Spectatorship in Inception and Winters Bone

How far do your chosen films demonstrate a constant shift between passive and active spectatorship?

Throughout the film Inception there is a lot of exposition due to the complex narrative structure.  The introduction and explanation of the dream world to Ariadne by Cobb means that the spectator has the whole concept explained to them causing them to be a passive spectator as they are being presented the information obviously and do not have to think deeply about it. The scene close to the beginning of the film where Cobb brings Ariadne into the dream gives a passive spectator enough information to have a basic understanding of the whole storyline of the film. We see Ariadne walking through the dream and questioning the setting and who the people in the dream are. These are all questions that an active spectator would be thinking however the director cleverly uses Ariadne as a way to get these questions answered quickly, making the film easier for a passive spectator to understand. If this scene was not included in the film then an active spectator would be lead to question it and the whole narrative of the film would be extremely difficult to understand. However, later in this scene when Cobbs subconscious begins to attack Ariadne and we see Mal go to stab her, the spectator must be active as they start to question why she did this and why Cobb got so hysterical about it. Another scene with obvious exposition is when the group are coming up with the plan for going into the dream and creating the multiple layers. The team are practically discussing the plan for the whole rest of the film, giving a passive spectator an idea of what is going to happen throughout the film. However, the ending of the film requires an active spectator to question whether the whole thing was a dream as the spinning top doesn’t stop spinning. A passive spectator may just assume that this means that it was a dream as Cobb says throughout that it is his totem. However, an active spectator may realise that the spinning top was Mals totem and that Cobbs children were his as he could never see their face in a dream but at the end he did, implying that this was real life.

                In the film Winters Bone there is a lot less exposition as the narrative is a lot less complicated so an explanation isn’t required as much. The narrative is just about a young girl looking for her dad as his bond means that they will get everything taken away from them. This is explained when the police officer came to Ree’s house. This is exposition but due to there being a lot less to explain as the film is nowhere near as complex and complicated as the film Inception, there is a lot less exposition. Throughout the film the spectator doesn’t really need to be active as the basic storyline of her looking for her dad is explained at the start and continues throughout. However, even though a spectator doesn’t need to be active, they may pick up on and question certain things that a passive spectator may not, such as the role of women in the society where the film is set and the significance of drug use. The relationship between the police and the people in society is also an interesting thing that an active spectator may question due to the cues like the way the people act when they see the police outside Ree’s house. They all seem suspicious and just want to get rid of them as soon as possible. These subtle cues would only be picked up on by an active spectator.