Fame and emptiness

We can all agree that fame seems to be the goal. We can try to don't think about famous people, gossip websites, yellow press,... but all we know who Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are. It's not bad if you just have fun with this world full of nothing, meaningless. If you can watch it with perspective and sense of humor and not take it personally even you
can enjoy it.

But the new generations are educated about that? Not. They are growing up admiring people like Kardashian's sisters or worst, Snooki or other misses and misters nobody from MTV programs. It's obvious, sad and shameful. But it's what it is.

Sofia Coppola, a director who grew up surrounded by fame and famous people knows lots about that. That's why in her movies she speaks about actors or famous historic icons. She is one of them and she filmed really well this fame world that most of the times is full of nothing, empty. 

Then, it's not a surprise that her last film, The bling ring, is focus in a real case of famous people houses' burglaries. A group of girls who started as a "joke" trying to go inside Paris Hilton's house when she wasn't there and then went further.

As in Marie Antoinette, Coppola feels a fascination for these girls (and a boy) but in that case, maybe because she is one of the famous people since she born, the director seems to not understand them and make the movie different. Sofia doesn't study the characters, don't go inside them, just a bit inside the family of Emma Watson's character. No rest of emotion, passion, shame, judgment, she just does a radiography of the facts. She show how empty and meaningless are the lives or this young band who just want look and live like the rich people and, of course, post it on facebook.

The emptiness of the girls is the emptiness of The bling ring, the movie is so cold in the case analysis that seems empty as well. The audience can live how the characters feels, agree or disagree, enjoy or laugh, but when they left the cinema nothing remains. 

It's true that since the director started her career the meaningless of life have been one of her subjects, it has been what she filmed. But in The bling ring the emptiness of life devours the movie in some way and it makes it nothing special. We can felt it in her last two films but now seems to be confirmed. Just a good movie with good music (as always), nice shots, good interpretations but nothing else at the end. Is it because life is like that or the director can't go further?

The thing is that those days in the cinemas is another movie that shows how far young people can arrive to live like rich and famous people. I'm talking about Spring breakers by Harmonie Korine, a director who filmed the worst part of Los Angeles and here he controls herself (maybe because ex Disney starts are the main actress), he shows the mafia, some violence but not like it is. He doesn't show it pretty, like Sofia Coppola does when she show the burglaries. Korine's film show the ugly way but not as violent and cruel as sometimes it is. 

Maybe Spring breakers is not based on actual events, but for sure there are similar stories in the real life. A group of girls who decide to live their own "spring break" far from the school, just to live like people they see on the television, 24h party, drugs and alcohol whenever and wherever... In fact, the goal of their lives is that. But in the way they found dealers, bands and some other problems.

The director, as Coppola in The bling ring, doesn't judge them, he just show how far people can arrive for fame, this "thing" that if you don't reach makes your life meaningless. But at least Korine doesn't make it nicer, shows the bad parts, even if that succeed and it's worst. But it's what it is.

The fame as a goal. The fame as a way of live. An empty life. Empty movies or movies that shows perfectly the emptiness. Excellent, good or bad movies. Only the audience decides. Meanwhile we are all surrounded by this world. Sofia Coppola and Harmonie Korine just film it.

The bling ring trailer: 

Spring breakers trailer: