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Gilliam’s Take on Thompson’s American Dream:
A DVD Analysis of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Criterion Collection
by Drew Morton
Most people have referred to Hunter S. Thompson’s cult classic novel turned Terry Gilliam’s 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as a study of elicit drugs. These shallow observations are only half correct. The true meaning of the Thompson novel and the Gilliam film lies in the opening quotation: "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is not about drugs, it is about how people delt with the transition between the liberal freedoms of the 1960’s to the conservative fascism of the Vietnam 70’s. The San Francisco subculture of drugs that Thompson was absorbed in during his championing of Hell’s Angels, which Tom Wolfe perfectly captured in the experimental prose of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, had faded away. The pastime of drugs had become a coping mechanism for what society, and the American dream, were becoming. This social criticism is what lies at the root of Fear and Loathing.
Thompson had intended on reporting the "accidental killing" of a fellow journalist named Ruben Salazar in what he described as a Faulknerian concept known as "Gonzo Journalism". Thompson describes this, in the accompanying booklet to the re-issued Criterion Collection DVD, as being an objective method of reporting everything in real time. However, tension and paranoia overcame him and he ran off with his main contact for the story, the infamous Chicano attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta, to what he considered a refuge, Las Vegas, where he was to cover a motorcycle race. As evident in the film and the novel, Thompson failed this task miserably and, instead, created Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The film, and the novel, begin with Thompson and Acosta, referred to in both contexts as Dr. Gonzo, on the road between Los Angeles and Vegas, under the influence of numerous drugs. They buzz across the desert landscape, aiming their red convertible for the Sodom of Vegas, chased by the drug induced illusion of bats (quite possibly a metaphor for the ugliness society is becoming). After picking up a hitchhiker (Tobey McGuire), who takes on the role as the film’s audience in this journey, and informing him of their motives for going to Vegas, the audience is buckled into their seats and riding the unrelenting roller coaster of Fear and Loathing.
We follow the duo through their brief coverage of the motorcycle race, drug fueled wanderings through casinos, on their search, as Thompson writes, for the American dream. As this quest may sound, it is nearly impossible to discover the American dream, because, as Thompson observes, not only is it always changing but it is different for each citizen. Thompson’s American dream is to return to the liberal sixties that he inhabited and basking in the glory of absolute freedom. However, as noted earlier, this is impossible in society Thompson encounters in 1971 and he must resort to an increasingly dependent lifestyle revolving around drugs.
Many of the interesting features on the re-issued DVD chronicle the nearly unbridgeable gap that many filmmakers attempted to jump during the ten years that it took to bring the novel to life. While many considered Fear and Loathing to be of the untranslatable caliber of Burrough’s Naked Lunch, however, with the support of Thompson, Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands) and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) Brazil and 12 Monkeys director Terry Gilliam brought it to the screen in 1998 where it became subject to mixed reception. However, it is completely successful in its translation of Thompson’s social criticism to the film medium.
This success comes to the film, without a doubt, by the hands of Gilliam. Not only does he tackle the incredibly complex visuals of the prose and is inspired by Ralph Steadman’s illustrations, but he harnesses the enormously complicated non-linear narrative structure that Thompson constructs. However, Gilliam’s work is not the only talent that is showcased in the film. Depp, who spent a number of weeks living and bonding with Thompson, faithfully brings Thompson’s physical traits and attributes to the screen in one of his finest performances. He took it upon himself to shave his head, mirroring the balding Thompson at the time. These measures become increasingly evident in the supplemental features that Criterion accompanies the disc with; most notably, the conversations between Thompson and Depp, the numerous commentary tracks, and the short documentary on Thompson himself. Depp’s performance is nicely accented by Oscar winner Del Toro’s, who, like Depp, took on the physical burden of gaining forty pounds in order to accurately mimic Acosta. This transformation, like Depp’s, is also seen in the supplemental features.
After four years with only a poorly produced DVD, it is incredibly refreshing to watch Criterion breathe life into yet another publicly discarded film. The selection and production of extremely interesting and entertaining supplemental features as well as the newly remastered audio and video tracks makes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas not only the best edition of the film to own on DVD, but one of the best DVDs ever produced.
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