Analysis Of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

851 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How is the american dream seen in literature

Josh Jacoby One critical framework that we see throughout all of the media today that tries to get the message out to the audience is conventions. Conventions are the use of different lighting, camera angles, sound effects, and music that try to reveal a message. In this paper we will examine the conventions in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and how they are used to describe what is right and wrong in society and what the true American dream is. Before Terry Gilliam made the movie, there was a book of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thomson. The story focuses on the Raoul Duke and his Attorney Dr. Gonzo going through Las Vegas searching for the American dream. The film stars Johnny Depp who portrays Raoul Duke and Benicio Del Toro who portrays Dr.Gonzo. Originally in the movie they were supposed to report on the mint 400-motorcycle race but instead they decided to experiment with recreational drugs such as cocaine, mescaline, ether, acid, marijuana, and adrenacome. This led them to be very reckless and dangerous throughout Las Vegas. The director, Terry Gilliam does a very good job of presenting conventions right from the start of the film. The film starts off with Raoul Duke and Dr.Gonzo getting everything together to make the trip to Vegas. On the way Raoul takes a tab of acid and they have to make it to their hotel before it kicks into his system during the drive. Dr.Gonzo says to Raoul “it would be a miracle if we could make it there before you turn into a wild animal”. As the drive continues they show a sign that says don’t gamble with marijuana and in Nevada possession or sale means 20 years to life in jail. This is ironic because they have a lot more than marijuana on hem and they are going to the heart of Las ... ... middle of paper ... ...eys look at him and everything stops except for the slow dancing music. When he looked up, there was a mirror on the ceiling showing everyone looking at him. He also was carrying his briefcase with him, which was full of random drugs, which is ironic because it was a drug convention. When everyone is waiting on line to check in, Raoul cuts in front of everyone including an officer who wasn’t able to get a room that he booked. Everyone behind him on the line is yelling at each other and all you see is Raoul walking calmly away to his room. When he gets to the room Dr.Gonzo is there and they do mescaline before they go to the convention. As the convention is going on and an officer is talking to everyone there, the camera switches to Raoul and Dr.Gonzo doing cocaine at their seats. No one notices that there doing it even when part of the container spills on the floor.

Show More
Related

  • Writer Analysis: Devin Friedman

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first article, “The Best Night $500,000 Can Buy,” portrays the perfect night out in Las Vegas. Devin chronologically takes the reader through a night in one of the famous clubs in Las Vegas, Marquee. He describes the fundamental marketing techniques that promoters use to lure women into the venue, the prices that high-rollers pay to get a VIP access and tables, and the “shitshow” atmosphere where people are dancing as if they are on Ecstasy (some people are actually on drugs). From personal experience, Las Vegas is definitely the Disney World for adults because people can openly consume alcoholic beverages on Fremont Street while enjoying their time at the arcades, night and day clubs, pools, gambling rooms, theme park rides, shopping centers, restaurants, strip clubs, and wedding chapels. Which ultimately le...

    Read More

  • Literary Devices Utilized in Thomas Foster's Book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" Put to Use in "Pulp Fiction"

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.

    Read More

  • The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die and Race Relations Light Years from the Earth

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maasik, Sonia, and J. Fisher Solomon. "The Offensive Movie Cliche That Won't die." Signs of life in the U.S.A.: readings on popular culture for writers. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994. 407-411. Print.

    Read More

  • The Postmorbid Condition by Vivian Sobchack

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    2. According to Sobchack, contemporary screen violence greatly differs than portrayals of violence in years past. Today, violent scenes are careless and lack significance because we as audiences have become calloused and desensitized to any acts of violence. She states that there is “no grace or benediction attached to violence. Indeed, its very intensity seems diminished” (Sobchack 432). Senseless violence, gruesome acts, and profound amounts of gore are prevalent in movies today, and because even this is not enough, it must be accompanied by loud blasts and noise, constantly moving scenes to keep audiences stimulated and large quantities of violence for viewers to enjoy what they are watching. Decades ago, it was the story that was engaging to audiences and filmmaking was an art.

    Read More

  • Film Noir Paul Shrader Analysis

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Film Madness: A History

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Madness: A History, a film by the Films Media Group, is the final installment of a five part series, Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment. It presents a history of the medical science community and it’s relationship with those who suffer from mental illness. The program uses original manuscripts, photos, testimonials, and video footage from medical archives, detailing the historical progression of doctors and scientists’ understanding and treatment of mental illness. The film compares and contrasts the techniques utilized today, with the methods of the past. The film offers an often grim and disturbing recounting of the road we’ve taken from madness to illness.

    Read More

  • Sunset Boulevard: The Culture Of Hollywood Film

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    A new edition to the course lineup, this week's film classic, Sunset Boulevard. This film will focus on the culture and environment of the Hollywood studio system that produces the kind of motion pictures that the whole world recognizes as "Hollywood movies." There have been many movies from the silent era to the present that either glamorize or vilify the culture of Hollywood, typically focusing on the celebrities (both in front of and behind the camera) who populate the "dream factories" of Hollywood. But we cannot completely understand the culture of Hollywood unless we recognize that motion pictures are big business as well as entertainment, and that Hollywood necessarily includes both creative and commercial

    Read More

  • The Significance of Lighting, Blocking and Panning in Kane’s Declaration of Principles

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.

    Read More

  • Movie Analysis: The Gangs of New York

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    The movie Gangs of New York takes place in Lower Manhattan’s Five Points’ neighborhood. It begins in 1846. The main protagonist Amsterdam Fallon, Priest Fallon’s son, watches his father who is the leader of the Dead Rabbit gang prepare and die in battle. As his father is on his last breadths of life giving his son counsel, Billy “the Butcher” Cutting snaps the Priest Fallon’s head. Amsterdam runs away from Cuttings henchmen to hide his father’s knife before he is captured by the Natives gang. He is taken to Hellgate orphanage. In 1862 Amsterdam returns to Five Point’s neighborhood and finds his old friend Johnny Sirocco. Johnny works now for Billy “the Butcher” and introduces Amsterdam to Cutting. Amsterdam makes his way into Cutting’s inner circle of Natives. Amsterdam also meets Jenny Everdeane while hanging out with Johnny. She bumps into Johnny to pickpocket his watch. Amsterdam notices and lets Johnny know. Johnny claims he always lets her take things. As both Cutting and Jenny take a liking to Amsterdam Johnny becomes jealous. He notices young Vallon quickly making his way into Cutting’s gang’s high ranks and into Jenny’s heart. Out of jealousy, Johnny reveals Amsterdam’s true identity to Cutting. Cutting decides to make Vallon angry. He succeeds by playing a dangerous game that involves knives with Jenny at the annual celebration of Priests Vallon’s death. Amsterdam then attempts to assassinate Cutting but fails and is taught a lesson by Cutting. Amsterdam lives at the help of Jenny. To avenge his father he starts the outlawed Dead Rabbit gang up again. He proposes a challenge to Cutting after his friend “Monk” McGinn is killed by Cutting. The fight takes place at Five Points’ neighborhood on the day the ...

    Read More

  • Do the Right Thing Scene Analysis

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print

    Read More

  • Corruption of the American Dream in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

    1826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Las Vegas symbolizes the American Dream and shows the corruption of society. When Duke and his Attorney, Dr. Gonzo, are at the Merry-Go-Round Bar, Dr. Gonzo expresses that the counter-culture of Las Vegas is getting to him. Duke struggles to accept what his Attorney says because he desires the Las Vegas lifestyle. Duke explains to Dr. Gonzo that they cannot leave Las Vegas, “…we’re right in the vortex [and] you want to quit….you must realize...that we’ve found the main nerve’” (Thompson 47-48), but Dr. Gonzo has already realized “…that’s what gives [him] the Fear” (Thompson 48). Duke and his Attorney thought that once they were in Las Vegas, the American Dream would be remarkable; but they realize that the American Dream is not magnificent, there are downsides to it. Witnessing how society acts in the “main nerve” of the American Dream, Dr. Gonzo is stricken with fear because he knows the American Dream is not benefitting him. When Duke looks back at his memories of his journey in...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Vienna Hotel And Moonrise Kingdom'

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Statement of intent: This formal report was written with the intent of discussing the mise-en-scene element of film which is used in two of Wes Anderson’s most popular films. Both films The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) showcase the limited colour palette and costume aspects of mise-en-scene.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Drug Therapy In 28 Days, By Sandra Bullock

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film begins by showing the treatment program for addicts as strict with multiple rules and praying and chanting. The rules, such as no cellphone use

    Read More

  • Movie Analysis: American History X

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.

    Read More

  • David Fincher Analysis

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Open Document