SB Response to John and Brandon

It's nice to see Brandon as much at a loss as to where Spring Breakers fits as I was (I think that's what Brandon was saying, anyway). I think that it's hard for us to get a clear message because Korine himself isn't really clear on where he stands with it all. So in one sense, John, I agree with you--there is definitely a celebratory vibe here. But I don't think that's all there is to it. Just off the top of my head, maybe each of these girls represents a part of him and how he responds differently psychologically to the temptations of spring break. Part of him is a guilty backslider who retreats before things get really serious, part of him is a thrillseeker who only bows out when the fantasy can't support the reality, and part of him wants to go whole hog until there's no turning back. Maybe that's where the honesty in this film is--we all have different responses to the world's temptation, often all at the same time. What's the same, though, what's always the same, is the heady allure of spring break--the possibility of complete unaccounted-for freedom--where you can get arrested and a stranger will post your bail so you don't have to tell your parents. Where you can rob a chicken shack and not only not get caught, but be taken seriously by the huge black dude who could likely disarm you before you knew it was coming. Where you can enter a druglord's compound and leave unscathed with his Lamborghini after killing him and all of his men. Who doesn't want that kind of freedom? But the reality is that it would never happen that way, right? So while it's nice to daydream, how are the more tethered parts of our psyche going to respond? There doesn't seem to be an absolute morality here--spring break is bad only when you get arrested or shot or fondled by a creepy white wannabe. Religion is external and provides outward structure but no inner peace. One can only hope that Faith found some when she got home after her harrowing adventure. Who knows if anyone else learned anything.