Film form(ing) politics: An ideological and formalist analysis of 'Winter's Bone' and 'North Country'

"Film Form(ing) Politics: an Ideological and Formalist Analysis of Winter's Bone and North Country" conducts a formalist and ideological analysis on how film form, particularly narrative structure and editing, not only illustrates but actually shapes the underlying messages---the political worldview---of these two films especially as they deal with the interconnections of oppressions and with violence---physical, emotional and what I'm calling "social" violence which includes classism, capitalism, sexism, patriarchy and violent masculinity.;This project argues that the combination of a formalist analysis in conjunction with a intersectional/socialist feminist analysis reveals that these two films present a complex representation of feminism rather than surface feminist messages within postfeminist agendas. This argument---beginning after the film summaries---is supported with a discussion of three main areas of analysis: the intersections of oppressions, genre transgression, and the (un)marking of sex/gender. Within each of these three main sections, I will provide both an ideological and formalist analysis of each film, suggesting how film form reinforces the underlying feminist messages, especially as related to the representations of violence (in all forms).;This project concludes by suggesting that both of these films are trying to teach viewers to stop privileging physical violence at the expense of the interconnecting elements of social violence which cause---or at least reinforce---that more personal, individual violence. Rather than merely illustrating this underlying message of the films, the film form helps shape and reinforce this underlying feminist worldview.