Throughout all of these movies, I saw a lot of common themes and other elements that point to Coppola's personality and voice. The strongest theme that connected these movies the most was the music and soundtrack. Coppola uses music in her films to set the overall mood and tone of the film, and it is a strong element that is sometimes used instead of actual communication between the main characters. For example, in The Virgin Suicides, there was a scene where the main characters were in separate rooms and used different records to have a conversation with each other. Also, in Marie Antoinette, modern rock music was used a lot throughout different scenes, even though that wasn't the type of music played back then. This allowed for the scenes to be more upbeat and appeal to Antoinette's lively and youthful spirit.
There is also a similarity between the ages of the main characters throughout these films. For instance, in Marie Antoinette, Antoinette, along with the majority of the other main characters in that film, were all teenagers basically put into a somewhat tough situation and trying to figure out how to live life. This is similar in The Bling Ring and The Virgin Suicides as well. The main characters in both films are also in the teenage age range and are put in precarious situations as well. In The Bling Ring, the main characters are constantly being put into tense situations when they are robbing the celebrities' houses.
Coppola's movies also include a strong female character or characters. This is shown mostly in Marie Antoinette, which is a slightly different adaptation from other renditions of the topic. Usually, Marie Antoinette films focus mainly on Louis XVI and have Antoinette be the background or secondary character. Coppola's version of the film focused solely on Marie Antoinette's story and life, and how she felt with getting married at 15 to a prince and leaving everything she knew to be her life. The Bling Ring and The Virgin Suicides also feature strong female leads. The Virgin Suicides is basically centered on the story of 4 guy friends being completely fascinated with five mysterious sisters and the story behind their lives. The Bling Ring also features numerous scenes with women being the focal point. This points to Coppola having a strong voice that relates to feminism and doesn't use women as just an unequal counterpart to the male lead.
Finally, Coppola's films make the characters relatable to the viewers. In Marie Antoinette, we get to really see Antoinette as a 15 year old girl and we get to go through the journey in her life with her up until her death. The way the story is laid out makes it seem as if she is more than just a rich socialite who is married to Louis XVI; it shows us that her life has many similarities to normal teenage girls, too, such as her love of shopping, and the way she interacts with her puppy. The main characters in The Bling Ring are also relatable to its viewers, because we all wish to be rich and live extravagant lives, yet the only difference is that we don't go and rob celebrities' houses. Coppola also includes scenes where there are long silences that help make the movie seem more realistic, since in real life there isn't a soundtrack constantly playing in the background. These silences also let the viewers know that the characters do actually have inner thoughts and some substance to them.
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