The Florida Project

I have seen The Florida Project before, but after reading the assigned essay, I focused more on the themes presented by the text and noticed how much of a factor real estate is in the film. While I did not completely agree with every conclusion made in the essay, I found the landscape of this film to be one of the most important characters and subtext of the story.

When I first watched this film in 2020, my feelings were primarily associated with the familiarity in its depiction of Florida. Growing up, my family frequently traveled to Florida to visit my Grandparents and Disney World. The roadside gift shops, Twistee Treat, colorful characters, and overall vibe of the setting of this film are things that I have experienced. It was originally hard for me to see the critique and commentary during my original viewing since I have such a personal attachment to the setting, which generates a form of nostalgia for childhood. 

The most compelling aspect of the film is its commentary and point of view, which demonstrate the cyclical nature of the lives we live being inherited from our parents. This point is mentioned in the essay when it says “The American ghetto appears to be inherited…the neighborhood environments in which black and white Americans live have been passed down across generations.”

Real Estate as the major sub-text dominated the screen for me during my rewatch. Corporations and real estate loom largely over the characters, as they try to live a life within their circumstances. Disney as an entity plays a major role in the film even though they are not particularly called out directly by the characters or filmmaker. As a cooperation, Disney is this experience, idea, and dream for the wealthy, but a nuisance and something inaccessible and out of reach for the poor. Even the title refers to real estate and the invasive nature of corporations in the everyday lives of real Floridians. The term Florida Project was known as the land the Disney corporation bought to build their theme parks. Disney and its tourists occupy the land the film takes place on, the sky with night fireworks, the sounds of the environment from helicopters, and even the title of the film. As a character, Disney the cooperation is a main character that is only present in the sub-text until the final scene of the film.

Orlando in the film is displayed in a similar way as the hotel the main characters inhabit. The colorful exterior is only a facade for a much dirtier environment that is swept under the rug. Orlando as a place has this colorful and inviting attraction with Disney World, but once you enter the environment reality is different. The hotel and Bobby can also demonstrate the harsh reality of living in a highly cooperative and commercialized world. While Bobby deeply cares about those inhabiting the hotel, cooperation, and money always end up coming first. 

Another aspect of Disney's cooperation is the tourists. Tourist helicopters that cause noise pollution invade their environment but when face to face with the reality of the metro-Orlando area, tourists either ignore the citizens or view them in disgust as if they are beneath them. A quote from the essay exemplifies this perfectly when it says, “The wealthy are not forced to confront poverty and are therefore morally exempted from dealing with it on micro or macro levels.”

Another takeaway is the impeccable approach to filmmaking. At every step, the viewer never questions if these things would happen nor do the actors ever feel like anything less than real people. This approach reminds me of Italian neo-realism in films such as Bicycle Thieves. The only departure within the film is the end, which is an artistic decision, where the movie decides to be a jarring fairy tail ending to a grounded real-world examination.