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Tamara Weets Introduction to Film Studies December 10, 2012 Keeping Close to the Willows: The Interplay between Literature & Film in Winters Bone Winters Bone is both a novel and a film; both as unique as the people creating them yet miraculously almost indistinguishable in the overall look and feel. Its as if they are identical twinswith only their fingerprints to distinguish one from the other. The story centers around the young protagonist Ree Dolly and her quest to locate her methamphetamine cooking father in an attempt to save her familys home and by extension their lives. While the overall feel and dialogue in the film appears to have been taken directly from the novel (quoted verbatim almost one hundred percent of the time) there were slight changes made in converting the novel to the screen. These modifications, while subtle, are a reflection of the differences between the author and the director in not only their cultural background but also their genders and by extension gender expectations and perceived stereotypes. Before we can explore the differences in adaptation it is important to understand who each of these pivotal people are. The novel was written in 2006 by Daniel Woodrell. Winters Bone is his eighth book and falls into a genre category, coined by Mr. Woodrell himself, called country noir. When asked to describe what exactly that means during an interview, Mr. Woodrell replied, Its a noir story set in a rural America rather than an urban area. Its a term that I made up largely to combat the mystery label that had gotten
Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [1]: A great thesis. Could take 1 step further to lay out what you think the effect of those differences creates.

slapped on me, (Trachtenberg, 2006). Mr. Woodrells writing style and seeming connection with the backwoods Ozark community surrounding this novel (and several others) comes from his love of this region of the United States. Born in Springfield, Missouri on March 4, 1953, Woodrell has always had a fond spot in his heart for this area (Williams, 2006). So much so that he and his wife now reside in the town of West Plains, Missouri in an area one interviewer described as, a neighborhood whose demographic tilts more towards the poor white crystal-meth consumer than leading American novelist, (Williams, 2006). After a brief stint in the Marines, Woodrell went to college where he began to write and found his true calling in life (Williams, 2006). From his brutally honest tone and his graphic description of the people and places in Winters Bone one can tell that this book is as much of an ode to the culture of this area as it is a work of fiction. Because of his experiences through living there, Woodrell captured the essence of the damaged children, the broken homes, and the heroine who by necessity steps up to the plate when all else fails like no one else could. On the other hand you have Debra Granik, the person behind the film adaptation of Winters Bone. Debra was born in 1963 on the East Coast of the United States and grew up in a Washington, D.C. suburb, eventually going on to complete the film program at NYU (Moon & Talley, 2010). Just from her early life alone we can see stark contrast from the Ozark upbringing of the author. Ms. Granik is known for her films in which there is a focus on protagonist heroines. Her films often reveal her aesthetic and political commitments. Winters Bone is no exception. One reviewer described her films as having intense, sometimes painfully close, focus on a young woman engaged in an uphill struggle with life circumstances in which drugs and addiction play a determining

Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [2]: Omit comma Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:20 AM Comment [3]: Only use authors last name in the in-text citation for an online article not the year. Ex: (Trachtenberg). Another way of citing online sources is to count the paragraphs and then use the paragraph number in the in-text citation. Ex: (Trachtenberg, par. 7).

Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [4]: Granik

role, and the setting of both narratives in a winter landscape that powerfully mirrors and intensifies the cold bleakness of aspects of the protagonists lives, (Moon & Talley, 2010). When interviewed about how she selected Mr. Woodrells book to adapt to the screen, Ms. Granik replied, First, that we had found a female protagonist that we really liked, and would feel great about bringing to the screen- this confident, vivacious, fullbodied female. Second was the idea that the story was set in a place that we didnt know. We didnt know any of the details about that kind of life, (Mikel, 2012). As you may imagine, the glaring difference in knowledge of the area and people, and the strong desire to have a resilient female lead led to some of the subtle variations in the versions of the story. One of the more obvious similarities between the book and the film is that they are both noir pieces. Film noir is defined as a type of film that is characterized by its dark, somber tone and cynical, pessimistic mood, (Petrie & Boggs, 2012, pp. G-3). Its easy to see why this term applies to both forms of the story. As stated in an earlier paragraph, Mr. Woodrells work is often called country noir referring to its rural location and settings while still keeping with the dark, somber tones expected of the genre. Ms. Granik keeps with the noir theme in her adaptation of the book with a brutally honest, somber tone and strikingly visual muted color pallet. One reviewer characterized the film as, An elegant, soft spoken noir, (Kohn, 2010). This choice was quite successful in maintaining the same look and feel from the novel to the screen. As stated earlier, one of the key aspects in creating a truly mirror-like adaptation from Mr. Woodrells novel came from the precise copying of the dialogue from the book. When discussing her perceived response from Daniel Woodrell on her adaptation and
Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [8]: spelling Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [9]: any specific moment/example in film you might point to in order to illustrate your claim? Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:19 AM Comment [10]: Only use authors name in the citation not the year. Ex: (Kohn). Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:18 AM Comment [7]: Correct MLA citation of textbook book would look like this: (authors names page number ) For example: (Petrie and Boggs 413). Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [6]: Thoughtful point Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:18 AM Comment [5]: Correct citation would be (qtd. in Mikel)

happiness in seeing such a close adaptation of his work, Ms. Granik said, We pulled a lot of the dialog verbatim from the novel. Not actually being from the area we had no expertise to really alter that, (Mikel, 2012). This is one of the decisions that truly ties together the two in a seamless manner. Regardless if you read the book first or if you screen the film, youre left watching or reading something unfold that is so familiar to you because the dialogue is so ever present and accurate. Ms. Granik chose not to utilize voiceovers in her telling of the story to embody the third person point of view used by Mr. Woodrell. The third person point of view is often problematic for film adaptations because there is virtually no cinematic equivalent (Petrie & Boggs, 2012, p. 378). However, the precise use of dialogue left viewers feeling as though they were truly getting the whole story because of the effective directing and wonderful performance of Jennifer Lawrence. One of the differences between the novel and the film is the physical characteristics of some of the characters. In Mr. Woodrells novel he introduces Ree, Brunette and sixteen, with milk skin and abrupt eyes, stood bare-armed in a fluttering yellowed dress She stood tall in combat boots, (Woodrell, 2006). In another passage, Ree nearly always wore a dress or skirt, but with combat boots, and the skirt this day was a bluish plaid, (Woodrell, 2006). While the description of brunette, milk skinned, and having abrupt eyes is accurate to Jennifer Lawrences embodiment of Ree, the costuming couldnt be more different. When we first see Ree on the screen she is dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, a mens jacket, and mens winter boots (Lawrence, Hawkes, & Dillahunt, 2010). Ree isnt the only one whose costume was altered for the film. Victoria is described in the book as having, A closet that held no jeans or slacks but was

stuffed with dresses old and new, (Woodrell, 2006). Again, when we meet Victoria instead of being clad in a flowing dress, she is wearing an old flannel button up with jeans (Lawrence, Hawkes, & Dillahunt, 2010). While Mr. Woodrell chose to show both of these women as strong and willful, he also chose to highlight the fact that they were indeed women, who regardless of the junk going on around them still dressed in dresses like many typical southern women. One can only assume these types of costuming decisions were made with great thought behind them. Ms. Granik chose not to show the more feminine side of any of the female characters. This was done so as to not make the audience question the potential weakness stereotyped about women or their inability to behave and perform tasks in the same manner as men. These costuming decisions do not fundamentally change the story line of the narrative; however, they do leave the viewer with a different perception of these women. One critic described the characterization of the novel as follows, In the earlier novel various members of the Dolly family also appear as characters, but there they conform fairly closely to a comic stereotype (Moon & Talley, 2010). By slightly altering the appearance of some of the characters Ms. Granik simmered down some of that stereotype seen in the novel. Also, by making the females less feminine the audience is less prone to the visceral this is a little girl reaction sometimes felt when reading the book. Its almost as if by changing the costuming, Ms. Granik was able to somewhat tone down some of the harsh, real world overtones of the novel without doing away with them all together.

Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:15 AM Comment [13]: NOTE: Paper continues after this point but is provided here as a an example so that students can see how to approach writing critically about a novel to film adaptation. Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:14 AM Comment [12]: Should use colon here rather than comma Alexandria Technical, 4/27/13 11:11 AM Comment [11]: Intriguing to consider.