Around the States in 50 Films: The Florida Project

Living in the shadow of the most magical place on earth

I’ve become so fascinated in American history and culture over the last few years, I actually looked into doing a Masters degree in American Studies before realising I have neither time nor money to pursue such an indulgence. Fortunately, books are a much cheaper way to learn, and one of the best I’ve read on the subject in recent years is The Unwinding: Thirty Years of American Decline by George Packer, which explores the widening gap between rich and poor in the US, written so compellingly that it almost feels like a novel instead of a non-fiction book. Around the same time I read it, I also became obsessed with the history of the Beach Boys, counterculture and Californian identity, and I am forever finding new rabbit holes to fall down, including my latest Substack piece on American Exceptionalism.

For better or worse, America only seems to be getting more and more fascinating, which is why I thought it would be fun to start a little film project exploring every state in the US through the art of cinema. For each state, I’m going to choose a film that tries to capture the essence of that place, although my views will, of course, be very much those of an outsider looking in. How are these places represented on film? And how is the diversity of its people, history and culture encapsulated in a single story?

To begin, I’ve chosen the ‘sunshine state’ of Florida and the 2017 drama The Florida Project directed by Sean Baker.

The film is named after the nearby imagined utopia of the Walt Disney World resort, which was code-named ‘The Florida Project’ during its initial planning stages in the 1960s. A slice-of-life-style plot, it follows the adventures of a six-year-old girl called Moonee as she spends the summer with her friends, playing around the budget motel she lives in with her unemployed single mother.

Their struggle to make ends meet and stave off homelessness is set against the backdrop of the Magic Castle motel, painted in surreal pastel colours, as well as the wider landscape of Route 192, Kissimmee and the Disney resort that is always on the periphery of their difficult existence.

Brooklynn Kimberly Prince is Moonee, Willem Dafoe plays the motel manager, and Lithuanian-born Bria Vinaite was cast in her debut role as Moonee’s mother, Halley.

The Wes Anderson-style colour scheme of bright yellows, pastels and purples does not totally detract from the harsh realities of Moonee’s daily existence, but at the same time, we are invited to see the world through the eyes of the innocent, with a child like wonder at everything they encounter on their long, drawn out days enjoying their freedom to roam - a freedom, ironically, that children more privileged than these rarely get to enjoy within our hyper-secure society.

It is difficult to believe these kids were given any scripted lines at all, their behaviour and dialogue is so naturalised. The roaming, open-endedness of their daily adventures, the stories they tell each other and humorous observations of the adult world, all help transform an otherwise bleak film into something dusted with childhood magic.

The real-life setting of the film also sent me down numerous Wikipedia rabbit holes themed around ‘novelty architecture’. We watch the kids traipsing past Eli’s Orange World, a large, orange-shaped fruit stand, and the Giant Wizard gift shop, complete with a terrifying wizard’s head. Even the purple motel they call home is a real place you can book into, all located on this slightly depressing stretch of highway on the way to Disney World.

Fun fact: In 2004, gusts of wind from Hurricane Charley damaged the front of the Giant Wizard gift shop, causing a large decoy crystal ball to dislodge from the display and hit the roof of Orange World, leaving a dent in the structure. The crystal ball was never found.

Eli’s Orange World in Kissimmee, FL

The Giant Wizard gift shop that now haunts my dreams

The real Magic Castle Inn & Suites in which the film is set

When we hear ‘the most magical place on earth’, most of us think of fireworks over Cinderella’s castle. Unless we’ve explored the outer orbit of Disney World, the wide highways and budget motels inhabited by the poorest members of American society, we don’t think of these places in relation to the Magic Kingdom. This film takes the age-old concept of inequality and brings it into full technicolor - for what could represent the decline of the American Dream better than a budget motel painted to look like a fairy castle?

At the end of the film, Moonee and her friend Jancey get as close as they can to the Magic Kingdom in what is actually one of the strangest scenes, mainly because apparently the director couldn’t get the permission he needed to record inside the park, so he had to film in secret. Although I wasn’t entirely convinced by the final scene, it wrapped the film up with something akin to a happy ending, as long as you didn’t allow yourself to think too far into the fictional future of Moonee’s life.

I’ll end with this photograph of me having my own Florida adventure at the age of five, when my family and I were lucky enough to visit Disney World and the Kennedy Space Centre (where this photo was taken). I think those beads around my neck were from the Easter parade - and I still have that KSC ticket stub to this day!

Six more films based in Florida

Apollo 13 (1995)
Docudrama about the aborted 1970 lunar mission, after an on-board explosion deprives the spacecraft of oxygen and electricity. Set in part at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre.

The Birdcage (1996)
Comedy starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a gay couple who have to pretend they are straight in order to impress the conservative family of their son's fiancee.

Body Heat (1981)
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.

Miami Blues (1990)
After a man is released from prison, he plans on starting a new life in Miami, but when he goes on a crime spree and kills a man in the airport, he flees the scene.

Moonlight (2016)
Chiron, a young African-American boy, finds guidance in Juan, a drug dealer, who teaches him to carve his own path. As he grows up in Miami, Juan's advice leaves a lasting impression on him.

Scarface (1983)
Tony Montana and his close friend Manny, build a strong drug empire in Miami. But as his power begins to grow, so does his ego and his enemies, and his own paranoia begins to plague his empire.