stage where the spectatorship will be relevant.

Passive spectatorship within a film, places the spectator to be vulnerable which the director uses manipulative qualities to make the individual feel a certain way  and to also accept the message behind the film. This approach is both critical and pessimistic but popular. The concept of ‘lacking’ desire and mis-recognition of self on screen, ‘surrendering’ to the film; gaining pleasure when viewing.    

Active spectatorship is less based on our subconscious selves and more pragmatic, we actively ‘read’ a film. The spectator may use structures to help with this reading-for example using narrative, genre, celebrity featured and the auteur of  the film. The spectator is more capable to play or struggle with different with different readings, exercising conflicting fantasies within themselves. They are the active producer of meaning, not the passive receiver of it; having the range of as many different readings as possible or do other issues ‘limit’ the variety of meanings from one film. 

There aren’t necessarily active and passive spectators but different ways of thinking about the same spectators. Moving from one to another within the same film. For example, preferred: the spectator accepts meanings, oppositional: rejecting meanings, negotiated: ‘gives and takes’ between own views and film pressured concepts, aberrant: unintentional or not typical reading from a film. 

In “Winter’s Bone” (the boat scene) the spectatorship, in my opinion changes at certain specific points through they use of performance, sound and visual techniques. 

The whole scene is shot at extreme low key lighting, and the visual movement is only visible from the moonlight within the scene, picking features from the surroundings, creating an eery setting, one element contributing to the impact response the spectator has of this scene in the film. The only sound is the movement and contact the boat oars have with the water, everything else within the scene is quiet. During this section of the sequence, the viewing is passive as the spectator would just be viewing the progression of the story, however there could be elements of active spectatorship if the individual is more engaged and starts to question what is going to happen next. 

When the boat stops, features within the sequence start to change. The sound now is dialogue as Merab says to Ree, “he should be right there, reach down and tug him up”. This conversation disrupts the quiet atmosphere before and is a realisation for Ree and the spectator that this is real and reminds them what Ree has to do to care for her family. This also intensifies the emotions as of the reality of this specific scene, making the spectatorship active as there also is a sense of panic and the spectator emphasising with Ree as a character. 

As Ree puts her hand into the water to search for her Father’s hands, the non diegetic sound changes as it becomes louder, using a sound technique to make the spectator feel empathetic towards her situation. As of the film style to be a social realism, the us of non diegetic sound is unusual, however for a scene and situation like this, it is appropriate as the sound emphasis the feelings and overall mood of the sequence and it’s meaning. Also as Ree has her hand in the water, the diegetic sound of her struggling as this is an awful and traumatising situation for a child to be in.

When a hand is found, the pure shock of using a chainsaw to cut off her Father’s hands, Ree shows the character development (and Jennifer Lawrence’s use of performance) demonstrating the contrast and progression of Ree as a character, also impacting the spectatorship to again be active, still allowing the viewer to move around with the different sub categories of spectatorship and being more passive when there are less signifiant or emotional scenes within the sequence. 

The spectatorship in “Inception” (during the end scene) in my opinion, sparks up significant features where the viewing is passive and active. 

In the first shot of the sequence, the sound is a loud, dramatic non diegetic music piece, reflection on Cobb’s journey as this sequence is the last in the film. The lighting within this scene is significant as it is a mixture between low key and natural lighting, the whole room being low key with beams of nature light shining through the roof above, opposite are Cobb’s children playing outside, shot with natural lighting. The spectatorship for most people would be passive as reading deeper into the lighting and surroundings of Cobb at this point in the film, as a character, wouldn’t seem necessary, compared to some individuals, who just want to see the final outcome of Cobb reunited with his children. Wit the mixed lighting indoors, surrounding Cobb, this shows the mixed past and experiences and the overall darkness of his life, with the contrast with the lighting outside with his children, representing Cobb’s future and how it is a much lighter, happier and positive environment to live in. After the totem is placed as Cobb still is unstable with defining what is real and what isn’t, he sees his children and goes to see them regardless. 

The shot of his children looking towards him is edited in slow motion to exaggerate how significant this moment is for Cobb as a character and for the spectator as of the emotions within this scene, having an active spectatorship. As the shot changes from inside looking out, you see the silhouette of the family reunited from a long shot, however the camera pans to the left and slowly zooms in towards the totem. Expecting the spinning top to fall as of the jolts and wobbles, the end credits scene is cut and a black screen appears. Not viewing the final outcome, the spectatorship is most defiantly active as there is a main question left unanswered. Is it real or fake? This scene being a good example of a strong active spectatorship viewed within a film.    

To summaries, my personal response is that, “Winter’s Bone” overall has an active spectatorship. It is an independent film (not a mainstream film) which I believe breaks the use of passive spectatorship which many mainstream films tend to do, for example, if you view “Inception” on its overall spectatorship too. The spectatorship within the film uses Ariadne as a character that the spectators can relate with, as of the new concept of inception. The use of Cobb and other characters have to explain how everything works, conveniently displaying all the information for the spectator. However during “Inception” there are features where the thoughts of certain scenes are all down to how the individual spectator reads the film themselves.