You are here:

Small Roads

Name: Small Roads
Director: James Benning
Released: 2011
Duration: 86 min

Representation Score

7.2/10

Good

2011

Director

James Benning

Runtime

86 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

James Benning’s structuralist approach replaces traditional character-driven narratives with a rigorous observation of space. By removing dialogue and human interaction, the film bypasses the spectacle of identity altogether. This creates a unique form of subversion. While the film lacks the explicit ability to act needed for high representation scores, its refusal to engage with social hierarchies provides a meditative disruption of conventional cinema. Ultimately, the work functions as a systemic observation of the periphery. It moves away from the capitalist and institutional centers to focus on the quiet, lonely transit of the landscape.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Small Roads have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on static landscapes instead of human subjects, avoiding the reinforcement of traditional heterosexual norms.

How does Small Roads portray gender?

Fair

By focusing on the environment, the film avoids traditional gender hierarchies and disrupts expectations of gender performance without relying on character's ability to drive the story.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Small Roads?

Fair

The landscape-driven perspective offers a vacuum where racial hierarchies are neither reinforced nor challenged. The absence of human subjects prevents any direct assessment of ethnic casting.

How does Small Roads represent religion and culture?

Good

The focus on backroads and lonely highways deconstructs the importance of traditional Western institutions, prioritizing a meditative, non-consumerist experience.

Does Small Roads include disability representation?

Fair

There are no characters with visible or invisible disabilities. The slow, static pacing may present accessibility challenges for some neurodivergent viewers due to minimal sensory stimulation.

Present on Screen

The film avoids reinforcing traditional social hierarchies by removing human-centric plot progression.
Its focus on the periphery offers a subtle critique of centralized power and consumerist institutions.
The minimalist approach disrupts conventional cinematic expectations of gendered and social performance.

Limited or Absent

The lack of human subjects prevents any active or explicit representation of diverse identities.
The slow, static pacing may pose accessibility challenges for viewers seeking traditional sensory stimulation.
The absence of character's ability to drive the story means the film cannot actively subvert or promote specific social values.

Official Synopsis

Lengthy static shots of various backroads, smaller interstates, quieter roads, and lonely highways.

How are these scores produced? →