Dueling claims of misogyny and feminism coat debates over the film, but few, if any, look closely at the representation of race and racism throughout.
Korine trains the camera to linger on long takes of their bodies, muddying the line between voyeurism and art. In the first half, young, mostly white, bodies are constantly in contact: bare, sweating, drinking, smoking, snorting, dancing, and touching. Spring Breakers ultimately centers around four young women, Faith, Cotty, Candy, and Brit, who rob a restaurant at gunpoint in order to pay for their trip to the Florida beaches in St. Till’s presence goes unremarked, the scene cutting away and never returning to his inclusion. Their professor lectures on the Civil Rights Movement, a photograph of Emmett Till on the screen, while one girl pretends to perform fellatio on a hand-drawn penis. Because sometimes, your trip ends before the in-flight movie does, and you really don’t want to ask the pilot to circle the airport just so you can catch the finale.Early in Spring Breakers, the 2012 film by Harmony Korine, a director infamous for unsettling realism, two girls-Candy and Brit-sit in class passing explicit notes about their spring break plans.Because sometimes, you fall asleep watching a mediocre rental, and would rather return it on time than pay two more bucks just to see the end.Because sometimes, your TiVo timer didn’t get it quite right, and cut off the crucial final minutes of something that won’t get shown again for six months.
Because sometimes, you’re not interested in seeing that movie everyone’s talking about but are dying to know what the hubbub is about anyway.Because sometimes, you vaguely remember an old movie that had some sort of plot twist at the end of it, but can’t remember what it was.Because sometimes, the surprise “spoiler” ending is the only reason you’d pay $11 to see what is otherwise a turkey of a film.The film ends with the girls taking Alien’s car and driving away, it is implied that they are going home as they had called their families the night before and told them how they want to come home and be better people. On the night they decide to make the hit, Alien is killed as soon as they arrive but the girls carry out the mission and kill every person in Archie’s crew as well as Archie. Candy and Brit stay with Alien and start a three-way relationship with him, and encourage him to take Archie out for good. They also get involved in his turf war with a rival gangster named Archie, and after Cotty is shot in the arm during a drive-by she decides to go home as well. Faith is creeped out by him and his motives for bailing them out and decides to go home, and her friends see her off but decide to stay.Ĭandy, Brit, and Cotty start getting involved with Alien’s illegal activities and rob many places and people with him. They are bailed out by a local rapper and gangster called Alien (James Franco). They have a great time and never want to leave, but eventually party too hard and wind up getting arrested for possession and other misdemeanors (not robbing the fast-food restaurant, which they are never actually caught for). They take their more conservative friend Faith (Selena Gomez) with them. Alien is killed during the hit on his rival Archie.Ĭandy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) are bored college party girls who rob a fast-foot restaurant to pay for a spring break getaway. They are never caught for robbing the fast-food restaurant or any of the crimes they commit with Alien. All the girls eventually go home one by one for different reasons.