History Film / KenPark

''Ken Park'' is a controversial 2002 American/Dutch/French drama film directed by Creator/LarryClark. It is his fifth film, after ''Film/{{Kids}}'', ''Another Day in Paradise'', ''Film/{{Bully}}'' and ''Teenage Caveman'', and his first to be written by Creator/HarmonyKorine since ''Kids''.

* AnAesop: The film carries a strong message of warning against improper parenting and the consequences it can bring. All of the parents in the film have failed their youth in some grievous way.

* WorldOfJerkass: Many of the characters in the film are loathsome in one way or another, namely all the parental figures (except Hannah's father) as well as Tate and even Shawn to some degree.

* ShaggyDogStory: Subverted. The whole thing on the surface seems completely pointless in terms of plot, but like many of Korine's works, the film serves as a mishmash of social commentary and character study more than it tells a cohesive story.

* TeensAreMonsters: Though the adults aren't really any better (except maybe Tate's grandparents).

* VillainProtagonist: Tate definitely cements himself as one. And one could honestly make the argument that almost everyone in the film is.
* WorldOfJerkass: ''Everybody'' in the film is extremely loathsome in one way or another, with the sole exceptions being Peaches and Tate's grandparents.

* DysfunctionJunction: When the kid that's cheating on his girlfriend with his girlfriend's mother is the ''least'' messed up one of the cast, you know the characters have some serious issues.

* EroticAsphyxiation: Tate does this... in VERY graphic detail. Probably the most infamous scene in the film.

* ExtremeDoormat: Tate's grandparents, who fall victim to Tate's extremely assholish behavior while never actually doing anything about it.

* ILoveTheDead: [[spoiler: Implied with Tate, who got an erection after stabbing his grandparents to death]].

* MissingMom: Peaches' mother died when she was in grade school and it's mentioned a few times in the film.
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Again, Claude's and Peaches's fathers (Claude's dad drunkenly attempts to give Claude a blowjob while he slept and Peaches's dad "marries" her near the end.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: Subverted; the titular Ken Park has absolutely nothing to do with the stories.
* RandomEventsPlot: Pretty much. None of the characters' stories have to do with Ken Park's suicide and indeed the only link to Ken Park's story is that they all kind of knew him from school.
* TheReveal: The end of the film shows that Ken Park committed suicide because [[spoiler: he got a girl pregnant.]]
* ScrabbleBabble: Tate's granddad tries to pawn off "sipi" as a bone in the hip, serving only to make him angrier.
%%* ShaggyDogStory: The whole thing is completely pointless.

%%* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Shawn and Peaches' dad.]]

-->'''Oancitizen:''' Is this town built on a Hellmouth?

* StartsWithASuicide: The film opens with Ken Park shooting himself

* DysfunctionJunction: When the kid that lives with an abusive father and apathetic mother is the ''least'' messed up one of the cast, you know the characters have some serious issues.

* WorldOfJerkass: ''Everybody'' in the film is extremely loathsome, with the sole exceptions being Peaches and Tate's grandparents.

* AFamilyAffair: The teenager Shawn is sleeping with his girlfriend's mother behind her back and fantasizes about having a threeway with the two of them. Sadly, his situation is probably the ''least'' psychologically messed up of all the four main characters, whose lives are rife with abuse and dysfunction.

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Again, Claude's and Peaches's fathers (Claude's dad drunkenly attempts to give Claude a blowjob while he slept and Peaches' dad "marries" her near the end.]]

* AbusiveParents: Claude and Peaches' fathers (the former sees Claude as nothing but a weak failure. The latter seems like a decent parent at first, until he catches Peaches about to have sex with a friend of hers).

* {{Euroshlock}}: Zig-Zagged. It's set in America, and the films writer and director are from America, but it was produced by Kasander Film Company and Cinéa; which are from the Netherlands and France, respectively.

* FanDisservice: On one hand, you got Tate's aforementioned asphyxiation scene along with Claude's dad [[spoiler:trying to give his son a blowjob]]. In fact, most of the sex scenes in the film are made to appear as grotesque as possible, both intentionally and unintentionally.

* TheFundamentalist: Peaches' dad has very strong religious beliefs. Shown more clearly when he abuses Peaches after he viciously attacks her friend that she was about to have sex with.
* HateSink: Tate, Peaches' dad and Claude's dad are all utterly loathesome characters who deserve everything coming to them.
* HyperlinkStory: The film ''appears'' like it's trying to do this, but it doesn't work since the storylines don't ever involve the other characters and they never actually interact with each other until the end ([[spoiler:apart from Tate who gets arrested after murdering his grandparents]]).

* ILoveTheDead: [[spoiler:Implied with Tate, who got an erection after stabbing his grandparents to death]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Tate gets arrested near the end of the film upon murdering his grandparents and three-legged dog]].

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Again, Claude and Peaches' fathers (Claude's dad drunkenly attempts to give Claude a blowjob while he slept and Peaches' dad "marries" her near the end.]]

* TheReveal: The end of the film shows that Ken Park committed suicide because [[spoiler:he got a girl pregnant.]]

* ATankardOfMooseUrine: Possibly what the director was trying to invoke, since there's a scene of a man drinking beer and urinating at the same time.

* WretchedHive: Under a thin veneer of small town Americana.

* {{Euroshlock}}: Sort of. It's set in America but its production is two thirds European.

* 2: Tate (James Ransone) lives with his grandparents but hates them and constantly verbally abuses them. He is a [[ILoveTheDead necrophiliac]] who [[EroticAsphyxiation asphyxiates himself for sexual pleasure]].

* 2: Tate (James Ransone) lives with his grandparents but hates them and constantly verbally abuses them. He is a necrophiliac who [[EroticAsphyxiation asphyxiates himself for sexual pleasure]].
* 3: Shawn (James Bullard) is having an affair with his girlfriend's mother and dreams of getting them both in bed at the same time.

* FanDisservice: On one hand, you got Tate's aforementioned asphyxiation scene along with Claude's dad [[spoiler:trying to give his son a blowjob]].
* {{Fanservice}}: On the other hand, you have quite a bit of nude women throughout the film.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

''Ken Park'' is a controversial 2002 American/Netherlandic/French drama film directed by Creator/LarryClark. It is his fifth film, after ''Film/{{Kids}}'', ''Another Day in Paradise'', ''Film/{{Bully}}'' and ''Teenage Caveman'', and his first to be written by Creator/HarmonyKorine since ''Kids''.

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Again, Claude and Peaches' fathers (Claude's dad drunkingly attempts to give Claude a blowjob while he slept and Peaches' dad "marries" her near the end.]]

%%* TheFundamentalist: Peaches' dad.

* MaleFrontalNudity: Tons of it.

* RandomEventsPlot: Pretty much. None of the characters stories have to do with Ken Park's suicide and indeed the only link to Ken Park's story is that they all kind of knew him from school.
* TheReveal: Ken Park committed suicide because [[spoiler:he got a girl pregnant.]]

* TeensAreMonsters: Though, the adults aren't really any better (except maybe Tate's grandparents).
* ThreeWaySex: Peaches has this with Claude and Shawn.

* {{Fanservice}}: On the other hand, you have quite a bit of nude women throughout the film. Most of which are pretty attractive people.

* HyperlinkStory: The film ''appears'' like it's trying to attempt this, but it doesn't work since the characters never actually interact with each other until the end ([[spoiler:apart from Tate who gets arrested after murdering his grandparents]]).

%%* HyperlinkStory: Attempted and failed miserably.

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Again, Claude and Peaches' fathers (Claude's dad drunkingly attempts to give Claude a blowjob while he slept and Peaches' dad "marries" Peaches.]]

%%* AbusiveParents: Claude and Peaches' fathers.

* EroticAsphyxiation: Tate does this. Probably the most infamous scene in the film.
%%* ADateWithRosiePalms

%%* FanDisservice

%%* {{Jerkass}}: Tate ''yet again''.

%%* MaleFrontalNudity: Tons of it.
%%* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Again, Claude and Peaches' fathers.]]

%%* TeensAreMonsters

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%% Image pulled per 5P suggestion; may be contested here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13349331300A11026600

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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* ThreeWaySex: Peaches has one with Claude and Shawn.

* RandomEventsPlot: Pretty much. None of the characters stories have to do with Ken Park's suicide and indeed the only link to Ken Park's story is that they all kind knew him from school.