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i saw spring breakers in theaters with my grandmother. she sat through the whole thing and all she said was, “I don’t understand why you take me to things you know I won’t like.”
I made the awful decision of watching Wolf of Wall Street with my aunt. She dipped after the first quarter, RIGHT BEFORE Jonah Hill’s 🐓 came on screen 😵.
Omg I took my mom with me to see it bc I believe it had an R rating in Canada. I was maybe 13-14 at the time. I also had no friends during the time too so she was my only option. I can’t remember if she said anything but we’ve watched movies like American Pie and other R rated movies. But I think it was super awkward bc it was just us 2 watching
i remember reading a review of spring breakers that said the camera rolled around the women like a giant tongue and TO THIS DAY i still think of that review it was so accurate
I absolutely love the movie, it disturbed me to my core. Completely put a different light on those old mtv spring break videos whole somehow also a perfect encapsulation of them. Do think it's super lame actors have to take on sexual roles to be taken seriously. Child stars shouldn't have to scream "I f@ck now" in order to get roles intended for adults....
Yeah, there's one shot in particular that ogles over the director's wife's naked body for an uncomfortably long time (and I'm a dude!). Honestly, I've seen porn that was less male gazey than that shot. Just really weird how much the movie paused everything to just ogle at her and basically screaming at us, "look how smokin' hot my wife is man!"
yeah this entire movie is filmed from the perspective of the male gaze. i think there was a missed opportunity to explore toxic female friendships and the fact that frat boys can be just as dangerous as the stereotypical drug dealers in the film. maybe it they had a few more female writers… but it was the early 2010s.
I love how your voiceover makes 2013 sound like an ancient society centuries away from us, rather than the living memory of a big portion of people on the Internet today.
I think it also emphasizes just how much our collective attention-spans and concepts of time have been damaged due to social media. We are eternally bombarded with new information that makes what we learned about and saw just hours ago completely irrelevant, so looking back 10 years makes it hard for us to imagine that so many trends, memes, songs, videos, and everything else could all fly by so quickly.
The whole shift from the indie sleaze era to a Me Too era reminds me of Ke$ha's life and how things took a turn for the worse when previously, her life and music were carefree, fun, and wild.
I’m Black, so my mom was not about to let me go to spring break in Florida in college. Everything I know about it is through movies and like…news stories about missing college students. The same goes for Indie Sleaze. I was in High School/early college during the Indie Sleaze period and missed a lot of it due in part to my age and the fact that it tends to alienate women who aren’t white.
Preach! My black friends never suggested Fla spring break. Instead we went to Atlanta and had a blast. When you tell black parents…”We’re going to Atlanta” they don’t blink. Say Florida and it’s “Hold up. We gotta talk about this….” 😂
let’s not forget that as a black viewer, the exploitation of black culture was ringing in every scene that chose to show the “under currents” of careless indie sleaze girls. in order to further the themes of an uncomfortable, dangerous narrative, black representation was used as a negative. only to be stereotyped and murdered by the end of the film.. as james franco successfully continues to appropriate our culture. it reminds me of offing the black character to get the horror film started, just some sort of plot device. disgusting.
I remember seeing this in theaters and by the 10th time Franco lazily says “sprang breeeaaak” my audience had had enough. When it ended, people chuckled in a “wtf” kinda way. 10/10 experience.
I feel like neon demon has that “people either really love it or hate it” where the movie is just mostly aesthetics but it’s so alluring to watch. It needs to be reevaluated like this one
@@henryglennon3864 I loved spring breakers. I struggled a lot with hyper sexualizing myself when I was younger, and that movie really encapsulates how you feel about your party years when the partying stops being fun but without it you don't even know who you'd be anymore. It's so sexualized it becomes grotesque, zoomed in shots of body parts so long you start forgetting there's a person attached, and the sex begins to become intertwined with violence before you even realize it's happening.... The superficiality and obnoxious aspects is the entire point imo
@@henryglennon3864 I love The Neon Demon, but both the dialogue and "story" is trash. ENTERTAINING trash, oh yeah, but it's so clear that Refn thought the movie was really deep, but it actually turned out as a beautiful exploitation film.
I love Elle Fanning but I really didn't like The Neon Demon. It was grotesque and boring at the same time somehow, and really on the nose with its symbolism to the point that it was cringy for me. I really liked Spring Breakers, though. It has some really beautiful cinematic moments. I know it's over the top, but there are moments of realism which I appreciated. I still watch the Everytime scene every now and then.
A movie that I am sure you know about called "Perfect Blue" perfectly talks about a point you touched on about a corrupt team of men behind good girls' sexier images. Watching it was eye opening for me about this movie and even stuff like Miley Cyrus' rebellious "acting" out, and even the ire directed ay Taylor Swift for not posing nude.
Tumblr was insane during the spring break era . I see so many things about revival of that “2010-2013/2014” era. And I don’t think it can ever be revived because of what made it at that time imo… was largely a), social media was in its beginning stages, IG/Tumblr/FB, b) Tumblr will never be and hold that influence of the 2010 era it’s just so different now. That time was a time, and I had a lot of fun then but I don’t think there should be a revival. I want society to get out of this nostalgia era I feel like we have been in for the last 3ish years..
I had a lot of fun in this era, too. Tumblr during this time was the best. Just like Broey said in the video, we're romanticizing it because of how carefree it was compared to what's happening today.
Honestly i don't think it's restricted to the last 3 years. People in general recall the days of their childhood, teen and young adulthood with nostalgia because of being little to uneducated about how the world is, especially if you're from a privileged worldview. A white boomer can fondly recall the 50's as "the good old days" because they were a child and not keen on the rampant racism and other kinds of bigotry that was part of that era. Same thing with Gen X and older millennials recalling the 70's and 80's in a similar manner just like how younger millennials and Gen Z fondly recall the early 2000's-early 2010's and previous generations have probably done the same thing and future generations will probably follow suit. It's not that you can't fondly recall those times, shit I myself as a Gen Z person have plenty of nostalgia for the early 2000's-early 2010's so I'm not above that, just always remember to keep a fully rounded perspective on life and history
@@devonmunn5728but it’s not even about any of this, while all of this is very true I’m speaking specifically to the fact that for the last 3 years TikTok has reigned supreme on what is “in” it’s become the number 1 social media app since 2020, and since then it’s like nothing new is being created everything is nostalgic loop & it’s kind of boring now & so lackluster . Of course it’ll always be one gen reminiscing on their perceived “good ole days” and you’ll always have trends cycle forever but rn I feel like & for some reason 2020-now it’s been a loop and I want some new stuff! Lmao 😂
The main thing i remember from this movie is alien saying "spraaaanggbreaaaakk" w his shark teeth and me and my friends HOWLING with laughter. I dont think ive ever laughed that hard again.
While I get that former Disney stars desperately want to break their contracts, I hate how they have to be sexualized to be considered "mature." It feels weird to me that the only way a woman can feel "empowered" is through their sexuality. It says a lot about the industry. I've always considered empowerment to be a personal journey and it's different for everybody and it's not always about sex. For me, my own personal empowerment would be wearing reproduced vintage clothes that update and elevate my personal style and make me feel good and confident without having any sexual components. It could also be singing... Being empowered is doing what makes YOU feel great and not something you feel you need to do to prove to somebody else that you're grown
I think a great example of a matured but not over-sexualized former disney kid is zendaya. Taking on roles for older audiences but not necessarily sexualized ones
im not the biggest fan of the film but one thing that i loved was vanessa hudgens. her performance has always stuck with me and i do think her performance fits the overall tone of american greed/american dream
The moment were you say that with the sexual liberation of women during this era, men were low-key waiting and lurking because it would get easier for them to have access sexually to women, I couldn't help but ask myself : Did we at this exact point in culture witnessed the birth and democratization of infamous the "hookup culture" ? And are we at this very moment now in 2022, witnessing its decline?
Can we say it’s decline though? I’d argue that hookup culture has always been a thing in some capacity. The idea of only ever being with one person sexually or only being with someone you’re emotionally involved with I think is still more the exception than the rule.
I don’t know what you mean by “hookup culture” as i see it alive and well within the electronic music scene in Europe (and Canada when I lived there) since single people do search for a sexual partner at these parties. If you mean pickup artists and sleazy guys going around negging women to have sex with them as hookup culture then I agree. The me too movement has been a huge moment for women’s sexual liberation and even men who definitely aren’t feminist are aware of the laws of consent since now there is a real fear that what they did in 2012 doesn’t fly in 2022. I will admit I am in a sexually liberated bubble within the underground techno scene in Germany where women are sexually liberated. The problem is is that even in these small bubbles there are still creeps who still view women as objects and prey on them. Luckily 99% of guys are aware and watch out for their girl friends so it’s a safe space. Hopefully this is true even outside the bubble, but I’ve heard stories and most are not good from commercial clubs. Not sure if I made sense there.
It’s interesting how Black men seem to fit in and be accepted into this “aesthetic” so much more than black women. It must say a lot about exploitation.
Usually Black men are considered the only necessary representation for black people, and so black women aren’t ever considered. It’s kind of like how Kid Cudi was so prominent in that Indie Sleaze era, but black women like Santigold were largely absent.
@@CyberStockholmSyndromemeanwhile if you talk about Indie Sleaze in Europe, female artists of color like Santigold or MIA, (and Uffie & Sky Ferreira who are white-passing women of color) will come up as the faces of the movement. The US and Europe lived this era entirely differently.
I haven't watched this video yet but I've seen the film several times and I love it because for me it expertly crafts a narrative about disposability in pursuit of hedonistic material wealth. Each girl and hanger on, like Alien, is discarded in turn as if the gestalt consciousness of American greed - the American Dream - which finally rests in the last two girls at the end reinvents itself and sloughs the dead skin of common sense, guilt, fear, morality, and in Alien's case, subordination. He wishes to consume and own the gestalt and is in the end killed by his overreach. In essence the girls do not represent people but an idea of unabashed greed. The friends are disposable, the facilitator is disposable, the weak offering of spring break is disposable. The final entity has a taste of the big time and nothing will stop its pursuit of material pleasures. The flesh, the beautiful lights and textures, are all accessories, jewels on a great big lumbering beast of unsatiated materialism. The film becomes a criticism of the culture it uses to illustrate its point. It is titillation that strips away the pretense until what we have at the end is the core of the American Dream - wealth at the expense of everything.
Very well said! I feel like many of your points are missed because certain people are so off put by the overt sexuality and the non-traditional, loose plot. But this film is self aware. It's not glamorizing hedonistic, material greed. It's showing us the underbelly, the nightmare of the American dream.
@@LoveJungle420 Yep, and in many respects a lot of that underbelly is realistic and true. The drugs that exist (at spring-break) don't appear from now-where right...there is a system at play where the drugs are provided by drug dealers, for the most part, from people like Arch and Alien. On top of that, the exploitation of blacks in the movie, is spot on to how black culture is exploited today. Many rappers are famous right now **because** they sell drugs, commit crime, and are part of gangs... The people buying the music and going to the shows which drive most of the revenue from the music industry are mostly disassociated white teenagers that in some sense, fantasize and admire black/gang culture... The dissociation being that white kids from the suburbs want to feel like they are "part" of the culture...but don't want to **actually** be part of the culture...like a cultural bubble where things can only enter, and not exit. Like the movie puts it...where one can "pretend it's a videogame", the spring-breakers dissociate from the real consequences of actually being a gangbanger, drug-dealer etc...drug-dealers and gangbangers that actually exist to provide the drugs, attractions and the allure that spring-break is in some sense built upon.
When you talk about the mindset of this "era", there was a news story from 2010 that came to mind. A recent college grad at Duke University decided, as a joke, to make a powerpoint presentation about the various guys she slept with while a student at Duke. It was meant as a private joke, but soon the whole thing went viral and she was subjected to public shaming while everybody wringed their hands about these poor boys being "associated" with her, especially the guys who weren't rated favorably by her. It was like she being both leered at because she openly talked about her sexual exploits, yet jeered at because she was supposed to be a good girl from a good family at a good college and good girls don't do that. They especially aren't supposed to question the virality of admired Duke athletes, hence why she was dragged through the mud by the media as a "lesson." The whole thing is gross in retrospect (and I'm horrified because there's at least one encounter that she described herself as being black out drunk for) and I hope she's happy, wherever she is.
i mean, if a dude had made a PowerPoint presentation of all the women he slept with wouldn’t you find that horrifying? It’s really low class and gross to do that no matter your gender.
@@CatharticCreation I'm pretty sure the person's point was how the girl was treated by the media. Yes us left leaning people would find a guy doing that bad but mind you the point the commenter was trying to raise wasn't how specifically us left-wing minded people would react it's about how people in general react
I had just turned 19 when the movie came out, and already familiar with Korine's (and Larry Clark, Gregg Araki, etc) work. So it wasn't really shocking to me. But it was truly something to watch other people, along with the media, lose their shit over seeing Selena Gomez in a bikini lol.
In 2016 I went to Mad Decent Block Party (an EDM festival) and dropped mollie; I was so excited to participate in this open arena of doing whatever the fuck you wanted. As soon as the mollie hit me though I started having a panic attack because I began to pay more attention to those around me and I could literally feel the predatory intent of so many of the men there. Not to say all men into EDM are predators, but in that indie sleaze scene like you mention in the video it is easy to hide that MO behind the idea free sexual liberation of women around that time. I think if indie sleaze does come back and make its way into the zietgiest again we need to remember that the freedom to let go also comes with the inevitable underside of unsafety. With this new outlook you've given Spring Breakers though I might actually give it a watch, been avoiding it since it's release lol
I haven't gone to an EDM festival or done molly, but I absolutely hate it when once in a blue moon I do decide to go to the club with friends with the intention to have fun and let go of the everyday worries and then every now and then there are these slimy 30-50yo men in the club dancing on their own but very obviously trying to break into different circles of girls dancing to try to get a young girl to dance with them alone. It's so gross.
Well, I don't know if it's everywhere in Europe but sometimes school classes take graduation trips after they finish highschool. There are these stories going around of kids ending up dead or permanently maimed on these trips.
Honestly, I'd say Spring Break is pretty alien to most *Americans* as well. It's not Broey's fault for not knowing, but Spring Break tends to be an experience limited to a fairly privileged group of mostly white kids who can afford and/or are allowed to travel by themselves to places like Florida, California, and northern Mexico. Also, lots of kids (especially WOC) don't have the privilege to be innocent and ignorant to predators well into their teens. We get sexualized as early as puberty is able to start, and our parents warn us about men like Alien.
I love your mention of Britney Spears because she is ALL over this movie. It almost feels like some revenge fantasy dream britney could have. One of the characters is literally named brit
I used to watch spring breakers every spring break when I was a teenager. I always labeled it a “bad” movie but if it was really that bad then I wouldn’t have watched it 2 more times lol. My fascination definitely is because of the outrageousness but I really enjoy all the moral questions you pose that underline these spectacle movies. I think your videos have helped me form my own questions while watching films and I will be keeping a sharp eye on my guilty pleasures and all the meaning they encapsulate.
idk if it has to do with me being more culturally distant towards the US, but when I saw the movie two years back, the second half of it felt like an obvious desillusion with excess to me. I got this strong feeling of staying at a party for too long, and having to painfully perceive what is actually happening around me, and that the excess fun and carelessness is spiraling into unsafe escapism. I still dont understand how anyone could really "enjoy" this movie, it made me feel really stupid for partying in my "college years"
I have a damn bachelor’s in communications and finally, thanks to you and Sping Breakers, I understand the medium is the message. I've been trying to wrap my head around this concept for 5 years!
I knew what I was REALLY walking into when I watched Spring Breakers. I had seen Gummo and Kids, and I had spent years watching Gregg Araki's movies. Inie weirdness is something I was very familiar with. Still not a fan of Gummo though. I like how you mentioned exploitation cinema is basically made up of other genres like horror, erotic films, youth culture etc. Everyone owes Roger Corman something haha
The early publicity campaign for Spring Breakers was one of the most legendary bits of IRL trolling of all time. Me and everybody I know who went to see it on its inital run saw portions of the audience walk out.
Amazing video AS ALWAYS. I definitely think that post-covid liberation and freedom is the #1 reason that indie sleaze is coming back. Also, a lot of the adolescents who are teens now have begun romanticizing this era, partially because they aren’t seeing the ugly that those who grew up in it saw, I’m sure.
YES A SPRINGBREAKERS VIDEO. I saw your Neon-noir video and thought "hmm no mention of spring-breakers :(" Took a chance and clicked on your channel and saw this as the trailer. I was inundated with happiness that there's others out there recognizing just how amazing this film was. I've seen the film maybe...20-ish times now. Every time I watch it I re-realize just how great the editing and cinematography is. The fluid narrative is so well done in that the story remains a cohesive story where we can easily discern what events happen in an order through time, but in terms of "at what time" the scenes occur there's no real sense of time, and no real objective state in which we know that a conversation is happening. In addition to the editing, the cinematography is just an explosion of colors that are really very unique to this movie. It's really hard to find movies that have this amount of color range in them and I'd say on a technical level it is a genuine neon-noir film. Every shot/frame is in some sense a perfect still image in motion. The plot also resonated with me because of how layered one could interpret it. There was your basic surface layer, it's plot and characters...then you had the meta/satirical layer and it's exploitation...then you have the allegorical layer (involving religion and the allegory to Alien being the devil etc...) and finally the overall thematic layer and how the film delivers it's themes as a whole. Like Korine states in his interview, I saw the movie as an exploration of "the surfaces"...how everything has a surface layer, but beneath that surface there's more...and sometimes those things are good, some are bad...sometimes they are both good and bad or neither. The partying in some sense felt good. I've had parties like this and they were great (and so one can feel nostalgia watching these parts of the movie)...at the same time there's that underbelly, and there's an awareness of the fact that drugs do come from somewhere at these parties and that is not fake it is real... and the hypocrisy of the interplay between white culture and black culture is another deeper surfaces to explore. Which surface you stumble on depends on who you are...and what perspective you see the movie from, and thus these different surfaces will manifest to you as a viewer in different orders. Cheers,
Great analysis. Not sure we’re actually in a post-Covid era though. I see the nihilistic response right now as a way to not accept that it’s still very much a Covid era.
i feel like there's something to be said about the specific roles that selena and vanessa play and their reputations within and outside of disney - at this point i don't know if you mention vanessa's ex leaking pictures of her (or that she was made to apologize for taking them, in spite of them only getting out because someone she'd trusted betrayed her) and the reputation she gained from that, but by the time the movie had come out she was already a bit moved on from disney/had that following her, while selena did not, and selena is cast to be the good girl of the group where vanessa's character is one of the main instigators of the things they end up doing (as i recall, it's been a while since i've given the movie a proper rewatch). korine's wife's character is also sent home before she gets involved in the big trouble at the end that results in alien's death.
Finally bought my fancy plush bed and just wanted to say thanks for the coupon and all the hours of slow sluggish work you've gotten me through. I hope your cat is nice to you and only occasionally steals your lunch. :)
I've never watched the movie as it just didn't appeal for the exploitation aspects but I've thoroughly enjoyed your take on it. It does concern me a lot that people are saying we're in a post covid world, we're not, its the highest killer here in NZ, sure people may like to say we are, but it's not the case
Excellent video. Thank you for your analysis. Spring Breakers came out right at the brink of a certain time, and although our society (thankfully) moved forward, a fair argument could be made that movies skirt through anything remotely offensive. Trash is trash, it has a place.
I enjoyed hearing your take on this. I've always interpreted this film as a satire whether intentional or not. I think it's a fantastic look at the emptiness of the instant gratification culture of the early 2010s.
Awesome. Your channel continues to produce some of the best film and cultural essays going. In any format. Wow. Really good episode. I saw Spring Breakers at a campus cinema when it first released. I remember how much I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling when I came out of that movie. It seemed punk. Or like a punk satire. I dunno. It’s been a while. Sounds like I should check it out again.
I love Spring Breakers. I can't quite put my finger on it. Just seeing it all unfold IRL here in FL, you run into these types at gas stations at 2am. It took those types and cranked it up. (Great job on the vid!)
I love the breakdown of this time period through the lens of this movie. There seemed to be a reaction toward the end of the Bush era in the U.S. from a sober patriotism to nihilistic consumerism that seemed to have happened without much examination when it took place (at least as far as I was aware). This period definitely deserves more scrutiny as it is such a liminal space between the early post 9/11 world sobriety and our current more radicalized worldviews.
One of the things that kind of blew my mind about this movie was, i totally thought Alien was gonna be a guy who drops the rapper act because the girls got to intense even for him. And was super surprised when it didn't go that route.
Honestly I think the return of indie sleaze aesthetic and mindset low-key scares me, beacuse it's really all artiface. There is legitimate danger in the attitude of risking safety in the name of indie sleaze's definition freedom, there is danger in nihilism. Also, I think how indie sleaze defines what that looks like and who's allowed to participate in it has, as you mention, notable exclusivity and specifically components- wild raves, skinny whiteness, appropriation of black culture, money, status, ect
Fun isn't bad, letting go of propriety and the litigiousness that goes along with it is a relief. You can party hard and slutty all night, and fight the revolution in the morning. For me, the "height" of the indie sleaze era coincided with the height of what my activist friends and refer to as "Ban Fracking Energy" or BFE for short. It's a big, bold, brash, manic warrior spirit that pushed us up and over the finish line to victory, we did ban fracking in NY! Play hard, work hard!
That’s so interesting because I also remember this time where everyone said 2016 was the last great year for them … and I genuinely felt like that was such a universal feeling
This was an e-mail to a friend after seeing the film in the movie theater on original release. I stand by it: 4/1/13 First things first, I went and saw Spring Breakers. Your friend made a point that there was a lot of slow motion and that wasn't a bad thing. The slow motion served a function. It was initially erotic and gratuitously so. It created a sexually charged atmosphere. It also created a dream-like function for the fairy tale aspect of the presentation. But intertwined was also (and more eventually able to convey) a boredom and emptiness of living the plot, in a sort of mimesis with the characters of the plot, which in fairy tale form is scant and instructive. You could call it an Antonioni angle where enjoyment is the antithesis of the effect within the concept of the movie... which somehow behaves as an enjoyment in the intrigue and decipherment of the structure of the presentation. It is a slow, odd, and interesting movie with a great soundtrack and nothing to deter my respect for Ashley Benson. I recommend it, but I wish to leave the subject with a quote from Alien, played by James Franco, "Look at my shi-it!"
I really do love your content (it's thoughtful and critical). Have you ever considered adding short form movie reviews? It doesn't have to be for blockbusters or even consistently scheduled. However, I'd love to know what current / upcoming movies (if any) pique your interest / would be recommended by you. Keep doing you.
One of my favorite movies ever. The flawless execution of a concept, a scene, an era. The Gucci Mane casting alone is historic the only mistake was not getting Riff Raff too. IIRC him and Franco were beefing
20:28 I don't think it's so black and white... Just because they're expressing sexuality doesn't mean they're in control of it. They could be people pleasing compulsively or self sabotage/SH-ing, or something else through the destructive behaviors of spring break parties. Idk that sentence about " they appear to be in control of their sexuality" really made me 🤔 bc u can't tell someone's motivation from the outside... especially if the girl is not aware she's coping from a place of low self esteem.
really enjoyed the analysis of this movie as I always just remember it for being controversial and something I was too young to see, so I never did. As someone who was growing up during this era, it feels very strange and almost disconnecting to think about it in retrospect
Great vid! Spring Breakers represents a type of youth that I just never was,but I can watch without judging the characters. Born disabled and soon to have younger siblings,I never knew this absence of responsibility or consequence. I remember feeling very strongly that people would die if I wasn't responsible. But I know that I'm not better then these girls. Given the opportunity, I would have partied in a bikini. I certainly liked party girls. But I was aware enough to realize that you have to give them water and go read a book. It's so messed up to demand of them. That would be wrong,however one helped. But you can't leave them to an overdose. So you just stay with your books after a while. My destiny to be the shy one,there's to be the party girl.
When I think indie sleaze I think 2006-2009. When I think the “spring breaker aesthetic” I think 2010-2013. Idk it’s compartmentalized in my head like that. Then, 2014-2016 era of king Kylie era/IG baddie aesthetic😂
Wow, thank you for making sense of that movie. I watched it for the first time recently and honestly bounced right off, but it makes so much more sense to know the intentions and context around that...
I actually had a professor in college who taught an exploitation film class that put Spring Breakers on it towards the end of the semester calling it “the last real exploitation film”.
I really enjoyed your balanced approach to a film intertwined with societal and political themes. I can tell that I don't agree with you politically on all issues but I genuinely appreciated your analysis and criticism of this film. It seems to me you are very methodical in your analysis and because of that you do not come across as defensive or singularly aligned in your thinking as so many people on both sides of the political aisle do. That is so rare these days and I genuinely appreciate it when I find a content creator who can manage it.
I saw Spring Breakers on some sorta of psychedelic at my local bargain theater when it came out and I don't remember much. Maybe time to re-visit. Thanks for reminding me it existed.
spring breakers is just….boring. i was a selena gomez fan when i was younger that’s why i watched it back in 2013, it wasn’t because the movie attracted me or whatever it was solely because i was a young girl who wanted to support their favorite celebrity, i think i lied about liking it lol but i gave it a chance recently as an adult and i was like- um… i’m bored when is it gonna end?? then i went to read reviews and i was like? am i dumb? is this movie too complex for me? because they were all positive.
This is going to be a very pretentious comment, but earlier this year I was part of a zine about harmony korine, and it was when I was attempting to write a poem inspired by this movie that it kind of unlocked for me exactly why, despite not being able to tell if I actually LIKED IT I couldn't forget it. As you mention, it's driven by aesthetics, it's scattershot and meandering and uses technical methods more than narrative to express it's themes: it's not narrative, it's functionally more like a poem. I still don't entirely have a read on my feelings about it, but the stark imagery sticks in my mind like lines of poetry sometimes do, and I think that's why, for me anyway, it's still compelling, tapping into the artistic side of my brain moreso than say, the analytical. (Though I do think The Doom Generation does with the same premise and gusto, a much better job at basically all of it.)
i remember seeing the cover of it on redbox as a kid growing up and when those photos were released, it was like still shocking bc I did grow up with HSM still having an older sister who loved Disney and obviously WOWP. I recently watched springbreakers (over springbreak lol) and I LOVED it. I feel like I would've enjoyed it if I was old enough at the time. I would say ahead it's def ahead of it's time.
Have you watched Relatos Salvajes (2014) by Damián Szifron? I thought of that movie when you talked about exploitation films. It was one of the best South American films I've ever seen, I left the cinema totally stunned.
It came out the same time as Her, which was at the complete opposite side of the Indie Sleaze spectrum. Her was quintessential, syrupy, brand-name indie while Her was indie trash
Freedom is a state of being unencumbered. It can be physical, emotional, religious, and so on. Liberty is a type of freedom, the freedom to make decisions for ones own life.
I remember really not liking this movie when I saw it. And I’ve only ever watched it the one time. Watching this makes me want to revisit this movie since it’s been ten years since I saw it.
I've seen Kyle Kallgren/Brows Held High's review and your review is on equal par with his, imo. Korine's benign but exploitative relationship with the leading actresses vaguely reminds me of Peter Pan author James Barrie's questionable relationship with the Llewellyn-Davies boys.
This review made a game effort to justify this film's existence, but ultimately I still think I'm gonna side with Kyle more here; Harmonie's a guy that wanted to have it both ways, he said he wanted to make a "statement" about Spring Break, but it more just comes across as the fantasy that he WISHED he had.
What's funny is that I was never a fan of Korine's work, especially Gummo, which many in my late millennial generation loved. But for some reason this movie really resonated with me. I absolutely love it.
Watching your video made me keep thinking about everything that happen with Hunter Moore and the site "Is Anyone Up?" since that documentary about it came out recently. It really does seem like the 00's and 10's are very strong in our collective zeigist, especially with the panorama. ^^;
Great video as always. I think the movie Belly(1998) accomplish the indie sleaze aesthetics a better then spring breakers. I no way have the knowledge in film studies to accurately explain.
"All spectacle with no heart" is the perfect description. Spring Breakers came out the year I graduated high school, and I remember really liking how deliciously nihilistic it was, how well it captured that feeling of being drunk/high at a party that's teetering between fun and awful.
I love schlock and „bad“ cinema. Jet Springbreackers is not entertaining enough to satisfy, nor deep enough to bring thought. It found it not very engaging. But i love your analysis😁
this whole movie felt like a trailer and honestly i loved it on my rewatch, its such a true feeling into what that time felt like during those years as a young adult. i also really love that the whole movie feels like a condemnation of white appropriation, which i think is important element of the indie sleaze movement; the freedom of whiteness to be as trashy as you want without violent consequences. In the movie, Alien is a fucking clown and thats made pretty clear, but I think thats why the ending gives me such mixed feelings. both the unlikeliness of two college girls clearing out an entire yard of people without a single wound, and just the fact that it makes you feel in a way that that type of appropriative behavior wins. but i can accept it because ultimately thats how it is in the world, white people who appropriate black culture usually do come out on top. to be 100% honest, i'm sure Korine was intentional in this element of the film, but I'm not sure how much he realizes the movie itself hinges on that aspect. But regardless I will never have any shame in saying this movie is one of my favorites. I'm a class of 2013 kid, we went to see this in theatres 4 times and I have great memories of that and now 10 years later its so fun to see this little time capsule. awesome video as always :)
Answer to the freedom question prior to watching the video: Being able to feel the breeze / air / ac touch my whole body while walking in public eating Scooby snacks.
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788cc8
Heyy Bro..did you ever make a video regarding the movie kids or was I trippin & that was someone else
i saw spring breakers in theaters with my grandmother. she sat through the whole thing and all she said was, “I don’t understand why you take me to things you know I won’t like.”
that's hilarious
Awwww Poor grandma 🤣
To open your mind, grandma!!
I made the awful decision of watching Wolf of Wall Street with my aunt. She dipped after the first quarter, RIGHT BEFORE Jonah Hill’s 🐓 came on screen 😵.
Omg I took my mom with me to see it bc I believe it had an R rating in Canada. I was maybe 13-14 at the time. I also had no friends during the time too so she was my only option.
I can’t remember if she said anything but we’ve watched movies like American Pie and other R rated movies. But I think it was super awkward bc it was just us 2 watching
i remember reading a review of spring breakers that said the camera rolled around the women like a giant tongue and TO THIS DAY i still think of that review it was so accurate
I absolutely love the movie, it disturbed me to my core. Completely put a different light on those old mtv spring break videos whole somehow also a perfect encapsulation of them.
Do think it's super lame actors have to take on sexual roles to be taken seriously. Child stars shouldn't have to scream "I f@ck now" in order to get roles intended for adults....
Yeah, there's one shot in particular that ogles over the director's wife's naked body for an uncomfortably long time (and I'm a dude!). Honestly, I've seen porn that was less male gazey than that shot. Just really weird how much the movie paused everything to just ogle at her and basically screaming at us, "look how smokin' hot my wife is man!"
yeah this entire movie is filmed from the perspective of the male gaze. i think there was a missed opportunity to explore toxic female friendships and the fact that frat boys can be just as dangerous as the stereotypical drug dealers in the film. maybe it they had a few more female writers… but it was the early 2010s.
I love how your voiceover makes 2013 sound like an ancient society centuries away from us, rather than the living memory of a big portion of people on the Internet today.
A lot of shit happened in 9 years....
Fffuuuuuuuuu
its because she is very young and that was a lifetime ago to her where as if you were an adult at the time it doesnt feel that long ago.
@@claynorth964 She's not that young. She was in her late teens at the time. Not exactly a kid who barely remembers a certain era.
It's almost like time will pass and really will be history eventually 🤯🤯
I think it also emphasizes just how much our collective attention-spans and concepts of time have been damaged due to social media. We are eternally bombarded with new information that makes what we learned about and saw just hours ago completely irrelevant, so looking back 10 years makes it hard for us to imagine that so many trends, memes, songs, videos, and everything else could all fly by so quickly.
The whole shift from the indie sleaze era to a Me Too era reminds me of Ke$ha's life and how things took a turn for the worse when previously, her life and music were carefree, fun, and wild.
Ü
I’m Black, so my mom was not about to let me go to spring break in Florida in college. Everything I know about it is through movies and like…news stories about missing college students.
The same goes for Indie Sleaze. I was in High School/early college during the Indie Sleaze period and missed a lot of it due in part to my age and the fact that it tends to alienate women who aren’t white.
Preach! My black friends never suggested Fla spring break. Instead we went to Atlanta and had a blast. When you tell black parents…”We’re going to Atlanta” they don’t blink. Say Florida and it’s “Hold up. We gotta talk about this….” 😂
The last bit is 💯 True. This is one of those subcultures like emo that wasn't welcoming to POC at all
Lol. You’re just coping
let’s not forget that as a black viewer, the exploitation of black culture was ringing in every scene that chose to show the “under currents” of careless indie sleaze girls. in order to further the themes of an uncomfortable, dangerous narrative, black representation was used as a negative. only to be stereotyped and murdered by the end of the film.. as james franco successfully continues to appropriate our culture. it reminds me of offing the black character to get the horror film started, just some sort of plot device. disgusting.
I remember seeing this in theaters and by the 10th time Franco lazily says “sprang breeeaaak” my audience had had enough. When it ended, people chuckled in a “wtf” kinda way. 10/10 experience.
Lmao!
I was shocked to learn that Franco didn't write and produce this movie
Spriiiiing Breeaaak... Fooo evaaa..
I vividly remember renting this movie from Redbox in high school and watching it as a double feature with The Bling Ring.
In my head those are the same movie lol
It was also a bundle on iTunes together
omg i totally forgot about bling ring! what an era lmao
I wanna robb... 🚬
I feel like neon demon has that “people either really love it or hate it” where the movie is just mostly aesthetics but it’s so alluring to watch. It needs to be reevaluated like this one
Neon Demon also has more interesting cinematography, dialog, and story. Spring Breakers is only interesting if you've never seen an art film before.
@@henryglennon3864 so like neon demon?
@@henryglennon3864 I loved spring breakers. I struggled a lot with hyper sexualizing myself when I was younger, and that movie really encapsulates how you feel about your party years when the partying stops being fun but without it you don't even know who you'd be anymore. It's so sexualized it becomes grotesque, zoomed in shots of body parts so long you start forgetting there's a person attached, and the sex begins to become intertwined with violence before you even realize it's happening....
The superficiality and obnoxious aspects is the entire point imo
@@henryglennon3864 I love The Neon Demon, but both the dialogue and "story" is trash. ENTERTAINING trash, oh yeah, but it's so clear that Refn thought the movie was really deep, but it actually turned out as a beautiful exploitation film.
I love Elle Fanning but I really didn't like The Neon Demon. It was grotesque and boring at the same time somehow, and really on the nose with its symbolism to the point that it was cringy for me. I really liked Spring Breakers, though. It has some really beautiful cinematic moments. I know it's over the top, but there are moments of realism which I appreciated. I still watch the Everytime scene every now and then.
A movie that I am sure you know about called "Perfect Blue" perfectly talks about a point you touched on about a corrupt team of men behind good girls' sexier images. Watching it was eye opening for me about this movie and even stuff like Miley Cyrus' rebellious "acting" out, and even the ire directed ay Taylor Swift for not posing nude.
Tumblr was insane during the spring break era . I see so many things about revival of that “2010-2013/2014” era. And I don’t think it can ever be revived because of what made it at that time imo… was largely a), social media was in its beginning stages, IG/Tumblr/FB, b) Tumblr will never be and hold that influence of the 2010 era it’s just so different now. That time was a time, and I had a lot of fun then but I don’t think there should be a revival. I want society to get out of this nostalgia era I feel like we have been in for the last 3ish years..
I had a lot of fun in this era, too. Tumblr during this time was the best. Just like Broey said in the video, we're romanticizing it because of how carefree it was compared to what's happening today.
Honestly i don't think it's restricted to the last 3 years. People in general recall the days of their childhood, teen and young adulthood with nostalgia because of being little to uneducated about how the world is, especially if you're from a privileged worldview. A white boomer can fondly recall the 50's as "the good old days" because they were a child and not keen on the rampant racism and other kinds of bigotry that was part of that era. Same thing with Gen X and older millennials recalling the 70's and 80's in a similar manner just like how younger millennials and Gen Z fondly recall the early 2000's-early 2010's and previous generations have probably done the same thing and future generations will probably follow suit. It's not that you can't fondly recall those times, shit I myself as a Gen Z person have plenty of nostalgia for the early 2000's-early 2010's so I'm not above that, just always remember to keep a fully rounded perspective on life and history
@@devonmunn5728but it’s not even about any of this, while all of this is very true I’m speaking specifically to the fact that for the last 3 years TikTok has reigned supreme on what is “in” it’s become the number 1 social media app since 2020, and since then it’s like nothing new is being created everything is nostalgic loop & it’s kind of boring now & so lackluster . Of course it’ll always be one gen reminiscing on their perceived “good ole days” and you’ll always have trends cycle forever but rn I feel like & for some reason 2020-now it’s been a loop and I want some new stuff! Lmao 😂
@@artmonkey24exactly ! And tbh id like to go back😂
The main thing i remember from this movie is alien saying "spraaaanggbreaaaakk" w his shark teeth and me and my friends HOWLING with laughter. I dont think ive ever laughed that hard again.
How sad
spraaangggbreeaaak foreveerrrr
While I get that former Disney stars desperately want to break their contracts, I hate how they have to be sexualized to be considered "mature." It feels weird to me that the only way a woman can feel "empowered" is through their sexuality. It says a lot about the industry. I've always considered empowerment to be a personal journey and it's different for everybody and it's not always about sex.
For me, my own personal empowerment would be wearing reproduced vintage clothes that update and elevate my personal style and make me feel good and confident without having any sexual components. It could also be singing... Being empowered is doing what makes YOU feel great and not something you feel you need to do to prove to somebody else that you're grown
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 As an asexual woman thank you for this comment, you nailed it
@@itsmeiish Aww... Omg, thank you! I'm so happy you feel seen and heard
I think a great example of a matured but not over-sexualized former disney kid is zendaya. Taking on roles for older audiences but not necessarily sexualized ones
@@ellamizang433 I liked that she refused to do nude scenes in Euphoria. I just wish the actress that played Cassie was allowed that same respect
“Nudity empowers some women. Modesty empowers some women. Different things empower different women. Feminism is their right to choose.”
im not the biggest fan of the film but one thing that i loved was vanessa hudgens. her performance has always stuck with me and i do think her performance fits the overall tone of american greed/american dream
Amazing to know that even 2013 has a demographic that yearns for it and perceives it as the good times. In a way it's even humbling.
The moment were you say that with the sexual liberation of women during this era, men were low-key waiting and lurking because it would get easier for them to have access sexually to women, I couldn't help but ask myself : Did we at this exact point in culture witnessed the birth and democratization of infamous the "hookup culture" ? And are we at this very moment now in 2022, witnessing its decline?
i think so
Can we say it’s decline though? I’d argue that hookup culture has always been a thing in some capacity. The idea of only ever being with one person sexually or only being with someone you’re emotionally involved with I think is still more the exception than the rule.
I don’t know what you mean by “hookup culture” as i see it alive and well within the electronic music scene in Europe (and Canada when I lived there) since single people do search for a sexual partner at these parties.
If you mean pickup artists and sleazy guys going around negging women to have sex with them as hookup culture then I agree. The me too movement has been a huge moment for women’s sexual liberation and even men who definitely aren’t feminist are aware of the laws of consent since now there is a real fear that what they did in 2012 doesn’t fly in 2022.
I will admit I am in a sexually liberated bubble within the underground techno scene in Germany where women are sexually liberated. The problem is is that even in these small bubbles there are still creeps who still view women as objects and prey on them. Luckily 99% of guys are aware and watch out for their girl friends so it’s a safe space. Hopefully this is true even outside the bubble, but I’ve heard stories and most are not good from commercial clubs.
Not sure if I made sense there.
Yes.
@@MistaZULE you made sense, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences
It’s interesting how Black men seem to fit in and be accepted into this “aesthetic” so much more than black women. It must say a lot about exploitation.
Usually Black men are considered the only necessary representation for black people, and so black women aren’t ever considered.
It’s kind of like how Kid Cudi was so prominent in that Indie Sleaze era, but black women like Santigold were largely absent.
@@CyberStockholmSyndrome FACTSSSSS
@@CyberStockholmSyndrome very true wow
@@CyberStockholmSyndrome Santigold the queen
@@CyberStockholmSyndromemeanwhile if you talk about Indie Sleaze in Europe, female artists of color like Santigold or MIA, (and Uffie & Sky Ferreira who are white-passing women of color) will come up as the faces of the movement. The US and Europe lived this era entirely differently.
The way you organize and execute your videos truly inspires me. I take notes every time i watch for my podcast. Thank you for your QUALITY content✨
I haven't watched this video yet but I've seen the film several times and I love it because for me it expertly crafts a narrative about disposability in pursuit of hedonistic material wealth. Each girl and hanger on, like Alien, is discarded in turn as if the gestalt consciousness of American greed - the American Dream - which finally rests in the last two girls at the end reinvents itself and sloughs the dead skin of common sense, guilt, fear, morality, and in Alien's case, subordination. He wishes to consume and own the gestalt and is in the end killed by his overreach. In essence the girls do not represent people but an idea of unabashed greed. The friends are disposable, the facilitator is disposable, the weak offering of spring break is disposable. The final entity has a taste of the big time and nothing will stop its pursuit of material pleasures. The flesh, the beautiful lights and textures, are all accessories, jewels on a great big lumbering beast of unsatiated materialism. The film becomes a criticism of the culture it uses to illustrate its point. It is titillation that strips away the pretense until what we have at the end is the core of the American Dream - wealth at the expense of everything.
Very well said! I feel like many of your points are missed because certain people are so off put by the overt sexuality and the non-traditional, loose plot. But this film is self aware. It's not glamorizing hedonistic, material greed. It's showing us the underbelly, the nightmare of the American dream.
@@LoveJungle420 Yep, and in many respects a lot of that underbelly is realistic and true. The drugs that exist (at spring-break) don't appear from now-where right...there is a system at play where the drugs are provided by drug dealers, for the most part, from people like Arch and Alien.
On top of that, the exploitation of blacks in the movie, is spot on to how black culture is exploited today. Many rappers are famous right now **because** they sell drugs, commit crime, and are part of gangs... The people buying the music and going to the shows which drive most of the revenue from the music industry are mostly disassociated white teenagers that in some sense, fantasize and admire black/gang culture... The dissociation being that white kids from the suburbs want to feel like they are "part" of the culture...but don't want to **actually** be part of the culture...like a cultural bubble where things can only enter, and not exit.
Like the movie puts it...where one can "pretend it's a videogame", the spring-breakers dissociate from the real consequences of actually being a gangbanger, drug-dealer etc...drug-dealers and gangbangers that actually exist to provide the drugs, attractions and the allure that spring-break is in some sense built upon.
When you talk about the mindset of this "era", there was a news story from 2010 that came to mind. A recent college grad at Duke University decided, as a joke, to make a powerpoint presentation about the various guys she slept with while a student at Duke. It was meant as a private joke, but soon the whole thing went viral and she was subjected to public shaming while everybody wringed their hands about these poor boys being "associated" with her, especially the guys who weren't rated favorably by her. It was like she being both leered at because she openly talked about her sexual exploits, yet jeered at because she was supposed to be a good girl from a good family at a good college and good girls don't do that. They especially aren't supposed to question the virality of admired Duke athletes, hence why she was dragged through the mud by the media as a "lesson." The whole thing is gross in retrospect (and I'm horrified because there's at least one encounter that she described herself as being black out drunk for) and I hope she's happy, wherever she is.
i mean, if a dude had made a PowerPoint presentation of all the women he slept with wouldn’t you find that horrifying? It’s really low class and gross to do that no matter your gender.
@@CatharticCreation I'm pretty sure the person's point was how the girl was treated by the media. Yes us left leaning people would find a guy doing that bad but mind you the point the commenter was trying to raise wasn't how specifically us left-wing minded people would react it's about how people in general react
I had just turned 19 when the movie came out, and already familiar with Korine's (and Larry Clark, Gregg Araki, etc) work. So it wasn't really shocking to me. But it was truly something to watch other people, along with the media, lose their shit over seeing Selena Gomez in a bikini lol.
Watching the movie now knowing what we know about James Franco's sexual misconducts doesn't feel the same
He kinda sucked in it anyway. Riff Raff was originally cast but pulled out, so they just had Franco do a bad impersonation.
He even takes DePalma's name in vain by claiming that he watches "SCARFACE ON REPEAT, CONSTANT Y'ALL"
SAME WITH THAT MOVIE PALO ALTO
@@mrstephenpariah I had no idea Riff Raff was originally cast in the role, I just thought Franco was doing a really REALLY shitty impression of him
@@mrstephenpariah oh my God it all makes sense now. No wonder he looked like that 😭
In 2016 I went to Mad Decent Block Party (an EDM festival) and dropped mollie; I was so excited to participate in this open arena of doing whatever the fuck you wanted. As soon as the mollie hit me though I started having a panic attack because I began to pay more attention to those around me and I could literally feel the predatory intent of so many of the men there. Not to say all men into EDM are predators, but in that indie sleaze scene like you mention in the video it is easy to hide that MO behind the idea free sexual liberation of women around that time. I think if indie sleaze does come back and make its way into the zietgiest again we need to remember that the freedom to let go also comes with the inevitable underside of unsafety.
With this new outlook you've given Spring Breakers though I might actually give it a watch, been avoiding it since it's release lol
I haven't gone to an EDM festival or done molly, but I absolutely hate it when once in a blue moon I do decide to go to the club with friends with the intention to have fun and let go of the everyday worries and then every now and then there are these slimy 30-50yo men in the club dancing on their own but very obviously trying to break into different circles of girls dancing to try to get a young girl to dance with them alone. It's so gross.
Then that probably wasn't Molly because real Molly will make you not give a damn about anything and think everyone is your best friend.
The whole Spring Break concept is fascinating, something I don't think we would ever have in the UK or Europe in general
Well, I don't know if it's everywhere in Europe but sometimes school classes take graduation trips after they finish highschool. There are these stories going around of kids ending up dead or permanently maimed on these trips.
I’d say the UK equivalent is a summer “lads holiday” in Ibiza or Magaluf
@@gee159 I guess that's true
The Spanish speaking world has Semana Santa
Honestly, I'd say Spring Break is pretty alien to most *Americans* as well. It's not Broey's fault for not knowing, but Spring Break tends to be an experience limited to a fairly privileged group of mostly white kids who can afford and/or are allowed to travel by themselves to places like Florida, California, and northern Mexico.
Also, lots of kids (especially WOC) don't have the privilege to be innocent and ignorant to predators well into their teens. We get sexualized as early as puberty is able to start, and our parents warn us about men like Alien.
I love your mention of Britney Spears because she is ALL over this movie. It almost feels like some revenge fantasy dream britney could have. One of the characters is literally named brit
I used to watch spring breakers every spring break when I was a teenager. I always labeled it a “bad” movie but if it was really that bad then I wouldn’t have watched it 2 more times lol. My fascination definitely is because of the outrageousness but I really enjoy all the moral questions you pose that underline these spectacle movies. I think your videos have helped me form my own questions while watching films and I will be keeping a sharp eye on my guilty pleasures and all the meaning they encapsulate.
idk if it has to do with me being more culturally distant towards the US, but when I saw the movie two years back, the second half of it felt like an obvious desillusion with excess to me. I got this strong feeling of staying at a party for too long, and having to painfully perceive what is actually happening around me, and that the excess fun and carelessness is spiraling into unsafe escapism. I still dont understand how anyone could really "enjoy" this movie, it made me feel really stupid for partying in my "college years"
I had the exact same feeling. Like you're at a party after 3AM, sobered up, and you want to leave but you can't.
I unironically love this film.
I have a damn bachelor’s in communications and finally, thanks to you and Sping Breakers, I understand the medium is the message. I've been trying to wrap my head around this concept for 5 years!
Indie sleaze fundamentally changed who i am as a person and i’m very much envious of everyone who missed out on it the first go around
I knew what I was REALLY walking into when I watched Spring Breakers. I had seen Gummo and Kids, and I had spent years watching Gregg Araki's movies. Inie weirdness is something I was very familiar with. Still not a fan of Gummo though. I like how you mentioned exploitation cinema is basically made up of other genres like horror, erotic films, youth culture etc. Everyone owes Roger Corman something haha
The early publicity campaign for Spring Breakers was one of the most legendary bits of IRL trolling of all time. Me and everybody I know who went to see it on its inital run saw portions of the audience walk out.
thats so iconic
Spring Breakers walked, so that Euphoria could run 😅
Amazing video AS ALWAYS. I definitely think that post-covid liberation and freedom is the #1 reason that indie sleaze is coming back. Also, a lot of the adolescents who are teens now have begun romanticizing this era, partially because they aren’t seeing the ugly that those who grew up in it saw, I’m sure.
YES A SPRINGBREAKERS VIDEO.
I saw your Neon-noir video and thought "hmm no mention of spring-breakers :("
Took a chance and clicked on your channel and saw this as the trailer. I was inundated with happiness that there's others out there recognizing just how amazing this film was.
I've seen the film maybe...20-ish times now. Every time I watch it I re-realize just how great the editing and cinematography is. The fluid narrative is so well done in that the story remains a cohesive story where we can easily discern what events happen in an order through time, but in terms of "at what time" the scenes occur there's no real sense of time, and no real objective state in which we know that a conversation is happening. In addition to the editing, the cinematography is just an explosion of colors that are really very unique to this movie. It's really hard to find movies that have this amount of color range in them and I'd say on a technical level it is a genuine neon-noir film. Every shot/frame is in some sense a perfect still image in motion.
The plot also resonated with me because of how layered one could interpret it. There was your basic surface layer, it's plot and characters...then you had the meta/satirical layer and it's exploitation...then you have the allegorical layer (involving religion and the allegory to Alien being the devil etc...) and finally the overall thematic layer and how the film delivers it's themes as a whole.
Like Korine states in his interview, I saw the movie as an exploration of "the surfaces"...how everything has a surface layer, but beneath that surface there's more...and sometimes those things are good, some are bad...sometimes they are both good and bad or neither. The partying in some sense felt good. I've had parties like this and they were great (and so one can feel nostalgia watching these parts of the movie)...at the same time there's that underbelly, and there's an awareness of the fact that drugs do come from somewhere at these parties and that is not fake it is real... and the hypocrisy of the interplay between white culture and black culture is another deeper surfaces to explore. Which surface you stumble on depends on who you are...and what perspective you see the movie from, and thus these different surfaces will manifest to you as a viewer in different orders.
Cheers,
Great analysis. Not sure we’re actually in a post-Covid era though. I see the nihilistic response right now as a way to not accept that it’s still very much a Covid era.
i feel like there's something to be said about the specific roles that selena and vanessa play and their reputations within and outside of disney - at this point i don't know if you mention vanessa's ex leaking pictures of her (or that she was made to apologize for taking them, in spite of them only getting out because someone she'd trusted betrayed her) and the reputation she gained from that, but by the time the movie had come out she was already a bit moved on from disney/had that following her, while selena did not, and selena is cast to be the good girl of the group where vanessa's character is one of the main instigators of the things they end up doing (as i recall, it's been a while since i've given the movie a proper rewatch). korine's wife's character is also sent home before she gets involved in the big trouble at the end that results in alien's death.
Finally bought my fancy plush bed and just wanted to say thanks for the coupon and all the hours of slow sluggish work you've gotten me through. I hope your cat is nice to you and only occasionally steals your lunch. :)
I've never watched the movie as it just didn't appeal for the exploitation aspects but I've thoroughly enjoyed your take on it. It does concern me a lot that people are saying we're in a post covid world, we're not, its the highest killer here in NZ, sure people may like to say we are, but it's not the case
Excellent video. Thank you for your analysis. Spring Breakers came out right at the brink of a certain time, and although our society (thankfully) moved forward, a fair argument could be made that movies skirt through anything remotely offensive. Trash is trash, it has a place.
I enjoyed hearing your take on this. I've always interpreted this film as a satire whether intentional or not. I think it's a fantastic look at the emptiness of the instant gratification culture of the early 2010s.
Awesome. Your channel continues to produce some of the best film and cultural essays going. In any format. Wow. Really good episode.
I saw Spring Breakers at a campus cinema when it first released. I remember how much I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling when I came out of that movie. It seemed punk. Or like a punk satire. I dunno. It’s been a while. Sounds like I should check it out again.
Love your point on the movie being a modern exploitation film. I've thought this too for years and it was really satisfying hearing you articulate it!
I love Spring Breakers.
I can't quite put my finger on it.
Just seeing it all unfold IRL here in FL, you run into these types at gas stations at 2am.
It took those types and cranked it up.
(Great job on the vid!)
Video actually starts at 3:15.
I love the breakdown of this time period through the lens of this movie. There seemed to be a reaction toward the end of the Bush era in the U.S. from a sober patriotism to nihilistic consumerism that seemed to have happened without much examination when it took place (at least as far as I was aware). This period definitely deserves more scrutiny as it is such a liminal space between the early post 9/11 world sobriety and our current more radicalized worldviews.
One of the things that kind of blew my mind about this movie was, i totally thought Alien was gonna be a guy who drops the rapper act because the girls got to intense even for him. And was super surprised when it didn't go that route.
Honestly I think the return of indie sleaze aesthetic and mindset low-key scares me, beacuse it's really all artiface. There is legitimate danger in the attitude of risking safety in the name of indie sleaze's definition freedom, there is danger in nihilism. Also, I think how indie sleaze defines what that looks like and who's allowed to participate in it has, as you mention, notable exclusivity and specifically components- wild raves, skinny whiteness, appropriation of black culture, money, status, ect
Fun isn't bad, letting go of propriety and the litigiousness that goes along with it is a relief. You can party hard and slutty all night, and fight the revolution in the morning. For me, the "height" of the indie sleaze era coincided with the height of what my activist friends and refer to as "Ban Fracking Energy" or BFE for short. It's a big, bold, brash, manic warrior spirit that pushed us up and over the finish line to victory, we did ban fracking in NY! Play hard, work hard!
That’s so interesting because I also remember this time where everyone said 2016 was the last great year for them … and I genuinely felt like that was such a universal feeling
This was an e-mail to a friend after seeing the film in the movie theater on original release. I stand by it:
4/1/13
First things first, I went and saw Spring Breakers. Your friend made a point that there was a lot of slow motion and that wasn't a bad thing. The slow motion served a function. It was initially erotic and gratuitously so. It created a sexually charged atmosphere. It also created a dream-like function for the fairy tale aspect of the presentation. But intertwined was also (and more eventually able to convey) a boredom and emptiness of living the plot, in a sort of mimesis with the characters of the plot, which in fairy tale form is scant and instructive. You could call it an Antonioni angle where enjoyment is the antithesis of the effect within the concept of the movie... which somehow behaves as an enjoyment in the intrigue and decipherment of the structure of the presentation. It is a slow, odd, and interesting movie with a great soundtrack and nothing to deter my respect for Ashley Benson. I recommend it, but I wish to leave the subject with a quote from Alien, played by James Franco, "Look at my shi-it!"
I really do love your content (it's thoughtful and critical).
Have you ever considered adding short form movie reviews? It doesn't have to be for blockbusters or even consistently scheduled. However, I'd love to know what current / upcoming movies (if any) pique your interest / would be recommended by you.
Keep doing you.
You should check her letterboxd! She writes really insightful short reviews and I've discovered some great movies through it
One of my favorite movies ever. The flawless execution of a concept, a scene, an era. The Gucci Mane casting alone is historic the only mistake was not getting Riff Raff too. IIRC him and Franco were beefing
20:28 I don't think it's so black and white... Just because they're expressing sexuality doesn't mean they're in control of it. They could be people pleasing compulsively or self sabotage/SH-ing, or something else through the destructive behaviors of spring break parties.
Idk that sentence about " they appear to be in control of their sexuality" really made me 🤔 bc u can't tell someone's motivation from the outside... especially if the girl is not aware she's coping from a place of low self esteem.
This!
really enjoyed the analysis of this movie as I always just remember it for being controversial and something I was too young to see, so I never did. As someone who was growing up during this era, it feels very strange and almost disconnecting to think about it in retrospect
Great vid! Spring Breakers represents a type of youth that I just never was,but I can watch without judging the characters. Born disabled and soon to have younger siblings,I never knew this absence of responsibility or consequence. I remember feeling very strongly that people would die if I wasn't responsible. But I know that I'm not better then these girls. Given the opportunity, I would have partied in a bikini. I certainly liked party girls. But I was aware enough to realize that you have to give them water and go read a book. It's so messed up to demand of them. That would be wrong,however one helped. But you can't leave them to an overdose. So you just stay with your books after a while. My destiny to be the shy one,there's to be the party girl.
I went to see this movie with a group of friends. It is the only time where I have ever walked out of a theater.
So this is where Bojack Horseman got those characters from..lol
When I think indie sleaze I think 2006-2009. When I think the “spring breaker aesthetic” I think 2010-2013. Idk it’s compartmentalized in my head like that. Then, 2014-2016 era of king Kylie era/IG baddie aesthetic😂
It’s only right that I drop everything I’m doing when there’s a new Broey vid
Really great and nuanced!! Also love how you filmed your clips against a white backdrop yourself
Second spring breakers analysis video in a short period of time, interesting
Wow, thank you for making sense of that movie. I watched it for the first time recently and honestly bounced right off, but it makes so much more sense to know the intentions and context around that...
Honestly we have to also acknowledge how young his wife is. I think I would never give him credit here.
Always a great watch! Thank you for your work, can’t wait to discuss with my fiancée later
I actually had a professor in college who taught an exploitation film class that put Spring Breakers on it towards the end of the semester calling it “the last real exploitation film”.
I wish I could take that class, that sounds amazing. Sometimes I wish I majored in film
I really enjoyed your balanced approach to a film intertwined with societal and political themes. I can tell that I don't agree with you politically on all issues but I genuinely appreciated your analysis and criticism of this film. It seems to me you are very methodical in your analysis and because of that you do not come across as defensive or singularly aligned in your thinking as so many people on both sides of the political aisle do. That is so rare these days and I genuinely appreciate it when I find a content creator who can manage it.
Maybe it was your reading of it, but "And then Ellie Goulding's Lights plays" struck me very, very funny
FINALLY A MOVIE IVE WATCHED THANK U
I saw Spring Breakers on some sorta of psychedelic at my local bargain theater when it came out and I don't remember much. Maybe time to re-visit. Thanks for reminding me it existed.
Much needed analysis and for most out there, it still seems today. Thanks a lot. Brilliant work.
spring breakers is just….boring. i was a selena gomez fan when i was younger that’s why i watched it back in 2013, it wasn’t because the movie attracted me or whatever it was solely because i was a young girl who wanted to support their favorite celebrity, i think i lied about liking it lol but i gave it a chance recently as an adult and i was like- um… i’m bored when is it gonna end?? then i went to read reviews and i was like? am i dumb? is this movie too complex for me? because they were all positive.
It's QUITE boring, your younger self was right, as was mine since I hated this thing too.
This is going to be a very pretentious comment, but earlier this year I was part of a zine about harmony korine, and it was when I was attempting to write a poem inspired by this movie that it kind of unlocked for me exactly why, despite not being able to tell if I actually LIKED IT I couldn't forget it. As you mention, it's driven by aesthetics, it's scattershot and meandering and uses technical methods more than narrative to express it's themes: it's not narrative, it's functionally more like a poem. I still don't entirely have a read on my feelings about it, but the stark imagery sticks in my mind like lines of poetry sometimes do, and I think that's why, for me anyway, it's still compelling, tapping into the artistic side of my brain moreso than say, the analytical. (Though I do think The Doom Generation does with the same premise and gusto, a much better job at basically all of it.)
Ugh, Doom Generation is SO good! Now I have to go re-watch it.
the description of Indie sleaze around 14:00 reminds me a bit of the feeling of Nan Goldin's work from the 80's and 90's
Indie sleez is just grunge/heroin chic, colored neon.
i remember seeing the cover of it on redbox as a kid growing up and when those photos were released, it was like still shocking bc I did grow up with HSM still having an older sister who loved Disney and obviously WOWP. I recently watched springbreakers (over springbreak lol) and I LOVED it. I feel like I would've enjoyed it if I was old enough at the time. I would say ahead it's def ahead of it's time.
Have you watched Relatos Salvajes (2014) by Damián Szifron? I thought of that movie when you talked about exploitation films. It was one of the best South American films I've ever seen, I left the cinema totally stunned.
It came out the same time as Her, which was at the complete opposite side of the Indie Sleaze spectrum. Her was quintessential, syrupy, brand-name indie while Her was indie trash
Freedom is a state of being unencumbered. It can be physical, emotional, religious, and so on. Liberty is a type of freedom, the freedom to make decisions for ones own life.
I remember really not liking this movie when I saw it. And I’ve only ever watched it the one time. Watching this makes me want to revisit this movie since it’s been ten years since I saw it.
I've seen Kyle Kallgren/Brows Held High's review and your review is on equal par with his, imo.
Korine's benign but exploitative relationship with the leading actresses vaguely reminds me of Peter Pan author James Barrie's questionable relationship with the Llewellyn-Davies boys.
This review made a game effort to justify this film's existence, but ultimately I still think I'm gonna side with Kyle more here; Harmonie's a guy that wanted to have it both ways, he said he wanted to make a "statement" about Spring Break, but it more just comes across as the fantasy that he WISHED he had.
What's funny is that I was never a fan of Korine's work, especially Gummo, which many in my late millennial generation loved. But for some reason this movie really resonated with me. I absolutely love it.
Funny to have a what feels like 20minute intro leading into an ad read xD
I can't believe photos of women wearing bikinis get censored by RUclips now. Like what the actual f*ck is happening ?
A resurgence in puritanism.
you know, i was sick of video essay channels until i found yours haha
wake up babe, new broey deschanel just dropped
Watching your video made me keep thinking about everything that happen with Hunter Moore and the site "Is Anyone Up?" since that documentary about it came out recently. It really does seem like the 00's and 10's are very strong in our collective zeigist, especially with the panorama. ^^;
Great job putting the credits at the beginning of the video.
Great video as always. I think the movie Belly(1998) accomplish the indie sleaze aesthetics a better then spring breakers.
I no way have the knowledge in film studies to accurately explain.
Man. Please please if you haven't and have the time, please read his reddit AMA that came out in promo of his film. Epic and funny as hell 🤣
Loved this video, but it's crazy to see such a long recap of this movie without once mentioning Riff Raff
"All spectacle with no heart" is the perfect description. Spring Breakers came out the year I graduated high school, and I remember really liking how deliciously nihilistic it was, how well it captured that feeling of being drunk/high at a party that's teetering between fun and awful.
so glad i get to watch this before they take it down again
I love schlock and „bad“ cinema.
Jet Springbreackers is not entertaining enough to satisfy, nor deep enough to bring thought.
It found it not very engaging.
But i love your analysis😁
Yes! New video. I love your analysis, Broey!
Freedom always comes at a cost
this whole movie felt like a trailer and honestly i loved it on my rewatch, its such a true feeling into what that time felt like during those years as a young adult. i also really love that the whole movie feels like a condemnation of white appropriation, which i think is important element of the indie sleaze movement; the freedom of whiteness to be as trashy as you want without violent consequences. In the movie, Alien is a fucking clown and thats made pretty clear, but I think thats why the ending gives me such mixed feelings. both the unlikeliness of two college girls clearing out an entire yard of people without a single wound, and just the fact that it makes you feel in a way that that type of appropriative behavior wins. but i can accept it because ultimately thats how it is in the world, white people who appropriate black culture usually do come out on top. to be 100% honest, i'm sure Korine was intentional in this element of the film, but I'm not sure how much he realizes the movie itself hinges on that aspect. But regardless I will never have any shame in saying this movie is one of my favorites. I'm a class of 2013 kid, we went to see this in theatres 4 times and I have great memories of that and now 10 years later its so fun to see this little time capsule. awesome video as always :)
learning that james franco is a certified creep makes liking this film so painful // rewatching this film such a painful experience ૮꒰ྀི;⸝⸝⸝⸝;꒱ྀིა
Nice lamp.
Answer to the freedom question prior to watching the video:
Being able to feel the breeze / air / ac touch my whole body while walking in public eating Scooby snacks.
The movie was slow in the way that it felt like a memory like you were right there with him