MovieChat Forums > On the Road (2012) Discussion > On the Road vs Spring Breakers

On the Road vs Spring Breakers

posted 12 years ago by denniskriz
12 replies | jump to latest

Posted on the discussion boards for both films ;-)

Both "On the Road" and "Spring Breakers":

(1) are "young adult stories about self-discovery,"
(2) have a heck of a lot of sex, drugs and alcohol
(3) have had a similar release trajectory, first showing at the film festival in Cannes, then in Toronto, finally being released in the U.S. on the same weekend.

Which film/story do you prefer and why?

I prefer "On the Road" because I can actually find redeeming aspects to the story. (1) the sex, drugs and alcohol are _attendant_ to the characters' journeys rather than their goal, (2) there is no violence to speak-of in "On the Road", (3) the marginalized (blacks, hispanics, farm workers, laborers actually of any kind, even homosexuals (something quite surprising for a story set in the late 1940s...) are embraced rather than rejected or ridiculed).

In contrast, it's hard to say anything about Spring Breakers other than it being a really devastating (and often IMHO right on the mark) condemnation of the MTV style Spring Break experience.

What do you think?

(Fr) Dennis Kriz, OSM
http://frdennismoviereviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/spring-breakers-2013. html
http://frdennismoviereviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-road-2012.html

[–] bob-wall 12 years ago

On The Road vs. Spring Breakers. Well, I've never read Spring Breakers.

I think what you have here is called apples and oranges. You do what that means don't you?

[–] denniskriz 12 years ago

True, On the Road was first a book, now a movie, while Spring Breakers was never book. But they are both stories about young adults often "behaving badly" yet also trying to discover themselves. Both also have a certain degree of "social commentary' present within them.

Yes, I agree, we're not comparing _clones_ but were not comparing turnips to octopuses (or apples to oranges) either.

[–] atapj 12 years ago

Wasn't "Spring Breakers" Proust's sequel to Swann's Way?

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Sheldonshells 11 years ago

Emptiness and superficiality eh? Well what else is new. It seems that every new generation since the baby boomers (Gen X, Gen Y, and now the Millenials) have been described that way-- and even eventually the baby boomers themselves when they started "selling out" as yuppies. That's old news. Really, you don't know what the Millenials are capable of or what they'll do, they're still too young. I mean these were people born from what time, like the mid 90s onward? Still way to early to write off a whole cohort. The Millenials could yet do great things.

[–] Sergeant343 12 years ago

I think you should see a film before criticizing it, especially if someone like Harmony Korine is directing.

HI F-ING YA
Nicholas Cage Deadfall
2013 Rankings imdb.com/list/2-zx4cThbEY/

[–] jerrellejames-1 11 years ago

Spring Breakers.

For all its faults, Harmony Korine's film at least tried to have a message unlike On the Road.

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[–] gonza-peralta 10 years ago

Apples & Oranges. Still, I prefer Spring Breakers