Spring Breakers: a Fever Dream of Meaning

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PRING BREAKERS: A Fever Dream of Meaning At first glance Harmony Korine’s film ‘Spring Breakers’ may seem like a gimmick. Some may view it as a superficial, hedonistic, in-your-face teen romp, produced only to make a quick buck at the box office; a film that is populated with young naked flesh, free flowing drug use and bacchanalian party scenes only to draw in easily manipulated viewers. However, to do so would be a mistake. On closer inspection the film is a wonderfully realised hyper-meditation on American pop culture and western societies current obsession with instant gratification. Owing heavily to composers Cliff Martinez and dubstep superstar Skrillex, the film often exists in a dream like state. Their work is regularly utilized to juxtapose contrasting ideas and manipulate scenes and images that at first seem gaudy and simplistic. It is a multi-layered work that is rich in semiotic resources that communicates meaning and thus should leave the viewer with plenty to reflect upon. In this essay I’ll be focusing on two major scenes of the film and how, through the framework of timbre, the film uses music, speech and sound design to deliver meaning. Firstly I’d like to discuss a sequence where the director employs a non-linear way of piecing the story together, and how the use repetition and subtle manipulations of speech and phonetics are utilized. In a pivotal moment leading up to the finale of the film we see three characters frolicking in a pool and we begin to hear Alien ask ‘Ya’ll wanna do this or what?’, with Candy and Brit teasing him back saying ‘You’re scared aren’t ya? Scaredy pants’. What follows is a sequence that is structurally more reminiscent of a pop song than a linear narrative film. The dialogue is repeated and becomes somewhat of a motif, or a chorus, while scenes flow in and out of each other. A scene will start and then the imagery

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