Fear and Loathing

I had never heard of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and was really surprised by it. At first it seemed meaningless with the excessive drug use but after watching it for a little bit, I realized the movie really has a meaning to it and the characters Duke and Dr. Gonzo were searching for the American Dream. This immediately reminded me of one of my favorite novels The Great Gatsby. The movie was pretty hard to follow at some points because the characters behaved in ways that society as a whole isn’t used to seeing. But once the viewer can pick through it, the story becomes much clearer especially once put into the context of the final days of the counter culture of the 1960’s.
Man is separate from beasts because man has control of himself and his instincts. He can decide when and how to act in any given situation. A beast is solely driven on instincts. They control it to a point that humans cannot comprehend. The characters made beasts of themselves because they got so messed up on a variety of powerful drugs. When they were on these drugs, they had no control of themselves or their actions. They were solely driven by instincts. In the opening seen, Duke is swatting at bats that don’t exist. His body is telling him this even though they are not there because of the drug’s effects. His swatting is not driven by himself, but through an uncontrollable force, just as beasts act by uncontrollable instincts. The drugs do relieve their pain temporarily, but it is a false sense of relief and creates further pain. The drugs solve none of their problems, only make them disappear (relief) for a short period of time. In that sense the drugs do relieve their pain, but it is only temporary and creates more problems.