It seems like Hollywood is littered with the disastrous “adult crossover” films of ingénues desperate to shed their wholesome kid-friendly images. From Showgirls to Powder Blue, we’ve seen the same situation time and again in which starlets bare their body and their “grit” and pray for adult respectability. This month’s release of writer, director, and eternal optimist about the youth of America, Harmony Korine’s new romp, Spring Breakers, finds its three young female stars facing the same dilemma. Each, already a star in their own right, with legions of teens hanging on their every word, the actresses attempt to shatter their limiting good girl images, without alienating their precious fanbases.
The BNH view:
The newest to fame, and perhaps the least well known to anyone over the age of 18 is Ashley Benson. Part of the buzzy teen soap Pretty Little Liars, Ashley and her costars have become teen sensations mastering the use of social media sites to promote both their show and themselves. In fact, so conspicuous is Benson’s online presence that she already has over a million twitter followers. Unfortunately though, all those OMG-ing and LOL-ing tweens cannot a career like Charlize Theron’s make.
Up until Spring Breakers, Gomez, beginning in her Wizards of Waverly Place days, seems to have consciously tried to build a career as the anti-Miley.
However, Benson’s anonymity beyond the MTV set might actually help. Despite a plethora of small television and film work, and PLL of course, Spring Breakers is her biggest gig to date. Thus, her presence won’t force audiences to picture Hannah Montana pounding a beer bong and snorting lines. It’s also crucial that Benson’s most famous role takes place on a show that, despite being on ABC Family, regularly features sordid plots about murder and pedophilia. It won’t be a stretch for her fans (at least the one’s for whom this film will be on their radar) to see her behaving less than cartoonishly wholesome.
Pretty Little Liars, Ashley Benson and her costars have become teen sensations mastering the use of social media sites to promote both their show and themselves.
The same cannot be said about Selena Gomez though. It’s quite interesting because up until Spring Breakers, Gomez, beginning in her Wizards of Waverly Place days, seems to have consciously tried to build a career as the anti-Miley; even going so far as to avoid the diction and valley-girl cadences that affect most conformity-obsessed tweens. Disney movies like Princess Protection Program and lightweight tween rom-coms including Monte Carlo, were all in keeping with this Wallmart-ready image. In fact, only the formulaic Britney-ish come-ons of her pop career, and her messy on again/off again romance with Bieber hinted at a wild side. For this reason, I question whether Ms. Gomez is the driving force behind her image overhaul or if her people simply feel it’s time. She will have the most to prove in this film.
Finally, we have Vanessa Hudgens, the “veteran” of the three, with a unique backstory apropos of today’s social network/everything online climate. Hudgens is a sweetly likeable girl who came to fame as a singer/dancer in the High School Musical films. Dating Zac Efron, her costar from those pics for several years, she even earned a following as a kind of Generation Z Brangelina, glamorously flanking the arm of her A-list beau at events like The Oscars. Yet despite her sweet saccharine image, honed from years as a successful Disney Kid, anyone who’s ever read a gossip mag knows about Ms. Hudgens’s unfortunate picture scandal, that shattered her good girl rep in much the same way a serious role might have.
Ironically though, post-scandal, the actress has seen family fare like Journey 2: the Mysterious Island draw big numbers while edgier films like Sucker Punch and Beastly have failed miserably. One can argue that those projects were merely subpar, but I believe that despite her backstory, Hudgens has a girlishly innocent quality her fans refuse to let die. For that reason, it will be most interesting to see how this film affects her career. After all, it’s not like anyone thinks she’s innocent, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they want to see her be bad.
Here’s hoping that the gamble pays off for all three actresses; perhaps they will be fortunate enough to follow in the footsteps of Harmony Korine’s original daring teen queen, the singular Chloe Sevigny.
SPRING BEAKERS opens March 22.
CLICK HERE to see the trailer for the film.