Harmony Korine loves the people we hate. From the adolescent sex addicts of “Kids” to the glue-huffing protagonists of “Gummo”, Korine’s films center on his desire to humanize the cultural untouchables of America.
His latest release, “Spring Breakers,” is a re-imagining of the American dream lived out by a team of college-aged girls who get recruited by a Floridian drug-dealer (James Franco).
The film is an over-saturated testament to the virtual excesses of the social media age and how the youth are creating their own niches within it.
“[Spring Breakers] is something that’s more like a pop poem, or almost like the real world but pushed into something more kind of – I don’t know – hyper-poetic,” Korine said.
The film navigates through a twisted, glittery world of high-resolution visuals, teeth-shattering bass and sparse dialogue, which closely mimic the sonic catharsis of an electronic music concert.
“I’ve always felt like I wanted to make movies… that worked in a way that as more physical – more inexplicable; something that was not just a normal movie-watching experience… something that was more like a – like a ride, or a game, or something that demanded some type of participation in some way, or some type of physical response,” Korine said.
To elicit this response, Korine recruited dubstep pioneer Skrillex and trap-rapper Gucci Mane to soundtrack the film. Gucci also stars in the film, playing Franco’s drug-dealer nemesis, Archie.
“Yes, Gucci’s the best. We all love Gucci. Gucci is the Trap god; Gucci is what makes America great,” Korine said.
The film portrays how four young girls, looking to have a memorable spring break, resort to desperate means of robbing a fast-food restaurant and selling drugs to fund their manic adventures. It is an exploration of how rapidly shifting methods of mass communication has shaped our cultural landscape and how adolescents manufacture their identities.
“People are kind of – it’s more performance-oriented, whereas back in the day, it was more about kids trying to disappear, or people trying to find themselves. It was more of a shadow culture. Now it’s more of a – everything is on display, and filtered through some kind of technology,” Korine said.
Ashley Benson, of “Pretty Little Liars” fame, stars as hardcore, domineering Brit who is a markedly different character from the comparably conservative roles of her past.
“I’ve been on [“Pretty Little Liars”] for four years now, and I feel like people have just seen me in a certain way for such a long time. And I really wanted to do a film where I was different from anything I’ve ever done,” she said.
Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgins also star in the film as characters, which are similarly provocative, compared to the family-friendly roles that gained them a fan base.
“As far as my fans go, I just try to – I don’t know – I hope that I’m a good example to them. And I don’t know – I think some people with younger fans, they kind of choose roles for their fans. And for me, it’s more about things I want to do, and projects I want to be a part of. And of course my thought is, “I hope my fans enjoy this,” Benson said.
This was no accident as Korine specifically sought out these actresses because of their previous roles. The desire for the actresses to diverge from their usual archetypes parallels their film counterpart’s insatiable lust for new and intense experiences.
“I liked the fact that they were connected culturally to this kind of – almost this kind of pop mythology…They were all at a place in their life where they wanted to try things that were more graphic, more extreme – a different type of acting,” he said.
To prepare the girls for their roles, Korine would drop them off in bikinis at completely random parties and nightclubs in order to immerse them in the subculture they were portraying.
“I think the one that was – that we really didn’t know about – was this pool hall… there was a bunch of guys there; and, you know, for sure like they all had guns or knives on them. And we kind of just went up there; and the whole neighborhood just went into this bar, and we shot with them,” says Benson.
“Spring Breakers” is perhaps most effective at producing an engaging snapshot into the lives of its characters because Korine offers no persuasion to approve or reject its themes. Few judgments are made of the character’s actions and the questions of their morality are ultimately left to the audience to answer.
Korine explained the “the questions are more provocative, and more – I don’t know, more exciting. I don’t always need to be told the answer to things; or I don’t have any type of desire to meditate on things, you know what I mean? I just want to light it all up and set it on fire.”
