Sean Baker’s The Florida Project (2017) is a picturesque story which follows six-year-old Mooney over a summer on her mischief- filled adventures with her friends, and her life with her rebellious mother, all set in a run-down motel on the suburb of Kissimmee, next to Walt Disney World. The film is trying to spread the news of marginal voices that are usually silent, and, in this case, it is the “hidden homeless” (Porton, 2017, p.22) that live on the suburbs of Disney World. Baker has done this to make his audience question whether there are homeless people in their own communities. The three ways he has achieved this is through theme context and form. The theme refers to an idea that recurs throughout a text and in this case, it is the subculture of the communities that Baker is bringing light to. The form is how the “content is expressed” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 35) meaning how it is filmed and put together which coincides with Bakers auteurist style. Finally, there is the context which links to how the film is an independent feature and what this means regarding how the film was made and how this resulted in the finished product.
When looking at theme, The Florida Project focuses on subcultures. The subculture here being that of people in the motel communities. They’re not quite homeless, but each struggle to keep a roof over their heads as shown through Haley paying her rent late and turning to prostitution. The community aspect is shown throughout. The characters in the motel all know each other as shown in the scene where Mooney and Scooty give Jancey a tour around the motel, describing the residents by their room door. Some examples being “the man who lives in here gets arrested a lot”, “this woman in here thinks she’s married to Jesus” (Baker, 2017). Subcultural studies began in the 1920s in Chicago and then in the 1970s, the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) used it in a UK context. They focus on “urban grit and glamour” (Huq, 2015, p.107). In Dick Hebrige’s writing he links the term hegemony within subculture theory and says it “refers to a situation in which a provisional alliance of certain social groups can exert ‘total social authority’ over other subordinate groups” (Hebrige, 1979, p.16). This shows how due to the higher classes having more “social authority” the lower classes then become “the silent majority” (p.18), becoming irrelevant and invisible in our culture. Baker chooses to draw light to these silent subcultures in his films. Examples being the trans-community in Tangerine (Baker, 2015) and the porn industry in Starlet (Baker, 2012). Hebrige then says that the people above these subcultures in this hierarchy of class have an ideology or “common sense” (p.11) towards people in a lower class, in this case it is the subculture of people that live in the motel. When the newly wed couple arrive at the Magic Kingdom motel, the husband realises he’s mistaken it for THE Magic Kingdom in the Disney park. He then frantically talks to Bobby to make the changes as he doesn’t want to disappoint his wife. His wife then becomes aware of the mix-up and exclaims “This is a welfare slum hotel. We’re spending our honeymoon in a gypsy project?” (Baker, 2017). She has this negative view of the motel and the people in it as she’s using her “common sense” ideology to come to those conclusions. This is also shown when one of Haley’s “customers” from the night before, returns to the hotel in search for the Disney World park hopper wristbands she stole. When Bobby asks him to “get off the premises” he says, “it’s not a premises, it’s a fucking dump”. Hebrige then quotes Hall saying, “you cannot learn through common sense” and that classes “ideological nature is most effectively concealed” (Hebrige, 1997, p.11). Linking this to the quote about the “silent majority”, it is Baker that is making these voices heard, through the children. He also describes the tensions between dominant and subordinate groups. A scene where this is presented is when the DCF come to take Mooney into temporary foster care. The class difference is clearly scene here through the positioning of the characters and their clothing codes. The DCF including the police are placed outside the door and Haley and Mooney on the inside. The use of the door shows the juxtaposition and difference in the two classes. The DCF are also smartly dressed in blouses whereas Haley is in slouchy joggers and a tank top, again showing the difference in class and bringing light to this subculture and their struggles.
When looking at form, it is known in film theory that “form follows content” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p.35) and ,as I mentioned in the introduction, this means that the content is what the film is about but the form is how it is expressed using techniques such as the mise-en-scene, the script and story, montage or editing and sound design (p. 36-37). This is all used to create meaning in the story. Baker has used form to his advantage here. The main device he has utilized is the characters. Baker has taken inspiration from The Little Rascals (Roach, 1955), a television show that follows the children growing up in the depression and used child actors to bring light to the situation that he is trying to present. Despite the harsh reality of these children’s lives, Baker uses his protagonist, Mooney, to bring light to every situation. We follow the children in this story, and we are positioned to be one of them. This is shown through multiple scenes, for example when Bobby is walking back through the car park, after turning back on the power, he is presented with a low angle as he is the adult here and we are viewing him as a child. Another scene is when Mooney, Jancey and Scooty are looking up at the abandoned house, it is a low angle again and the audience is reminded how big the world seems when you are a child. Baker said, “I want audiences to go in there and enjoy ninety minutes of hanging out with the kids, being one of the kids, bringing audiences back to the summers of their youth,” regarding the child point of view (Johnson, 2017).
Baker also uses children to show us what is really happening indirectly. The camera is often focusing on Mooney when something is happening in the background. We focus on Mooney in these situations because the audience follow her in this story and it’s her world, we are in. Although we are aware of what is happening regarding Mooney’s life, the way these clues are presented are always in the background of shot, apart from a few occasions, so we know Mooney isn’t aware of them. For example, when Haley is at the job centre she is in the foreground, out of focus, and Mooney is in the background, in focus, playing with a doll. She is unaware her mum is struggling to earn money. In another scene Haley is trying to get into the Arabian hotel for one night so they don’t have to establish residency at the motel. Haley continues to argue with the owner as they’ve raised the price. This is presented in the background of the shot but in the foreground, we are focused on Mooney dancing. This again shows her vulnerability to the situation. The most emotionally hard-hitting shots are when the adult world is seen from the child’s point of view. In one scene Mooney is in the bath and then one of Haley’s “customer’s” opens the door, breaking the barrier between child world and adult. The camera remains on Mooney, shocked and then Haley tells Mooney to draw the shower curtain, again acting like a barrier between these worlds and keeping Mooney unaware of what is really happening. Another scene where this happens is when Haley beats up Ashley, Scooty’s mother, after she confronts Haley about her prostituting herself (again showing this idea of community as everyone knows everyone’s business). The scene is shown with Scooty’s back to the camera, viewing his mother being attacked as we, the audience, do. Baker has cleverly done this to make the scene more shocking than what it would normally be as the audience are viewing it through a child’s innocent eyes. This is like neorealism which Baker has been compared to using before, as children view a lot of difficult subject matters in that movement such as Bruno seeing his father get arrested in Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948). In an article about this it says, “the post war period was the great season of casting non-professional actors, and especially very young children due to their notorious lack of self-consciousness in front of the camera.” (Vacche, 2018, p. 169) which Baker has payed homage to also through using first time child actors. He goes against this slightly though through casting Willem Dafoe as Bobby. When we are introduced to him Mooney opens the motel door to him, showing this difference between star and newcomer but the opening of the door shows they are both part of this story and the fact he is a star actor doesn’t take away from the narrative.
Probably the most iconic features Baker has used in terms of form is the cinematography. Baker’s cinematographer Alexis Zabe shot both on 35mm film and digital to give the film a “natural beauty” (Vacche, 2018, p. 170). Baker uses stylized realism which “whimsically continues his preoccupation with charismatic outcasts. The film’s amalgamation of whimsy and social realism entranced most critics while alienating a vocal minority” (Porton, 2017, p. 22). Bakers work has been said to bring social realism to an American context and The Florida Project adds a child point of view. It swaps out the dreary, unappealing look of social realism for the candy coloured world of a child. The film appears like Baker has pushed the contrast setting all the way as the colour really makes this world pop. From the purple of The Magic Kingdom motel to the rainbows and the bright stores along the Disney strip. This exaggerates the fact we’re in a child’s world. Although he follows the social realism narrative, Baker makes it his own (auteur) through form by using colour.
One of Baker’s auteur tendencies is to use a hopeful ending as the film’s new equilibrium as also shown in Tangerine (Baker, 2015) with the hope of friendship through the metaphor of sharing the wig. The Florida Project follows his auteur style. After the DCF arrive to take Mooney away from Haley, Mooney flees to Jancey’s home and asks for help. The film then juxtaposes the cinema verité feel of the duration before this moment. As Jancey takes Mooney’s hand, the film has a happy, light soundtrack and the it’s in fast motion with a shaken handheld camera following the girls as they escape to Disney World. It’s ironic having the film set form the point of view of children and set around Disney World as that is an iconic semiotic for children’s happiness but the children’s situation completely contrasts this, although they’re making the best of what they have. Although this ending is hopeful and is “commercial, crowd-pleasing compromise” (Porton, 2017, p.22) the reality is that Mooney was taken away. The fast motion presents this as not being the realistic ending but it is there so the audience can choose what they want to believe, either the sad realistic ending or the hopeful one. Context wise, this film is part of the “indie” genre. This genre tends to have ‘low budgets and risky subjects, themes, or plots’, and neglected genres” (Staiger, 2013, p.21). This fits to this film perfectly as it focuses on neglected communities and subcultures, interacting with the theme of the film perfectly and bringing the film from “the margins to the mainstream” (King, Molloy, C. & Tzioumakis, 2013, p.3) as its bringing light to their communities. In conclusion The Florida Project interacts between form, theme and context perfectly. The context being the indie film interacts with the theme revolving around subcultures and brings light to them. And then the form interacts with both as “distinctive visual look” (Staiger, 2013, p. 21) from Baker’s auteur style makes it part of the indie genre and Bakers form choice to focus on the hidden homeless children then interacts with the theme.
Bibliography-
Baker, S. (Director). (2012). Starlet. [Motion Picture]. United States: Cre Film. Baker, S. (Director). (2015). Tangerine. [Motion Picture]. United States: Duplass Brothers Productions. Baker, S. (Director). (2017). The Florida Project. [Motion Picture]. United States: Cre Film. Benshoff, H. M. and Griffin, S. (2009) America on film : representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. Malden, MA, USA : Wiley-Blackwell. De Sica, V. (Director). (1948). Bicycle Thieves. [Motion Picture]. Italy: Produzioni De Sica. Hebdige, D. (1979). Subculture: the meaning of style. London ; New York : Routledge. Huq, R. (2015). Young People on the Edge A World of Post-Subcultures and Post-Suburbs? (pp. 107-122) In B. Segaert, J. Haers, A. Dhoest & S. Malliet (Eds). The Borders of Subculture : Resistance and the Mainstream. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies. New York: Routledge. Johnson, T. (2017, October 22). PopPolitics: Sean Baker on What ‘The Florida Project’ Says About the ‘Hidden Homeless’ Variety. https://variety.com/2017/politics/news/the-florida-project-sean-baker-homeless-1202595990/ . King, G., Molloy, C. and Tzioumakis, Y. (2013) American independent cinema.: indie, indiewood and beyond. New York : Routledge. Porton, R. (2017) ‘Life on the Margins: An Interview with Sean Baker’, Cineaste: America’s Leading Magazine on the Art and Politics of the Cinema, 43(1), pp. 22–25. Roach, H. (Creator). (1955). The Little Rascals [Television Show]. United States: Hal Roach Studios. Staiger, J. (2013). Independent of What? Sorting out differences from Hollywood. (15-27). In G. King, C. Molloy & Y. Tzioumakis (Eds). American independent cinema.: indie, indiewood and beyond. New York : Routledge. Vacche, A. D. (2018) ‘American Neorealism? Sean Baker’s The Florida Project’, Cinergie, Vol 7, Iss 13, Pp 169-171 (2018), (13), p. 169.
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AuthorMegan Hilborne is a freelance film writer and graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2020 with a degree in film. ArchivesCategories |