Requiem for a dream
I would like to apply my understanding of discourse to a film
called “requiem for a dream”.
If you haven’t seen the film this will be a spoiler post. I would
recommend watching it before reading this and seeing if you noticed or think
the same as I. in short it’s a film based around the life of “harry” the main
character, his girlfriend, his friend and mother whose uphill struggle with
their own issues and addictions ultimately come to a gruesome end. It doesn’t
glamourize the use of drugs in any way but shows bluntly the effects of
addiction. It is no just drugs also, the film is ripe with sin and any other
kind of addiction, adrenaline, sex, drugs, vanity, food, longing, love, money,
excitement, fame, gambling. As seen in this mash-up of extracts from the film.
I could not share the video so you’ll have to follow the link to youtube.
Although the film is very
artistic and stylised in my opinion it still show yet the most realistic
representation of how drugs are good for about a week and then you just take
them to feel normal. On the actual effects of them scenes are kept short with
lots of editing the show the time lost to being high. In this clip the denoted
content of the room is drab and run down with nothing but a record player,
coffee table, cushions, dim lights and of course the necessary drug
paraphernalia. However the connotations of the dancing and music for me show
signs of complete bliss without a care in the world.
Throughout the film they’re
subtle references to all kinds of addiction as the two main characters plot to
begin dealing drugs ensuring a constant flow, a police officer arrives to have
coffee (caffeine) and donuts (gluttony), the man serving them smoking a
cigarette (Nicotine)
1 hour 20 minutes and 45 seconds into the film Harry’s mother is
in hospital after the psychological effects of her “diet pills” have taken
their toll. She is being force fed by 2 male care nurses.
…”I want to just play blackjack all night long, so I make up this
routine: I say “you guys go ahead I don’t feel so good, go and have a good time
dancing.” Sure enough, they leave the room. And then, as soon as they leave I
go running back down the casino an I sit at my blackjack table all night..” he continues
to talk about his addiction in an anecdote manner as his voice becomes muffled
as they force feed the confused wreck this is Harry’s mother. The fact that he
openly admitted to lying to people close to him so he could feed his addiction
is yet another subtle hint towards how we view our habits, and how most people
if not everyone has some kind of addiction one way or another.
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