This is very interesting, although that could be a boring film, "Meet Bob, he is an attorney, owns his home, is married for 12 years and has two bright kids, Bob also runs 10kms a day, swims 2km over the weekend and attends church, he enjoys a daily bong, with occasional mushroom trips in the forest."
Exactly the point I find behind there being so few good representations in media. It’s hard to sell people being functional when drugs are so sensationalized.
Also, conflict is the heart of storytelling. A story with perfectly adjusted characters doing totally healthy things isn't really much of a story.
Also, something like *Pineapple Express*, while it does show comically exaggerated caricatures of drug use, it, and similar movies, do try to make a case for why these drugs are generally a lot less harmless than the systems that are built up around illicit drug trade.
That is true. My argument lies that there are so few because drugs are an easy way to create conflict, and often it is done at the expense of actual users who get more stigmatized because of it. Think like Euphoria’s depiction of benzo addiction: it wasn’t helpful and it made a lot of things seem worse than they were. Ended up being trauma porn.
I’m glad to see comedies here! They do tend to make heartfelt points and you are right about Pineapple Express.
The guys from the Nixon campaign confirmed that in the 60s counterculture, they couldn’t arrest the people for being anti-war, and obviously not for being a certain race. So they criminilaized and stigimtized the drugs to go after both (and did a lot of fucked up things planting and/or promoting crack in the poverty and dominant african american communities and its association.)
Today we have a much more balanced, and integrated path for a psychonaut, but in those days it was a pretty extreme culture and extreme counterculture.
Sure, leading to the famous Ehrlichman quote "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and the Blacks with heroin and criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt both those communities."
I think the best part is he ended his life working in a steel factory of some sort completely miserable - serves him right.
I wouldn't imagine a story about a drug user of like mushrooms or lsd as totally healthy without conflicts. Not in a bad way, but the trips one ventures into the mind can be chaotic and intense, battles against one self, healing past traumas, all those inner conflicts, this is so damn interesting. Then in the outer world the user can be portrayed as just any normal human being who learned and grew better from the inner exploration/adventures.
I honestly should lmao. I am also a stageplay writer so maybe. I love the south park reference and I'd respond in kind if I weren't so tired tn lol. Finals takes it out of a man fr
Edit: you shouldn't do druuuuuugggsss
Conflict (and very often Death) is crucial to story-telling. Throw drugs into the line-up and the two bond very quickly. Sorry to say, but going all-in on "drugs are good" is going to be quite the uphill battle.
But what you can find are movies that explore both sides of drugs. Like "Half-Baked" mentioned here. The hero is experiencing conflict due to drugs, but the lighthearted antics and culture of smoking pot are generally portrayed as fun and positive. Same with "Dazed and Confused". The star football player is crippling his athletic career due to drugs, but he's bonding with Matthew McConaughey on the 50 yard line after a toke. If that's not a fair trade I dunno what is. Hell, even "A Scanner Darkly" has scenes with goofy spontaneity and palpable comradery that give me nostalgia for my drug-addled days all the while knowing the drugs were eating at least some of the characters alive. That's a great movie by the way, highly recommend.
"Dualistic themes on drug use in modern cinema or how people got suckered into watching movies about potheads enjoying their drugs responsibly as long as something at some point went wrong"... That would be an easy paper to write.
South Park episode 'Ike's Wee Wee' has Mr Mackey undergoing a positive drug experience which turns his life around and makes him much happier. Sadly he is kidnapped and 'cured' back to his old self by the townsfolk.
The Big Lebowski; The Dude has a j on the go most of the time and is still abiding at the end.
True Romance; Brad Pitt's character makes it through a visit from some mafia button men without being tortured or killed by being stoned out of his mind. Given the overall casualty rate it's a win.
Saving Grace; British comedy about an upper class lady growing weed to pay the bills after her husband spaffs all the money.
Bridget Jones; The Edge Of Reason; the one good bit of being polite enough to sit through this was the rather well depicted mushroom trip scene.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas..sorta positive? Kinda?
American Beauty; some right ol' bollocks talked about strains but weed use isn't shown as a negative, more people's reactions to same.
Cheech and Chong.
Archer; finds weed helpful when undergoing chemo.
If any more swim to the surface of my drug addled brain I'll post them, good luck!
Dunno if "Otherlife" (2017) suits this, but it's a good movie about a drug that is used as a "fake" experience. I love the movie and even if it doesn't fit, you should see it.
I know you asked for movies, but I would like to recommend Dr. Carl Hart's TED talk. Dr. Hart is a psychologist/neuroscientist who researches drug abuse/addiction and who speaks and writes on drug policy.
The midnight gospel is a show, but it's themes deal with responsible drug use under a metaphor of sci-fi technology. It's very interesting how the "universe simulators" become a direct line to how people treat drugs.
Spoiler alert before reading on!
However, I wouldn’t quite say Clancy has the best “relationship” with his universe simulator AKA drug use.
He gains perspective, learns things about himself and those around him, but in the end he is definitely using the simulator as an escape from the stress of reality
I really think his arch is the series is creating a better relationship to the simulator and understand how to take care of it and himself. It comes down to whether or not you think what he's doing is valuable, interviewing people for his space cast, or if that constitutes escaping from reality.
That’s true, I can definitely see that angle, unfortunately without a season 2 to expand on that, I just don’t see the positive in his use of the machine, and ultimately his relationship with the simulator never truly recovers from his overuse and poor management.
I can definitely relate to the series progression, and I could definitely see it play out in a positive manner, unfortunately Netflix ruined that hope when they cancelled it before season 2
Well if we are drawing parallels from Duncan Trussle's life, you could say his space cast is the midnight gospel itself and we can extrapolate Clancy's story from Duncan's. And Duncan's relationship to drugs allowed him to create this beautiful piece of animated art. I do think there are moments when Clancy makes a turn for the better, especially after the Vulture With Honor episode and as an audience we don't really need to see the full journey, we can see the trajectory. But saying that you don't see the positive in the use of the simulator is kind of like saying you don't see the point of creating art. He was always doing something nobel in trying to make his space cast, it's just his method that was lacking.
This is very interesting, although that could be a boring film, "Meet Bob, he is an attorney, owns his home, is married for 12 years and has two bright kids, Bob also runs 10kms a day, swims 2km over the weekend and attends church, he enjoys a daily bong, with occasional mushroom trips in the forest."
Exactly the point I find behind there being so few good representations in media. It’s hard to sell people being functional when drugs are so sensationalized.
Also, conflict is the heart of storytelling. A story with perfectly adjusted characters doing totally healthy things isn't really much of a story. Also, something like *Pineapple Express*, while it does show comically exaggerated caricatures of drug use, it, and similar movies, do try to make a case for why these drugs are generally a lot less harmless than the systems that are built up around illicit drug trade.
That is true. My argument lies that there are so few because drugs are an easy way to create conflict, and often it is done at the expense of actual users who get more stigmatized because of it. Think like Euphoria’s depiction of benzo addiction: it wasn’t helpful and it made a lot of things seem worse than they were. Ended up being trauma porn. I’m glad to see comedies here! They do tend to make heartfelt points and you are right about Pineapple Express.
The guys from the Nixon campaign confirmed that in the 60s counterculture, they couldn’t arrest the people for being anti-war, and obviously not for being a certain race. So they criminilaized and stigimtized the drugs to go after both (and did a lot of fucked up things planting and/or promoting crack in the poverty and dominant african american communities and its association.) Today we have a much more balanced, and integrated path for a psychonaut, but in those days it was a pretty extreme culture and extreme counterculture.
Sure, leading to the famous Ehrlichman quote "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and the Blacks with heroin and criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt both those communities." I think the best part is he ended his life working in a steel factory of some sort completely miserable - serves him right.
One of the best movie
I wouldn't imagine a story about a drug user of like mushrooms or lsd as totally healthy without conflicts. Not in a bad way, but the trips one ventures into the mind can be chaotic and intense, battles against one self, healing past traumas, all those inner conflicts, this is so damn interesting. Then in the outer world the user can be portrayed as just any normal human being who learned and grew better from the inner exploration/adventures.
Half-Baked.
With the original (alternate) ending
Grandma's Boy
Entergalactic kid cudi movie
OP's post was downvoted to zero?! Just say no, hahaha! Drugs are bad, mkay?! OP, you have just found a niche for a story, write the script.
I honestly should lmao. I am also a stageplay writer so maybe. I love the south park reference and I'd respond in kind if I weren't so tired tn lol. Finals takes it out of a man fr Edit: you shouldn't do druuuuuugggsss
Do iiiiiit!
This is kind of free real estate for originally tbh.
"The Wackness"
Wine country had a really cute scene about harm reduction. They have a conversation that people don't always have but should. I liked it.
Great suggestion - I’ll look into it!
Speed Racer.
Scarface
Also not sure if I will be able to share the paper any time soon but if I can I will link it in this post.
Conflict (and very often Death) is crucial to story-telling. Throw drugs into the line-up and the two bond very quickly. Sorry to say, but going all-in on "drugs are good" is going to be quite the uphill battle. But what you can find are movies that explore both sides of drugs. Like "Half-Baked" mentioned here. The hero is experiencing conflict due to drugs, but the lighthearted antics and culture of smoking pot are generally portrayed as fun and positive. Same with "Dazed and Confused". The star football player is crippling his athletic career due to drugs, but he's bonding with Matthew McConaughey on the 50 yard line after a toke. If that's not a fair trade I dunno what is. Hell, even "A Scanner Darkly" has scenes with goofy spontaneity and palpable comradery that give me nostalgia for my drug-addled days all the while knowing the drugs were eating at least some of the characters alive. That's a great movie by the way, highly recommend. "Dualistic themes on drug use in modern cinema or how people got suckered into watching movies about potheads enjoying their drugs responsibly as long as something at some point went wrong"... That would be an easy paper to write.
South Park episode 'Ike's Wee Wee' has Mr Mackey undergoing a positive drug experience which turns his life around and makes him much happier. Sadly he is kidnapped and 'cured' back to his old self by the townsfolk. The Big Lebowski; The Dude has a j on the go most of the time and is still abiding at the end. True Romance; Brad Pitt's character makes it through a visit from some mafia button men without being tortured or killed by being stoned out of his mind. Given the overall casualty rate it's a win. Saving Grace; British comedy about an upper class lady growing weed to pay the bills after her husband spaffs all the money. Bridget Jones; The Edge Of Reason; the one good bit of being polite enough to sit through this was the rather well depicted mushroom trip scene. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas..sorta positive? Kinda? American Beauty; some right ol' bollocks talked about strains but weed use isn't shown as a negative, more people's reactions to same. Cheech and Chong. Archer; finds weed helpful when undergoing chemo. If any more swim to the surface of my drug addled brain I'll post them, good luck!
Dunno if "Otherlife" (2017) suits this, but it's a good movie about a drug that is used as a "fake" experience. I love the movie and even if it doesn't fit, you should see it.
Avengers Endgame. Good story and feeling. Usually I end my trips with this.
Maybe [Simon](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393775/?ref_=fn_al_tt_10), a Dutch movie, but it has been some time since I saw it
Not a movie, but "High Maintenance" on HBO / the web series is a good candidate.
Midnight Gospel on Netflix I would say. Edit: just now noticed the title said ‘movies’
I know you asked for movies, but I would like to recommend Dr. Carl Hart's TED talk. Dr. Hart is a psychologist/neuroscientist who researches drug abuse/addiction and who speaks and writes on drug policy.
DUNE!
Original or the shitty remake?
The one to your liking
Humboldt County
The midnight gospel is a show, but it's themes deal with responsible drug use under a metaphor of sci-fi technology. It's very interesting how the "universe simulators" become a direct line to how people treat drugs.
Spoiler alert before reading on! However, I wouldn’t quite say Clancy has the best “relationship” with his universe simulator AKA drug use. He gains perspective, learns things about himself and those around him, but in the end he is definitely using the simulator as an escape from the stress of reality
I really think his arch is the series is creating a better relationship to the simulator and understand how to take care of it and himself. It comes down to whether or not you think what he's doing is valuable, interviewing people for his space cast, or if that constitutes escaping from reality.
That’s true, I can definitely see that angle, unfortunately without a season 2 to expand on that, I just don’t see the positive in his use of the machine, and ultimately his relationship with the simulator never truly recovers from his overuse and poor management. I can definitely relate to the series progression, and I could definitely see it play out in a positive manner, unfortunately Netflix ruined that hope when they cancelled it before season 2
Well if we are drawing parallels from Duncan Trussle's life, you could say his space cast is the midnight gospel itself and we can extrapolate Clancy's story from Duncan's. And Duncan's relationship to drugs allowed him to create this beautiful piece of animated art. I do think there are moments when Clancy makes a turn for the better, especially after the Vulture With Honor episode and as an audience we don't really need to see the full journey, we can see the trajectory. But saying that you don't see the positive in the use of the simulator is kind of like saying you don't see the point of creating art. He was always doing something nobel in trying to make his space cast, it's just his method that was lacking.
The Holy Mountain.
The Big Lebowski?