{"id":6867,"date":"2017-03-27T22:37:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T02:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=6867"},"modified":"2018-06-28T13:38:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:38:16","slug":"where-are-the-spring-break-movies-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/where-are-the-spring-break-movies-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Are the Spring Break Movies for Women?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the next several weeks countless college-age teens will descend upon exotic locales to enjoy spring break, that idyllic period of drunken debauchery that MTV wants us to think is fun but is really a rum-soaked panic attack with less dancing and more groping. This free-spirited mentality is something Hollywood\u2019s latched onto with countless movies about spring break in existence, from the recent 22 Jump Street <\/i>to the 1965 Elvis Presley musical Girl Happy<\/i>. But the common denominator of these movies is their male protagonists. Where are the movies about young girls on spring break? <\/span><\/p>\n

If you had to list a movie about ladies on spring break, the predominant one would be Harmony Korine\u2019s 2012 drama Spring Breakers<\/i>. With its Britney Spears-influenced cast of bikini-clad young girls and pulsating soundtrack, it\u2019s the de facto spring break movie starring women. <\/span><\/p>\n

The tale of four friends who turn to a life of crime to achieve their spring break dreams is smarter than it\u2019s given credit for. Korine plays up the elements meant to appeal to the male gaze \u2014 nudity and sex are given their due, all with female bodies at the forefront \u2014 but what remains is the story of four women interested in letting loose. This comes through clearest in the character of Faith, played by Selena Gomez. Faith\u2019s a good girl who, despite her trash-mouthed friends, is a Christian. Faith and her friends enjoy their spring break regardless of a harbinger\u2019s warning about it being a place of sin. <\/span><\/p>\n

Faith may be naive; she writes letters elevating spring break to a spiritual calling, a charity mission. But the girls aren\u2019t told to apologize for their behavior. The drunken insanity and days spent in strange hotel rooms are presented with wild abandon. They party how they want, no different from the countless movies about men. The third-act descent into crime, encapsulated by James Franco\u2019s devil-figure Alien, threatens to tell a cautionary story \u2014 \u201cGirls, this is why you should avoid spring break\u201d \u2014 but even the crime narrative has an element of fun within it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Much of what turns off writers from covering spring break from the female perspective stems from its sexist connotations. The real Cancun (not to be confused with the horrific quasi-documentary of that name) isn\u2019t exactly the safest place to be if you\u2019re a woman. Look at the overabundance of Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break <\/i>videos, or the myriad movies and TV shows that feature nameless, gyrating females attending places like Fort Lauderdale or Cabo San Lucas. There are countless news stories about young girls being assaulted or raped after partying during their time on the beach. Spring break for ladies can involve degradation and humiliation, with an eye toward selling sex to men. <\/span><\/p>\n

Does that mean Hollywood, the dream factory, can\u2019t find a way to reclaim spring break for the women? That leads to the other reason I assume it isn\u2019t presented as a woman\u2019s area: patriarchy. Hollywood might avoid female protagonists in spring break movies for the same reason women are told to avoid spring break altogether: it\u2019s easier to avoid questions of consent and spiked red Solo cups by telling the story from a male point of view. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another reason is that it\u2019s still rare to show women embracing their wild side, particularly when it comes to drunkenness and sex. Put together fears of female sexuality and the real-world cautions of spring break and you get 1960\u2019s Where the Boys Are.<\/i> Like Spring Breakers<\/i>, Where the Boys Are<\/i> follows four midwestern college students who travel to Fort Lauderdale with preconceived notions about sex and love. Two of the girls engage in or discuss how premarital sex is something worth doing, one is waiting for a guy to put a ring on it, and the other is a dim-bulb. By the end, all four realize the error of their whorish ways \u2014 said with a healthy dose of sarcasm \u2014 but it comes at the expense of broken hearts, rape, and being hit by a car! Where the Boys Are<\/i> emphasizes the horrors of spring break and of being a woman with autonomous sexual desires. <\/span><\/p>\n

What commonly passes for a girls\u2019 spring break film generally involves a female-based foray to an exotic locale. In lieu of Mexico or Fort Lauderdale, havens of horniness and kidnapping (according to stereotype), you see women travel to refined places like Rome (1954\u2019s Three Coins in a Fountain<\/i>), Madrid (1964\u2019s The Pleasure Seekers<\/i>) or Monte Carlo (2008\u2019s Monte Carlo<\/i>). Unlike the films described previously, these movies are about friendship, first and foremost, with a healthy dose of chaste boy-craziness thrown in. Bikinis come off as a sign of rebelliousness, sex is non-existent, parties are classy, and a kiss from one\u2019s true love is the ultimate reward. The idea is that girls (not women) want a fairy-tale fantasy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The real-world issues inherent in being a female on spring break are worth exploring in cinema, and movies shouldn\u2019t dissuade young women from celebrating the makeshift holiday. And if there are countless movies about men taking part, safely, then dammit, the ladies should get the same privilege. Spring break, forever!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Kristen Lopez<\/a> lives in popular spring break destination Sacramento.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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