Analytical Piece

This is an analytical piece looking at both No Country for Old Men (d. Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007) and Winter’s Bone (d. Granik, 2010) and how both films use mise-en-scene to generate a spectator response.

When creating a spectator response, all aspects of film form are important. Two films that showcase strong usage of mise-en-scene to create meaning and are Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone(2010) and the Coen Brother’s neo-western No Country for Old Men(2007) Both of these films use film form to both create an atmosphere to immerse the audience, and to keep them in constant suspense.

The story of Winter’s Bone follows seventeen-year-old Ree, as she tries to find her father in an attempt to stop her family home from being repossessed. In the opening sequence, the audience is immediately aware that her family live in poverty. The ramshackle house that her, her ill mother, and her two younger siblings occupy is run down, and the opening series of exterior wide-angle shots convey this. Outside her house we see a trampoline, and children’s toys for Ashlee and Sonny to play with. The toys are basic, and Sonny can be seen rolling up and down the rocky pathway to the front door on an old skateboard. These toys show that while Ree tries her best to entertain her family, she can only provide so much. The audience see how the family lives, and the display of poverty generates sympathy from the audience. When the audience finally looks inside the house, we see exactly how hard done by Ree’s family are. Ree is seen peeling potatoes in a run-down, dirty kitchen. Her clothes are oversized, and the audience can intertextually reference these to clothes that loggers would wear – a flannel shirt, for instance, is a symbol of working-class America. The audience sympathises with her family further when we see how her younger siblings sleep. Both are curled up on an old sofa in the living room, wrapped in blankets. When compared with what the audience would expect a family to live in, Ree’s house is seen as terrible. The audience might relate these images to photographs taken by Walker Evans during the great depression. The houses that we see in these disturbing photos of small-town America are similar to those seen in Winter’s Bone and it could very well be the director’s intention to generate the same sympathy for Ree and her family, as was generated by Evans when he photographed small logging towns in the Ozark region. Another shot reveals Ree as she combs her mother’s hair. This small room, probably a bathroom, is filled with junk. Her mother’s hair is greasy, and obviously not washed – perhaps access to water is a problem in this region. The walls are piled high with old boxes, and the light is dim. The audience once again sympathise with Ree and her mother for having to live in these conditions, and are aligned with Ree for the rest of the film, willing for her to escape this run-down town and find a better life for her family. This presentation of the Ozarks as a harsh, impoverished region of the USA shocks the audience, and prepare them for the cold actions that are to follow.

The harshness of an area is a theme additionally found in Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men. Set in Texas, the story is neo-western and follows Llewellyn Moss as he evades psychopath Anton Chigurh, who is desperate to get his hands on the half a million dollars that Moss found at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong. The landscape that the story is set in is harsh and unforgiving, much like the Ozark region in Winter’s Bone, and is punctuated by mise-en-scene. Throughout No Country for Old Men, intertextual references to both horror films and traditional westerns are present, but nowhere more obvious than in the motel scene. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell returns to the scene of Moss’ murder, where he expects to find Chigurh. This scene is intense right from Ed Tom’s arrival. As he nears the door, we see the handle has had the lock blown out – a trademark of Chigurh’s presence. Immediately, the audience suspects his presence and is in fear. Ed Tom reaches for his revolver – a traditional weapon for a sheriff – and the audience are reminded that he is the “good guy” in the present situation. The Smith + Wesson revolver is a stereotype commonly associated with law enforcement in the old western genre, and to have it present on Ed Tom in this scene demonstrates two things to the audience. Firstly, Ed Tom is in the right in this situation, proven via intertextual referencing of the weapon that he carries. His character is further enforced through the clothes that he wears – in this scene he is in sheriff’s uniform, with a traditional wide-brim hat and tanned clothing. He also is adorned with a sheriff’s star. While these aspects of mise-en-scene explain to the audience that he is the law in this situation, they also show that he is old fashioned and not up to a current policing standard. When compared to Anton Chigurh’s outfit, all black and mysterious, practical and easy to hide in, his uniform seems over the top and unnecessary. His revolver, while symbolic, is just as vintage as he is, and not comparable to Chigurh’s weapon of choice – the cattle bolt gun. While unorthodox, the bolt gun presents a sense of modernity about Chigurh’s methods, and the fact that he has evaded the law for so long explains to the audience that Ed Tom is not doing his job efficiently. When opening the door to the room, Ed Tom checks out the features of the motel room. They are simple, a television, a bed, a functioning tap and bath, and nothing more. The simplicity of this room emphasises the atmosphere of the film – unforgiving. While the room is functional, it is not very welcoming, much like the Texas landscape that the film is set in. The mise-en-scene in the room, or rather lack thereof, demonstrates to the audience that in a modern environment, while having all the traditional gear might be important to show status, old sheriffs are no longer fit for fighting crime in the same way they once were.

Both Granik and the Coen brothers present harsh living conditions, Granik presenting a family living right at the bottom of America’s social pyramid, and the Coen brothers presenting a worsening situation that if nothing is changed, will develop into a bloodbath. Both directors use mise-en-scene in their shots to present these themes to the audience and to generate a response, whether that be sympathy with the family in Winter’s Bone, or fear and hopelessness as the motel scene from No Country for Old Men presents. Without this usage of film form, these scenes would not be nearly as effective in conveying emotion and key themes.