Analysis of the movie poster for Winter's Bone starring Jennifer Lawrence

1. Hello and welcome
to my third blog post
where I will be
analysing a movie
poster and
discussing the
meanings behind
certain denotations.
I have chosen
Winter’s Bone in
particular as is
seemed to have
plenty to discuss and
I have never seen it
before so I will have
no bias.
Movie stuff:
iMDb page:
http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY
Reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/winters-bone

2. The main image on this poster is
a large mid shot of Ree (Jennifer
Lawrence), this connotes that this
character is likely the main
character. The high key lighting of
her compared to darkness in the
background signifies she is the
protagonist, and along with the
use of binary opposition between
the different lighting connotes a
battle between good and evil.
Her torso seems slight shrouded
by the clouds and partially hidden
by the thick forest which suggests
an enigma/history behind the
character as she isn’t completely
revealed to the viewers yet.
Furthermore she looking off into
the distance with mildly
shocked/tired facial expression
which connotes an arduous
journey as well as a potential
unexpected twist within the plot.
The use of Jennifer Lawrence herself, who is renown
for her presence in action movies such as The Hunger
Games trilogy (2012-2015) , is not so successful at the
release of this movie (2010) and so the use of a fairly
unknown actress again raises enigmas as films that
tend to rely on enigmas to drive the plot (such as the
mystery genre) generally use unknown actors/actress
so viewers are less likely to know what to expect.
The light comes from behind her shoulder. Light
signifies ideas such as good/hope so maybe the good
appears unexpected in this novel as the entire time is
behind/following her.

3. Ree’s hair is blowing in the wind,
away from where she is facing
which could signifies hardships in
her way towards her goal as she
is physically being blown back
away from where she wants to go
which has stronger connotations
of the adventure drama as she
must overcome obstacles to
reach a goal. There are also
scratches/unknown writing to the
left of her face which could either
connote an unknown mystery she
has to decipher or the instinctive
struggle against nature as they
could potentially be bear/coyote
claw marks, although they seem
to neat to be random scratches.
However her face has no sign of
struggle/dirt, yet in context with
other images/ideas this could
connote innocence as she is
emphasized to be the protagonist
fighting against the bad.
The ratings describe the movie as a “suspense tale” which could
suggest a sense of thriller. By describing it as a tale has
connotations of a made up story/legend which could suggest
unworldly challenges that Ree heroically overcomes with moments
of disbelief from the audience.
Also who made the ratings isn’t very clear and there aren’t any
physical star ratings which possible suggest moments where
information is withheld from the audience to create gripping
narrative enigmas.
The two awards are also clearly shown to signify the success of this
movie as it is described as the “best” and “winner”.
The font also seems quite weathered and damaged which again
reinforces the challenges and hardship that Ree must go through to
achieve her goal.

4. Ree is depicted in the sky above
the rest of the poster which
suggests that she is saved from
the dangers below and survives in
the movie. Ree is wearing quite
‘outdoory’ clothes which connotes
a instinctive struggle as she is
exposed to nature. Also they are
counter-typical to what a blonde
girl would usually wear which
suggest she acts differently to
what viewers would expect her to
act being a woman. This is
reinforced by how she is a main
character in a thriller-looking
movie which is generally
uncommon in movie history,
however is being more common in
recent times with a push against
social sexism. The clouds also
are very patchy but become very
dense as you go down which
suggests that her obstacles
become increasing difficult as the
story goes on
In the title ‘Winter’s Bone’, the word bone signifies
death and animalistic nature. The personification of
Winter, saying that it owns the bone, suggests that
Winter is part of the struggle as is causes death and
keeps the bones of victims who can’t escape it’s
freezing wraith.
However, it is just a single ‘Bone’ and therefore could
be signifying a single/particular item/person of interest
to Ree that has succumb to the harshness of winter/the
cold and that she must try to rescue/retireve before it’s
too late

5. The second image that viewers
see if that of 3 people in a boat
on the lower right. Although the
entire image of the boat, lake
and forest is larger than the mid
shot of the Ree, it is still the
second seen as it has low key
lighting. This is done on purpose
so that viewers understand that
the girl holding the light on the
boat is the same as seen top
left. This reinforces her to be the
main character. The darkness of
the water connotes how
cold/deep it is and highlights
how those 3 characters are in
real jeopardy in such a small,
wooden boat. The fact that she
is shining the light towards the
viewer and looks towards the
viewer suggests a moments of
dramatic irony where viewers
can see whats happening next
but she can’t, common in thillers.
On the other hand, shining a light towards someone
can blind their peripheral vision and so this could be
signifying how that the viewer doesn’t see things
coming and constantly hit with unexpected
surprises.
Furthermore the fact that she is carrying the light
connotes that she is a beacon on hope and explores
through the darkness discovering the mysteries and
struggles in her way. This has connotations of the
adventure genre.

6. Overall I would say
this poster signifies a
thriller/adventure
genre, primarily due
to the low key
lighting. This also
suggest a mystery
which drives the plot
as throughout the
movie Ree uncovers
clues which lead her
on her way to her
final goal
Movie stuff:
iMDb page:
http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY
Reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/winters-bone