‘I'm Still Not Crossing That’: Borders, Dispossession, and Sovereignty in Frozen River (2008)

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Abstract

This paper considers the critically acclaimed debut film of Courtney Hunt entitled Frozen River (2008). Unlike many previous Hollywood 'border films', the focus of the film is on a frozen tributary of the St Lawrence and a border town in New York State and a Mohawk Indian reservation. By following the lives of two women, the paper reflects on how the film addresses multiple borders, sites of dispossession and a series of sovereign spaces along and across the frozen river. In a dramatic and compelling fashion, the narrative arc of the film serves as a powerful reminder of how security and insecurity and made and re-made in everyday life. Political geographers and border scholars could learn a great deal from examining closely the craft of the film maker.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)560-583
JournalGeopolitics
Volume18
Issue number3
Early online date14 Jun 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2013

Keywords

  • geopolitics
  • borders
  • sovereignty
  • security
  • dispossession

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