Glorification of Drugs in American Film

Sex, drugs, and violence: the three main ingredients to a blockbuster movie. That is, if one ignores writing, cinematography, and the years of work put in by the cast and crew. There is a sense of decaying corruption that underlines the American film industry, a trend that has been going on for quite some time since the times of ridiculous propaganda films such as Reefer Madness that came out in 1938. However, there seems to have been a moral decomposition within media that has left subtle odor over American society. The impressionable youth are the ones that are mainly affected by the depictions of questionable behavior in motion pictures. Does art imitate life? Or is life, imitating art? Mostly everyone has an opinion on the matter, but nothing can be concretely proven of such an intangible topic. Setting aside the topics of sex and violence, drug use can be seen creeping into most films in the past decade. Is America, especially its youth, affected by the representation of illicit drug use in American film or is it misconstrued panic raised by worried parents and the government?

Films such as From Hell, Requiem for a Dream, and Harvard Man only go on to worry the parents even further. Each movie mentioned contained a representation of illicit drugs that could be considered somewhat glorified. A study conducted in 1999 by the White House Office of National Drug Policy, the US Department of Health, and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration examined the representational frequency of illicit drug use in the top 200 movies. "Findings revealed that 98 percent of movies studied depicted substance use. Illicit drugs appeared in 22 percent of the movies studied" (Mediascope). The question now is: is the youth as affected by these depictions of drugs as society fears?
In the highly controversial film, Requiem for a Dream, illicit drug use is the driving force of the plot line. "The film, directed by Darren Aronofsky, stars Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans and [Ellen] Burstyn as four individuals who set out in pursuit of their modest dreams for a better life, but their addictions to heroin and diet pills cause things to spiral out of control toward a horrific end" (Hollywood.com). If the only impression one has of modern American society were this movie, one would be left frightened of society and unmistakably cynical. As Leto's character, Harry, returns home and spins Connelly's character, Marion, in rejoice, it is the happiest the audience sees them through out the film:

Harry: We're on our way, baby, we're really on our way.

Marion: Harry.

Harry: It was great out there. Everyone's thirsty.

Marion: I'm so glad. And baby, I'm drawing again. I'm drawing. I can't stop. (Requiem for a Dream)

This glorified portrayal of illicit drugs brings about two points: "the growing drug problem among America's youth combined with the reality that America's teenagers are heavy consumers of motion pictures" (Mediascope). Although it is unjust to quickly point the proverbial finger at media for all drug use, it cannot be denied the media does have a lasting impact upon the fretted over impressionable youth. At a younger age, it is difficult to know the difference between what might be considered the norm and what is acceptable. If movies such as Requiem for a Dream are considered 'normal' then adolescents are hidden from what is truly 'acceptable' in a society where harmful drug use is illegal. Moreover, due to the bombardment of the senses, one might begin to block out that illicit drugs are harmful and start to believe that substance abuse can lead to happiness like that of Harry and Marion.

However, the characters in Requiem for a Dream are not left without consequence. Does the presence of negative consequences in movies deter the youth from drug use? For "the number of teenagers abusing drugs has fallen by 10 percent over the five-year period from 1998 to 2003, according to a new report released from The Partnership for a Drug-Free America" (CNN.com). Requiem for a Dream was released within this five year time period, a time when drug use apparently went down. The president of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Steve Pasierb, stated, "More and more teens are deciding not to use drugs. Clearly, more young people believe that the risks outweigh the benefits" (CNN.com). So does illicit drug use in film affect America's youth? Yet, when a movie like "Requiem for a Dream is being released by Artisan Entertainment without an MPAA rating" most parents would prevent their adolescent from attending (Hollywood.com).
Another motion picture that incorporates what are now considered illegal drugs is From Hell, directed by Albert and Allen Hughes, staring Johnny Depp. Depp's role as Fred Abberline is of a Victorian-era detective that is on the case of the serial killer Jack the Ripper. Abberline is represented as one that always solves the crime and gets the girl. Not only does he get the girl, he gives her up for the sake of her safety in the end. Very few can be considered as heroic as that. On the other hand, Abberline is also "chaser of the dragon" when it comes to opium and an adamant drinker of absinthe (From Hell). Away from the age of hero-worship (i.e. Superman) teens are unlikely to look upon a movie figure and follow his path in drug use. Dr Hasantha Gunasekera at the University of Sydney, who conducted a similar study of substance use in the top 200 movies, stated: "The movie industry influences the perception of billions of people around the world…we understand that the movie industry is there to entertain and to make money, and is not an instrument of public health advice. But we feel it is surprising that there's no attempt to reflect…consequences of drug use" (BBC NEWS).

Being that Depp's character is a user of opium and absinthe, it is difficult to believe that adolescents will follow suit. Heroin, the closest drug to opium that is presently used, is estimated that only 130,000 people are current heroin users; a small number compared to the 13.6 million marijuana smokers in the United States alone (CNN.com). Also, absinthe is an alcohol of strong proof content that is illegal to sell within the United States and expensive to import, meaning, that it would not be the drink of choice for low-income adolescents. Sudden drug use in teens cannot be blamed upon this particular motion picture due to the improbability of it.

Yet films such as Harvard Man brings the blame upon the movie industry once again. The character of Alan Jensen in the small budget film is one that is attempting to transcend with the assistance of drugs. Near the beginning of the film he has a conversation after having sex with his promiscuous philosophy professor, Chesney Cort:

Chesney: So to you sex and drugs are the same thing.

Alan: Well they have the same goal: transcendence.

Chesney: Are you sure you're not just talking about feeling good?

Alan: Absolutely. [smokes marijuana] It's way beyond that. See I'm trying to get in touch with the thing inside, the thing behind the "I." "Hi, I'm Alan" front we put out to the world. It's like I'm in a straightjacket and trying not to snap. (Harvard Man)

Enlightenment is a subplot within the movie that is realized in the climax of the storyline as Alan decides to complicate matters by taking lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Not only does he take a notoriously dangerous drug, he also takes more than the dose his supplier tells him to- three times more. Upon entering his excessive and extensive acid trip he comes upon Sandy, his LSD supplier, and fellow Harvard student.

Alan: Sandy!

Sandy: Alan…

Alan: I took all three hits, fifteen hundred micrograms, it's the answer isn't it? It's the answer to every question. It's the route to God!. . . And that's where I am, you know, you've been there right?!. . . I feel complete clarity, complete wisdom…about me. Complete refinement of character and of mind and of body and of soul. . . I can't believe you didn't give me this before!. . . I walk down the street and I see everything planned out exactly the way it is: blocks, pixels, perfect! It's revelation! It's truth! It's wisdom! It's beauty! It's eternity… [pause] What's the longest you've known anyone to trip? Sandy?

Sandy: Sometimes, it never ends. (Harvard Man)
Upon realizing that his hallucinations might never end he panics, and goes to the one person that can save him. At the conclusion of the film the audience learns that he has found clarity in his life, that he should no longer worry about the unreachable void. Does this sequence of events mean that for someone to transcend the best way to go about it would be to go on a life-threatening acid trip? It is stretching it a bit to say so bluntly, yet it cannot be denied that it is a point made within the film. Yet it is not as farfetched as it seems. In a study by University of California, Berkeley states that during the 60's "LSD's potency and it's promise of a new world attracted many who were looking to escape from the droll workings of everyday life. LSD meant transcendence and for some it elevated them to a new level of understanding in terms of themselves as well as the world" (Molecular Neurobiology Manuscripts).

Although it seems like society is doing the same way it always has, while morality in American film has gone spiraling down, White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey wants to change that. McCaffery is propagating that anti-drug messages should be part of future movie plots. He has been quoted saying, "We are making available to the producers, directors, writers - the creative community - the resources, the understanding that the National Institute of Drug Abuse gets out of $600 million a year of taxpayer dollars studying this issue." McCaffrey is hoping to create an expansion of a controversial program that he had signed with shows such as "Cosby," "E.R.," and "Beverly Hills 90210" in which networks are rewarded with millions of dollars in financial credit for including anti-drug messages in their programs. In hopes that the idea that the silver screen will have a bigger impact on the youth than television, he plans to get his program into the Hollywood market. McCaffrey is backed by various figures in society including Stuart Fishoff, a professor of media psychology at the California State University, Los Angeles. Fishoff says, "Psychologically, it's more effective than public service announcements because those are usually people with whom the audience can identify with. If you don't identify with who is on screen, with who is telling you about drugs, there is no message" (CNN.com).

On the flipside, there are people like Edward Lawrenson, deputy editor of the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine, who go against McCaffrey. Lawrenson said, "I don't think it's the role of the film industry to educate the public about public health… If it was incumbent on every screenwriter to punish his or her character for having sex with a dreadful STI, films wouldn't be very enjoyable" (BBC NEWS). Much like Lawrenson, Tim Lynch of the Cato Institute (a group that promotes limited government) stated: "They're talking about turning the Hollywood studios into an organ of the government…They're talking about turning the studios into a propaganda machine for the government, and that's wrong" (CNN.com). The principals of writers and directors alike are now being questioned: Does Hollywood have the responsibility to monitor their depiction of illicit drugs or are they excused on the premise of "artistic vision?"

Maybe the worry of illegal drug use invading American film is just a scare tactic. Studies have found that forty-nine percent of all movies depicting substance abuse included short-term consequences; seven percent had long-term consequences; and five percent contained dialogue that could be inferred as possible future consequences. However, it cannot be denied that only twenty-eight percent of drug use containing movies associated it as a crime (Mediascope). George Rodman, a professor at Brooklyn College with a PhD in communications, states:

There can be little doubt that some viewers imitate what they see in the movies. For many, the movie viewing experience is an intense one… movies are experienced in a darkened theater where most other stimuli are kept to a minimum. The viewer enters an almost dreamlike state as larger-than-life fantasies explode on the screen. It is no wonder that such a viewing experience can lead to imitation, especially young people or troubled people of any age. (Rodman 176-177)

Does a correlation between teenage drug use and presence of drugs in American film exist? It seems that the fear that most people have about media impact is not a legitimate cause for panic. Due to the movies that contain consequences for the characters that use illegal drugs, it seems that America's youth is more afraid of what they might suffer if they were to experiment. Even with the overwhelming amount of drug representation in motion pictures, teen drug use has been declining; disproving the worries of parents and White House officials.

Work Cited

"Drug survey: Teen use down; young adults up." CNN.com. 18 April 1999. Cable News Network. 4 Dec 2005 < http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/18/drug.use.survey.02/inde x.html>.

From Hell. Dir. Albert and Allen Hughes. Perf. Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, and Ian Holm. Twentieth Century Fox, 2001.

Harvard Man. Dir. James Toback. Perf. Adrian Grenier, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Joey Lauren Adams. Lion Gate Home Entertainment, 2002.

"LSD and its Medical Uses." Molecular Neurobiology Manuscripts. University of California, Berkeley. 18 Nov 2005 apers/manuscripts/_352.html>.

"Movie Review: Requiem for a Dream." Hollywood.com. 2000. Hollywood Media Corp. 4 Dec 2005 .

"Movies 'Condoning Sex and Drugs.'" BBC News UK Edition. 3 Oct 2005. The British Broadcast Channel. 4 Dec 2005 .

Requiem For A Dream: Edited Version. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Perf. Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans. Artisan Home Entertainment, 2000.

"Requiem for a Dream Premiere." Hollywood.com. 2000. Hollywood Media Corp. 4 Dec 2005 < http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/feature/id/472872>.

Rodman, George. Mass Media in a Changing World. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006.

"Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music." Mediascope. 28 April 1999. Mediascope. 4 Dec 2005 .

"Survey: Fewer teens using drugs." CNN.com. 6 Mar 2004. Cable News Network. 4 Dec 2005 .

"White House enlisting Hollywood in war on drugs." CNN.com. 11 July 200. Cable News Network. 4 Dec 2005 .