Compare and contrast Winters Bone and Captain Fantastic


Compare and contrast Winters Bone and Captain Fantastic



This essay will compare and contrast Winters Bone and Captain Fantastic. First of all, Winters Bone is an independent drama, whereas Captain Fantastic is a comedic drama, despite being different genre these films share similar elements.

Captain Fantastic tells the story of a family who live in the Washington wilderness due to their parents beliefs and raising their children as liberal activist, however due to circumstances they have to reintegrate into modern society. This film uses bright lighting throughout to imply that it is a happy place .The film uses the concept of different lifestyles to contrast  with others in the modern world, in the opening scene of this film uses mid-shots and long shots are used to represent the family. These types of shots are convenient because we get to see their surroundings as well as their actions, this allows the audience to establish their lifestyle.  Winters Bone does this as well, however, the setting is dismal and tracks are main character walking across the landscape. The dismal setting connotes to depression and tells us it’s not a happy place. Winters Bone also contrast different lifestyles but not in the same way ,instead it contrasts families by who they know and hierarchy in the film we see themes of this by the men characters  having power over females i.e. Gail is sometimes controlled by her husband and Merab has power due to her group.

Captain Fantastic uses simple mise en scène to mirror the characters lifestyle, for instants there clothing is very basic it does not portray an image that they are wealthy, however due to their lifestyle being shown to the audience we don’t associate the characters with poverty. Winters bone uses simple costumes but unlike captain fanatic, we do link them closely with poverty because the props used in the house are very minimal.

Both films use weaponry props for hunting, although in Winters Bone we see one setting the whole time ,so the audience gets a message that this a norm for them to hunt in this area and time period. The props are more modern as they use guns. On the other hand Captain Fantastic uses two different types of settings; the first setting is of the wilderness, where it seems completely normal to hunt deer’s with knives. However, later on when they visit family members the audience quickly notices it’s not a norm for the era they live in, it’s almost like the characters and the audience get a reality check but refused to accept that the Cash family doesn’t live a normal life.

Captain fantastic uses irony due to the names of characters, for example the character who plays the father who is implied to be captain fantastic name is Ben Cash ,it’s ironic because the family barely uses money for anything and does not agree with it due to their hatred towards capitalism.The two films are similar in terms of audio codes as there is very little additional sound added onto the narrative, this is unlike dramas as they tend to do this to add tension onto the scene , both films could have done this to highlight their simple lifestyles.


To conclude , the two films do share some of the same themes but they are not always portrayed in the same ways.

Comments

  1. Coulsdon A Level Film and Media10 December 2017 at 09:55

    Meghan you raise some very good points about the genre, themes and the micro features used by the Director and the creative teams to create meaning for their audience. However you have neglected to mention the Directors names or the dates the films were produced or released. Looking into the production context of these two films would strengthen your piece.
    However it is well written you need to continue to push yourself to create GREAT work every time. Well Done.

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