Loralei Hurlock

Lit & Media Studies

09.28.10

Screenplay Notes

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The major underlying theme in Fear and Loathing is the 'American Dream' so-to-speak, or American Culture. It would be very important to incorporate that theme in this movie, especially American culture of the 1960s, because then you can understand where they are coming from and the setting of the movie. They are determined ultimately to discover the 'American Dream' at all costs. Although, they do it in a very osbcur way. They use pretty much every drug you can think about, all the time, to deter the American Dream, as they're finding it. I know that sounds strange, but their crazy behavior depicts how their generation felt, basically, very restless and involved with the mess of drugs. A line I would could in mind while direction this movie would be “permanent cripples and failed seekers”. They just tend to keep going, even though you would believe they would have died from a freak accident or over dosing.

Also, another obvious theme are drugs. There are almost too many to count that they list, but that is the second largest subject in this screenplay and in the film. In a movie though, although the descriptions in the book of 'bad trips' seem horrible, the movie portrays them as a negative thing, but still a bit appealing. He creates an alternate reality, which is appealing in a movie, yes? It is a lot different reading about drugs intertwined with the story, but the movie looks like you're on something most of the time, which is a major emphasize on hallucinogens.

Another theme of Fear and Loathing I would like to portray in the film is Idealism. He tends to have many points of view, and it's hard to tell what is real and what isn't in this screenplay. I would want to portray the flashbacks, in a way where people could tell it wasn't now or reality, but it wouldn't be an uneasy transition. It's comical, because they mention the American dream, but then they go to Las Vegas, which symbolizes the coarse ugliness of mainstream American culture. Unfortunately, Fear and Loathing didn't get published until 1971, therefore the time had past for innocence and emerging drugs. People wouldn't understand now, they wouldn't be as 'in' to it. Although, many people could remember by watching the film, or reading the book/screenplay, he wanted to glorify the heroes of that time. For example,Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan, Timothy Leary, but it was a bit too late by the time it was published. After reading this screenplay, I feel this movie would have to be uniquely epic. Different from any other movie, even the ones involving drugs. The plot is just so out there and everywhere, that the movie has to be able to follow the plot without losing anyone, but at the same time, the point is to be as much of a crazy mess with a mission as you can possibly be. I also wouldn't change the actors from who they already have been casted, because I think they're perfect.

Cast List:

Raoul Duke - Johnny Depp

Dr Gonzo – Benicio Del Toro

Hitchhiker- Tobey Maguire

Waitress at Cafe – Ellen Barkin

Highway Patrolman – Gary Busey

Lucy – Christina Ricci

Ron Bumquist – Michael Jeter

Lacerda – Craig Bierko

Themes and Motifs:

-American culture

-Heavy Drugs/ Drug Use

-Insanity

-Difference between Illusions & Reality

-Determination mixed with Disillusion

The Morality of Lolita

Loralei Hurlock

Lit & Media Studies

09.21.10

Lolita

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is a novel from 1958 and is only one rendition of the novel. It's about a middle aged man, Humbert Humbert, who has a certain fascination with nymphets, his Lolita, and Dolores, or "Lo". The only reason that this is completely immoral, is due to their ages, usually dealing with mid teens and younger. Nabokov has admitted there's no morality to this novel and I completely agree. Not only can he mentally abuse these children, he can physically abuse them as well. On top of that, it's extremely illegal.

Morality is a choice. Humbert yearned for purity and true nature, something almost inhuman. For the majority, he did not act upon his desires. Only until Dolores came into the picture, did he obsess like so and be sexually driven by this nymph. He even explains his choice for what it's worth, [...] the number of true nymphets is strikingly inferior to that of provisionally plain, or just nice, or "cute," or even "sweet" and "attractive," ordinary girls, plumpish, formless, cold-skinned, essentially human little girls, with tummies and pigtails, who may or may not turn into adults of great beauty[...] (Nabokov p.?) This is completely immoral and he understands that, because he explains how he can manipulate situations and their decisions. [...] Talking fast, lagging behind my own breath, catching up with it, mimicking a sudden toothache to explain the breaks in my patterand all the while keeping a maniac's inner eye on my distant golden goal, I cautiously increased the magic friction that was doing away, in an illusional [...](Nabokov p 59). Society would definitely not approve of this and manipulation has never been encouraged.

Not only would Humberts actions go against the law (which they did), but also physical abuse is a large factor. Humbert is usually very delicate with his muse at the time, or Dolores, and uses a certain way of speech to lure in his 'prey'. [...] Every movement she made in the dappled sun plucked at the most secret and sensitive chord of my abject body. After a while she sat down next to me on the lower step of the back porch and began to pick up the pebbles between her feetpebbles, my God, then a curled bit of milk-bottle glass resembling a snarling lipand chuck them at a can. Ping. (Nabokov p.41). This tactic lures them in, not knowing that it can turn into any kind of abuse. Humbert isn't too violent of a man, except for one situation, with his wife of the time. [...] I demanded her lover's name. I repeated my question; but she kept up a burlesque babble, discoursing on her unhappiness with me and announcing plans for an immediate divorce. "Mais qui est-ce?" I shouted at last, striking her on the knee with my fist; and she, without even wincing, stared at me as if the answer were too simple for words. (Nabokov p.27) Although, this was a woman and not a child, any form of abuse is immoral. Furthermore, along with sexual and physical abuse, emotional abuse can be deteriorating to a child's childhood.

Obviously, if Humbert decided to persist, she would end up being a little different, but in Lolita, I feel her mother, Haze, causes her more emotional abuse than anyone else. Halfway through the book, Haze asked Humbert if he would like to come help her choose a gift for a friend and so they were about to leave and Lo joined, as well. "This is intolerable," began Haze; but Lo had scrambled in, shivering with glee. "Move your bottom, you," said Lo. "Lo!" cried Haze (sideglancing at me, hoping I would throw rude Lo out). "And behold," said Lo (not for the first time), as she jerked back, as I jerked back, as the car leapt forward. "It is intolerable," said Haze, violently getting into second, "that a child should be so ill-mannered. And so very persevering. When she knows she is unwanted. And needs a bath." (Nabokov p.50) This could do a lot of damage to someone emotionally, especially when Haze is supposed to take care of Lo, as her duty as a mother.

Lolita is a tragedy and comedy narrated by Humbert, a smart, good looking man. Humbert is a wonderful spirited person and will do anything to be near his Lola. Although, his suave attitude and offers seem romantic and sweet, it is completely and utterly immoral to do so with Lo, a sweet child. She wouldn't be able to grow up as she was naturally supposed to, both mentally and quite possibly physically. That is a lot of confusion to pour onto a young girl, especially his Lolita.

The Long Goodbye

Loralei Hurlock

Lit & Media Studies
09.13.10
The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler is a mystery novel, with a hint of romance, which is most likely what help me choose this one. Philip Marlowe is a detective, along with being the narrator of this novel. Marlowe is a friendly and straight forward person, who gets caught up in a sticky situation while helping a stranger. He drove his friend Terry Lennox to get away, but little did he know, Lennox was leaving a lot of drama behind for Detective Philip to deal with. This novel was placed in the 1950's and reveals the pros and cons of social stature. At the beginning of this story Marlowe is his own person, a regular Joe, until he is introduced to the social scene, which brought social criticism.

The Long Goodbye begins with Marlow and Lennox not ever known eachother before, until Lennox, a writer with writers block and a drinking habit, stumbles out of the club The Dancers and into Marlowes life. They begin to slowly form a friendship and occasionally go out for drinks, until Lennox randomly shows up at Philip's house to ask him to drive him to the Tijuana Airport. After agreeing, yet stating he does not want to know of anything going on, he gets interogated for being a possible murder suspect of Lennox's wifes death, which was found dead before he fled to Mexico. Finally, they release him, as they allegedly found Lennox's death a successful suicide attempt. After Philip gets released from jail, he is asked to cover a case in which Roger Wade, a very bright writer, has formed a drinking habit and has been missing for three days. Wade's boss and wife have asked Philip to investigate, therefore he did just that and found him at a run down detox facility in the middle of the desert. While investigating, Wade weakly attempted suicide and his wife attempted to seduce Marlowe. A reoccuring theme of Corruption lingers in this book, which is pretty much the underlying theme. As well as, social observation, which occurs throughout the entire novel within little situations. Mrs Wade, an unfaithful and devious woman, gets questioned by Marlowe, until he convinces her to admit she killed Terry Lennox's wife. Even though she tried to blame it on her husband Wade, who manages to succeed in his second attempt of suicide.

I wouldn't have usually chosen a mystery novel, but it was quite fast paced and I agreed with the theme of Corruption, as Chandler knew how to create a clear thought of the cycle of positive people being nice to help others and then usually getting in trouble, put in sticky situations, and/or killed. This novel was definitely dramatized for the film with the purpose that viewers will be able to really get hooked into each troubled scenario, because movies don't explain in detail, as well as the book will. I believe this book also reminds people that even though this book was situated in the 1950's, doesn't mean don't still have the same issues. It's an ongoing theme and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

21st Century Fairytale =]

09.08.10

Loralei Hurlock

Lit and Media Studies

21^st Century Fairy tale

Steiling

You can never be too careful, but should not come to accusations that everyone is out to get you. It is common courtesy to be nice to strangers, as you hope others would treat you the same. But in some cases, like this one, you cannot be too cautious.

In the town of Bradford, where there is little to no crime and most people knew each other, unless you were the new family or couple that moved to town. There is one man in this town, Bruce, who has so many rumors stirring around about him, that he doesn't even know what to make of them anymore. Bruce is a middle aged man, in his 40's, with dark brown hair and green eyes. Taller than most, but a bit round in the belly. He looks like your regular friendly neighbor, but apparently has to be watched very closely. See, there was a young boy in the backseat of his mothers car and she figured she only needed one item, so she would quickly run in. Unfortunately, by the time she was back, her back window had been crammed open and her son was gone. Some say they saw a tall dark man, who resembled Bruce, but how do you prove something when no one else sees it? He has been accused by towns people for over more than half of the kidnappings in Bradford and the town lives in fear for their children at times, rightfully so.

Let me introduce Michael and Emily, they are brother and sister, who moderately get along. She is 10 and he is 8, so they follow the usual pattern of brothers and sisters. They were very close when they were little and gradually began to pick on each other and put that on repeat. Emily would tease him more so than Michael teasing her, because Emilys friends like to pick on him too for no particular reason. But that's just what kids do. One day, their parents asked if they could go to the grocery store and pick up a few items from a list for them. After some moaning and groaning, they finally came to an agreement that they would do this nice thing for their parents, but only as long as Michael doesn't get “annoying” requested Emily. They received money and took the list and were almost on their merry way. “Michael and Emily, if you two separate, we will be more than cross and you two will not be allowed to play video games or use the internet, if we found out you've lied. After promising they would obey their parents rules, they took off for the grocery store, which is about 15 minutes walking distance from their house. “I wish they would just trust us to walk a small distance, I'm a big girl and you're a boy, you can just punch somebody and they're done!” said Emily out of frustration. “I see your point and I agree... but don't you think there's some truth to what they're saying?” Michael questioned. Emily was tad thrown off that she had to defend her point, but she continued, “Mike, if I get into freshman year of high school and they don't trust me, what am I going to do!? Michael sighed and concluded, “ You're being dramatic about this, that's 4 years away. But hey, do you feel like we're being watched?” He had seen the same man walking parallel to them on the other side of the road for the past 5 minutes and thought it was a tad strange. Emily quickly looked over and said, “ Just keep on walking, we have 5-10 minutes left, we'll be fine. Besides, he looks harmless.”

After Michael and Emily retrieved their parents groceries, they exited the grocery store to wait for the cross walk light to turn on. Instead, they found Madison sitting in her car waiting right outside. “Madison?” the kids asked in unison. She was their 30-year-old babysitter from back when they needed one. They adored her, as she adored them. “Hop in the backseat and put your seat belts on, quickly! I'll explain in a moment.” They never doubted Madison, so they fastened their seat belts and waited for an explanation. Madison safely, but assertively drove away, as though something had been going on, yet the children had no clue as to what it was. Madison calmed the children down and began to tell them how their parents asked her for a favor, which was to follow the kids to the store in her vehicle. Only because they were concerned about the man who had gotten a title as child kidnapper/molester. Madison continues to tell them that the man had stalked them for about 10 minutes and was waiting for them to walk back home, until she intervened and drove them home. They both could not believe what they had just heard and how close they came to being kidnapped, when they just thought it was a regular walk to the store. “I'm so angry they didn't trust us.” Emily said, still a bit confused. “Emily, I'm younger than you and I know what they did was good. We could have been in big trouble without Maddy!” argued Mike. Madison agreed and managed to get Emily to see the brighter side of this situation.

They arrived home and Madison explained what had happened to their parents. Emily and Michael ran up to their parents to give them large, grateful hugs for looking out for them. They explained that they weren't trying to bother them, nor get in their business. Furthermore, when they hear something about somebody abducting children randomly, they feel the need to protect their children and to take the extra precautions. Sometimes that's all it takes, is being a little more safe.

Stoner Times