Spring Breakers and Cultural Critique

A good conservative should not praise consumerism, rampant cultural sexualization (or the objectification of women that it brings), or sexualized violence. That’s just what I think. See, I’d heard about this film by Harmony Korine called Spring Breakers and thought it looked like another generic feel-good, sexy, teen movie. But last week a friend of mine said I ought to watch the film. I figured Skrillex was involved in scoring it and the director gave us such wonderfully disturbing cultural critiques as Kids and Gummo, so why not? What I found wasn’t a lollipop adventure through the Candyland of adolescence, but a disturbing examination of contemporary American culture. Not only might it be one of the best films of 2013, but it also has something conservative to it, something opposed to the degradation of our society by over-consumption and booty shaking.
That isn’t to say this movie is for everyone. If you’re even a little bit peevish you won’t appreciate the bouncing butts and prominent busts, but it engages our culture on its own terms. It takes the neon-colored, cocaine-railing, bikini-busting essence of young-adult America and shows it for all its shallow vaingloriousness. And the best part: I’m pretty sure that Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Gucci Mane don’t realize they’re parodying themselves. Upset about the Disney princess culture that sexualizes while claiming to do just the opposite? Well then pull the darts out of your Jonas Brothers’ poster, hop on the Miley Cyrus train, and let yourself be taken in by the oddly low-key euphoric experience that Korine provides.

But this isn’t really intended as a critical review of the film; that isn’t what The Intercollegiate Review is about. This little post is about what our culture needs and it may be more of this. Mr. Korine is a bit of an absurdist. His humor isn’t for everyone and his gritty take on young-adult culture will be off-putting to many “conservatives,” but his heart is in the right place. He’s seeing the same problems we (I) do; he’s attacking our culture in all its shallow meaninglessness. For the young crowd, you get to see nudity, drug use, violence, all the things the movie hates, but you seem the done monotonously. That’s why the film wasn’t a fan favorite. I imagine critics felt the same. Why pace it so slowly? Why show girls juggling their breasts fifty times in ten minutes while the background beat hums away and shirtless dudes pour beer over themselves like Artemis bathing? The answer: form is reflecting content. Art can and should bore if that is its intended effect. Is it off-putting? Maybe. But we as conservatives need to look past our peevishness and our revulsion toward a sexually liberated, violent culture. If someone wants to criticize that by staring it down and showing it in all its worthless shallowness, then we should be celebrating it. Harmony Korine probably isn’t a conservative, but this film is something conservatives should want and appreciate. So go out and see Spring Breakers, mostly because I told you to but also because someone has to stand up to Mickey Mouse and his corporate, MTV agenda. And that someone should be each and every one of you.