"At its core, American Honey is about opportunists." - Charlie S |  |
American Honey, directed by Andrea Arnold, is a road epic bursting with a youthful lust for life, and a fresh look at modern Americana. It appeals to the universal experiences of girlhood, and proposes an alternative approach to the “American Dream” and manifest destiny. It provides a path towards following your dreams that relies on circumstance, and in this case, is hidden in the underbelly of the American Lower Class. At its core, American Honey is about opportunists.
The story follows a scrappy 18-year-old girl named Star who lives in Alabama. She’s given the opportunity to leave her life, which consists of taking care of two children that aren’t hers, and living in the home of what appears to be a sexually abusive father figure. She is invited into the alternative lifestyle of a traveling magazine salesman by a charismatic Jake (played by Shia Labeouf). He sports a long, thick rat tail and is both compassionate and aggressive. His character brings an overpowering yet vulnerable masculinity to a story about girlhood. Star leaves the children with their neglecting mother, and joins the traveling “mag crew,” led by a cold leader named Krystal (Riley Keough).
The mag crew itself is made up of what we might call “White Trash.” (Although Star herself is not white, which is never directly referenced in the movie.) Each character is wholly authentic and original, with traits not seen or advertised as beautiful in typical Hollywood representation. Acne, neck tattoos, missing teeth, a lack of direction that isn’t romanticized by their youth, blatant and wild imperfection. These are the kids you see hanging out in Walmart parking lots. Raised in the poorest cul-de-sacs in the Bible Belt, adopting hip hop culture as a fresh identity. These are kids with nowhere to go and nobody to miss them, all struck with a very American ambition: to make money.
The mag crew has team raps and ceremonies, all based around making money. In one scene, they have a “team meeting,” where they chant the lyrics to E-40’s “Choices (Yup)”:
Got a thumper, got a Ruger? (yup)
You in love wit' the ho? (nope)
She bringin' you the dough? (yup)
You gon' cry if she leave? (nope)
You gon' fly overseas? (yup)
Everybody get choices
I choose to get money, I'm stuck to this bread
These characters represent a less glamorous yet integral demographic of America, left behind by capitalism and the classic American Dream.
There is a magnetic realism in the ways the characters interact with each other. Their dialogue is authentic, because it was built around their true sense of self and their relationships with each other. Andrea Arnold hand picked each young actor, stalking spring break parties across Panama City, Florida to select her ensemble. She found Sasha Lane on a beach, and like Star, Sasha had nothing to lose. Arnold filmed American Honey almost like a documentary. Riley Keough (Krystal) said in an interview with We Got This Covered, that “It wasn’t like making a movie, it was just a summer that she (Andrea) made into a movie.” This makes a tale about the unsung, cornfed lower class youth, all the more real.
What I find particularly inspiring about American Honey is both the vulnerability and the defiance of it. These themes are especially seen in Star, and her relationship with men. Star herself is portrayed as country girl, an ¨American honey¨. She’s streetwise, yet naive. The duality of her girlhood resonates with me, and I assume many other young women. Teenage girls are fetishized for their vulnerability and their young bodies, and there is both a fear and a liberation in being a teenage girl. It can feel powerful, to have that advantage over men. It’s also scary, knowing you can be so easily taken advantaged of. These emotions and themes were brought to the forefront by Sasha Lane’s bona fide performance, and by her chemistry with Jake. Star is almost immediately infatuated with Shia Labeouf's character, who reciprocates her flirtation. Their relationship is explosive and carnal. She mocks and judges him, but when he stops doting on her, she is shrouded with doubt and insecurity.
There is one scene in particular that portrays both Star’s relationship with Jake, and her lack of self preservation. Star is ditching Jake to make money on her own. She hops in a car with four old cowboys. She gets them to buy 400 dollars worth of her magazines, simply by being her vulnerable and defiant self, by selling her personality and her youth. When they say Mezcal is not a drink for women, she demands, ¨pour me some.¨ When one of the men tricks her into jumping into the pool, she pushes him in. In the end Jake finds, her gun wielding. This response struck me as disproportionately violent and controlling of Star. And after all the panic, Star’s words really stuck with me: You came for me. These words in particular, after an extreme and impulsive act from Jake, expresses Star’s girlhood more than anything else. The simple validation of being wanted, despite the chaotic nature Jake goes about it, is enough for Star to forgive him, and fall deeper in love.
Andrea Arnold displays the naivety, the adventurous spirit, and the ambition of adolescence in a stark and fresh way in American Honey. The characters are enigmatic and painfully human. The setting is sprawling, and shows the reality of Bible Belt poverty. Andrea Arnold has an eye for raw, intricate detail, that lets American Honey culminate into a breathless adventure for the eye and the soul.
In the end, this movie is a love letter to all the people who forge their own path. It gives airtime to people who fearlessly jump on the opportunities they are given, perhaps because they lack a better option. Sometimes in order to learn about yourself you have to take risks, and you have to find family in unexpected places. American Honey is a baptism for those inhibited by doubt and expectation.
The story follows a scrappy 18-year-old girl named Star who lives in Alabama. She’s given the opportunity to leave her life, which consists of taking care of two children that aren’t hers, and living in the home of what appears to be a sexually abusive father figure. She is invited into the alternative lifestyle of a traveling magazine salesman by a charismatic Jake (played by Shia Labeouf). He sports a long, thick rat tail and is both compassionate and aggressive. His character brings an overpowering yet vulnerable masculinity to a story about girlhood. Star leaves the children with their neglecting mother, and joins the traveling “mag crew,” led by a cold leader named Krystal (Riley Keough).
The mag crew itself is made up of what we might call “White Trash.” (Although Star herself is not white, which is never directly referenced in the movie.) Each character is wholly authentic and original, with traits not seen or advertised as beautiful in typical Hollywood representation. Acne, neck tattoos, missing teeth, a lack of direction that isn’t romanticized by their youth, blatant and wild imperfection. These are the kids you see hanging out in Walmart parking lots. Raised in the poorest cul-de-sacs in the Bible Belt, adopting hip hop culture as a fresh identity. These are kids with nowhere to go and nobody to miss them, all struck with a very American ambition: to make money.
The mag crew has team raps and ceremonies, all based around making money. In one scene, they have a “team meeting,” where they chant the lyrics to E-40’s “Choices (Yup)”:
Got a thumper, got a Ruger? (yup)
You in love wit' the ho? (nope)
She bringin' you the dough? (yup)
You gon' cry if she leave? (nope)
You gon' fly overseas? (yup)
Everybody get choices
I choose to get money, I'm stuck to this bread
These characters represent a less glamorous yet integral demographic of America, left behind by capitalism and the classic American Dream.
There is a magnetic realism in the ways the characters interact with each other. Their dialogue is authentic, because it was built around their true sense of self and their relationships with each other. Andrea Arnold hand picked each young actor, stalking spring break parties across Panama City, Florida to select her ensemble. She found Sasha Lane on a beach, and like Star, Sasha had nothing to lose. Arnold filmed American Honey almost like a documentary. Riley Keough (Krystal) said in an interview with We Got This Covered, that “It wasn’t like making a movie, it was just a summer that she (Andrea) made into a movie.” This makes a tale about the unsung, cornfed lower class youth, all the more real.
What I find particularly inspiring about American Honey is both the vulnerability and the defiance of it. These themes are especially seen in Star, and her relationship with men. Star herself is portrayed as country girl, an ¨American honey¨. She’s streetwise, yet naive. The duality of her girlhood resonates with me, and I assume many other young women. Teenage girls are fetishized for their vulnerability and their young bodies, and there is both a fear and a liberation in being a teenage girl. It can feel powerful, to have that advantage over men. It’s also scary, knowing you can be so easily taken advantaged of. These emotions and themes were brought to the forefront by Sasha Lane’s bona fide performance, and by her chemistry with Jake. Star is almost immediately infatuated with Shia Labeouf's character, who reciprocates her flirtation. Their relationship is explosive and carnal. She mocks and judges him, but when he stops doting on her, she is shrouded with doubt and insecurity.
There is one scene in particular that portrays both Star’s relationship with Jake, and her lack of self preservation. Star is ditching Jake to make money on her own. She hops in a car with four old cowboys. She gets them to buy 400 dollars worth of her magazines, simply by being her vulnerable and defiant self, by selling her personality and her youth. When they say Mezcal is not a drink for women, she demands, ¨pour me some.¨ When one of the men tricks her into jumping into the pool, she pushes him in. In the end Jake finds, her gun wielding. This response struck me as disproportionately violent and controlling of Star. And after all the panic, Star’s words really stuck with me: You came for me. These words in particular, after an extreme and impulsive act from Jake, expresses Star’s girlhood more than anything else. The simple validation of being wanted, despite the chaotic nature Jake goes about it, is enough for Star to forgive him, and fall deeper in love.
Andrea Arnold displays the naivety, the adventurous spirit, and the ambition of adolescence in a stark and fresh way in American Honey. The characters are enigmatic and painfully human. The setting is sprawling, and shows the reality of Bible Belt poverty. Andrea Arnold has an eye for raw, intricate detail, that lets American Honey culminate into a breathless adventure for the eye and the soul.
In the end, this movie is a love letter to all the people who forge their own path. It gives airtime to people who fearlessly jump on the opportunities they are given, perhaps because they lack a better option. Sometimes in order to learn about yourself you have to take risks, and you have to find family in unexpected places. American Honey is a baptism for those inhibited by doubt and expectation.
