Review by Connor Egan
Sophia Coppola truly portrays the takeover of social media in
today’s generation. Based on true events, Sophia Coppola has her audience
engaged as she successfully depicts the robberies committed by, The Bling Ring,
a group of teens based in Los Angeles California. Rebecca (Katie Chang), the
supposedly ring leader of the gang is accompanied by Nicki (Emma Watson), Marc
(Israel Broussard), Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Chloe (Claire Julien) who form the
entirety of the gang. Set in Los Angeles the teenager’s life seems more than
glamorous but it proves to not be enough to quench their thirst for expensive,
materialistic items.
The soundtrack following the film is perfectly constructed as
it includes artists such as Azealia Banks, M.I.A and Lil Wayne who are
notoriously known for their rebellious attitudes. The explicit lyrics within
most of the songs are just as outrageous, scandalous, and shocking as the
crimes committed throughout. The music artists are mainly appealed to teenagers
of today as they are what are big in the media and posted all over social media
sites.
Throughout the film we witness various uses of Blackberry
mobiles and iPhones used by the gang to gather information about the location
of celebrity victim’s homes and their actual location. When the teens weren’t
calculating how to break into homes they were taking photos of themselves with
expensive stolen goods and uploading them to Facebook. Facebook is the main
social media they basically documented their robberies on, posing in photos
with thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes and jewellery. Coppola
conveys the way the teenagers used social media to calculate and flaunt their
crimes, showing the takeover of the 21st century by the internet.
Despite the gang of teenagers already being immersed within
the celebrities’ life style through sites such as Twitter and Facebook allowing
them to follow their every move they couldn’t resist to try and become a part
of it. By them being so exposed to the kind of lifestyle these celebrities
lived it leads them to “think we just wanted to be part of the
lifestyle. The lifestyle that everybody kinda wants.” This was taken to new
extremes throughout the film and strongly portraying the effects of being so
exposed to celebrities’ life style through social media and what it can drive
people to do. The internet is what gave them access to the victim’s addresses and
locations, which is a true depiction of what people can do when they have
access to certain information.
These
teens proved not to be as clever as they thought they were. Entering the homes
proved to be no task for them as they discovered unlocked doors or keys under
mats around all the victims’ homes. Although getting in was simple they were so
overwhelmed with the materialistic possessions they forgot to remain hidden
from cameras, exposing them of their crimes. The naivety of the teenagers to
think they wouldn’t get caught conveys how they weren’t doing these things
because they didn’t have money, it was mainly for the status it may get them.
Before they were caught it gave them a great status on social media when
posting photos of expensive items and bragging about being in the homes of
Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
Coppola
had used various shots throughout the film which gave it an adrenaline feel
whenever they thought they were going to be caught. The shots of the gang
climbing in and out of the homes were a good insight to how brave, sly and
courageous these kids really were. Sophia recreated the scenes very well to how
anyone who knew about the true events would imagine them to take place. Overall
the film felt to me almost like a documentary rather than just being based on
events as I was so fascinated and engaged throughout the entire film.
Moreover
The Bling Ring personally proved to be a great success as factors including the
soundtrack and how realistic the actors were when adopting the rolls of members
of the gang. I also felt the film made a great impact on showing the change and
effects of social media and how dominating it is in today’s society. The Bling
Ring may not be like other Coppola films but it is definitely one to be
recognised and worth watching. I would recommend this film to anyone into crime
and drama and definitely to teenagers as it has an engaging, fascinating modern
feel to it. By the end of the film Sophia had me left wondering how I felt
about the entire scandal as she didn’t portray them in any particular light and
left me to form my own opinion. It turned out to be a beautifully crafted and
thoroughly enjoyable film.
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