Some might expect this movie to be extremely misogynistic, and that I would naturally despise it for being so (especially in the wake of Steubenville and conversations about college binge drinking), but this couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, Harmony Korine channels Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, Tree of Life) in this extremely meditative comment on prevalent pop culture such as Girls Gone Wild, hip hop, slasher films (Turistas, The Ruins, Piranha 3D), guy party movies (The Hangover, Project X), and gun culture.
It is subversive in every way, and seeing it in the theater illustrated this in the best way possible: it was a packed house, and during the scene where James Franco deep throats two gun barrels at the same time, each being wielded as a cock by two ex-Disney Channel girls, you could hear a pin drop. In fact, what I did hear were sighs of discomfort and much shifting in seats.
Effectively, what most people thought they were coming to see (and what most feminists will expect to react to) is not what Korine actually delivers. It is extremely intelligent and razor sharp. The danger here isn't in a blatant celebration of misogyny, but that it might be misinterpreted as glamorizing the very thing it critiques. Although, given my own experience seeing it in the theater, this also seems pretty unlikely, for the audience as a whole gave off an air of discomfort, as though they were unsure how to react.
Much of this is because we aren't used to seeing women portrayed in roles such as these. It's all too often we see movies about four dudes having wild adventures that involve random wild sex (partying, strippers), crime, and eventual camaraderie. And women only play secondary roles (slutty random hookup, stripper, etc) in those movies. But in Spring Breakers the roles are not only reversed, the woman actually have an understanding of what they want and how to get it (versus past films where men are haphazardly flailing through each drunken mishap). They appropriate the phallus and use it directly against the men who make advances of power or sex against them. They cannot be owned (no matter if they choose to bail on the party or forge on), and ultimately, in the spirit of Thelma and Louise, these girls each decide what is right for them, act on it, and Korine abstains from judgement.
I also applaud Korine for finally making a mainstream movie. After Mister Lonely, which had a higher budget than any of his previous ventures, he reacted to his lack of complete creative control on the project with the juvenile and safe (in art school terms) Trash Humpers. It was a step way, way back, and it was clear (at least to me) that he was licking his wounds. It's nice to see that he was able to finally come to terms with the Hollywood machine, but also understand how to use it to make his films stronger.
One of the many differences between Gummo and Spring Breakers is that the latter understands how to reach a wider audience and tear the rug out from beneath them. Korine is no longer shocking the choir. He's poking the nerves of the mainstream.
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