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There are a bunch of movies on the New Release
wall right now that don’t really seem like they should have anything
to do with each other, and yet they do. Two of these movies, Spring Breakers and Pain & Gain, share overtones of the dark deeds some will commit in order to fulfill their American Dream. Likewise, The Bling Ring
portrays the “based on a true story” tale of California teens
committing larceny in order to live up to the standard of fame and
couture they idolize. The movie follows a group of delinquent high
schoolers of wealthy families as they augment their life of partying by
going one step further to emulate reality TV and movie stars by
breaking into their mansions in the hills. What starts out small –
touring the rooms and cozying up to plush furniture – quickly evolves
into stripping closets and safes of jewelry, clothing, shoes, and even
artwork that can be worn as badges of their daring, or just resold
for cash.
Though The Bling Ring
readily comments on the celebrity-worship world its teens perpetuate,
at its core it is a film about a kid trying to fit in. The movie begins
with Marc starting a new year at a new high school where he knows no
one. Meeting Rebecca turns his worldview around (as his voiceover
tells us). Being a part of her private world of high stakes and high
fashion just makes his attraction to her stronger. It could even be
argued that while Rebecca is living out a fantasy of being Audrina
Partridge or Miranda Kerr, Marc is living out a fantasy of being
Rebecca. This aspect of The Bling Ring holds its sparse
narrative together. The girls of the film are bad, staying out past
curfew drinking in clubs with dubious men, but Marc is a naive,
possibly queer lost boy who can maintain his air of good-natured
innocence without it becoming cutesy, annoying, or self-indulgent. In
this way, The Bling Ring is reminiscent of more typical coming-of-age
stories.
The Bling Ring is filled with debauchery, but is not quite as bacchanalia-laden as Spring Breakers.
At least, the debauchery is of a different sort- call it West vs.
East or, probably more accurately, nouveau riche vs. ghetto. The two
movies have been talked about together by more than a few critics;
both films prominently feature former child stars: Emma Watson of the
Harry Potter franchise in Bling Ring, and former Disney stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens in Spring Breakers. But where Bling Ring uses bad behavior to depict celebrity worship (there’s also an argument in there for poor parenting), Spring Breakers uses its lewd acts as a way to explore a world that its characters exploit but will ultimately never belong to. The girls in Spring Breakers
go on vacation from their lives and their culture, diving temporarily
and recklessly into one from which they can return relatively
unscathed; it’s a fun place to visit, but a deadly place to live.
The crimes in Bling Ring instead bear more resemblance to those in Pain & Gain.
The characters of both films misplace value in celebrity and money,
in the consumer goods that American capitalism rewards to those who
take it. The men of Pain & Gain, however, still believe in a system where anyone can climb the ladder to wealth. The teens of Bling Ring
have never known anything but wealth. It’s not that they couldn’t just
go out and buy some clothes like Lindsay Lohan’s - they want her clothes. Rather than stealing for comfort, excitement, or leisure, they commit crimes in order to find identity.--Greta
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