Winter's Bone Question

In Winter's Bone Granik relied majorly on social context. The plot is mainly shown through setting and costume instead of dialogue, which is minimal. This is done because 'Winter's Bone' is an independent film that relies on realism. An example of this is the cup scene. Merab throws tea in Ree's face and then hits her across the face with the cup. She is then dragged and pulled by her hair by Merab and two other women. I thought this was a very strange and unnecessary attack because it is more common to see guns or fist fighting in films. The camera shots used here represent Ree's frantic attempts to escape but are also quite confusing and difficult to follow. This scene caused me to start asking a lot of questions because, not only are the women carrying out acts of violence, it appears to be a 'normal' act that is carried out when people do not follow the rules. This is very different to how people are disciplined outside of Ozark. Usually, if someone refused to stay away from someone else's property, a restraining order could be put in place. However, there is not a scene showing the police being involved at all, instead the citizens 'take matters into their own hands'. When questioned by Teardrop they tell him that Ree refused to listen when she was told to go home. Teardrop's only concern is that she was possibly hit by a man, but when he finds out it was actually a woman he accepts it and offers to take Ree home. I thought that this reaction was odd because whether it was a man or a woman should not matter; violence is never acceptable. I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters in this film because they have very different behaviours and ways of surviving. They appeared violent and disrespectful to me in this film because they attacked Ree with a very poor excuse for doing so. I was also shocked that no one was arrested for murdering Ree’s father since it’s a very serious crime.