Post Four

Three films which critique the ideology of the ‘American Dream’ through the use of drugs are Traffic (2000), Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Scarface (1983), with each film covering different ground.

Traffic has the widest scope of the three as it not only examines how drug use and abuse potentially damages the individual and those closest to them, it deals with the difficulties in keeping drugs coming up from South American countries at bay as well as the American Government’s stance and method of keeping them at bay. The explicit message throughout the film is however much America may want to keep illegal drugs out and suppressed, the sheer scale of the number of people and agencies with their conflicting interests makes the war on drugs a near impossible one. Michael Douglas’ character is the man charged with trying to win the war for the American Government, however his own daughter’s escalating problems force him to give up on his dream appointment in the White House to rescue his daughter before it goes too far.

 

Requiem for a Dream is not as firm in its stance as Traffic however. It instead implicitly acknowledges that yes, drug use CAN lead to despair, but that is not always the case. The 4 main characters are in their own ways chasing their own American Dream; either through yearning to appear on television in their favourite dress, setting up a clothing company or by becoming drug dealers. The more the characters chase their dream, the more they plunge into the grips of addiction believing they are in fact getting closer to their dreams. As is the case with Scarface, an implicit message with regards to Ellen Burstyn’s character is the damage that isolation coupled with drug abuse can do to the person, as shown in the following clip.

Untitled from nikita g on Vimeo.

Scarface is the story of Tony Montana, a young Cuban who rapidly ascends the drug ladder; starting as a hired killer until eventually making sufficient connections and power-plays to become Miami’s most powerful drug dealer. 

His infamous mantra, “The World is Yours!” fuels his lust for the things that will eventually destroy him; money, drugs and absolute power. One scene in particular highlights how isolated his cravings have made him. As he sits alone muttering to himself in a circular bath, his wife and best friend having both left after being insulted, the camera rises above him and despite the luxurious surroundings, he is all alone. 

Montana’s drug-fuelled paranoia and egocentrism leads to a bloody and brutal climax as he is gunned down in his own mansion. The world is no longer his, the dream has become a nightmare. Despite the fate of Montana, all things Scarface have been embraced in popular culture with the focus on the rise and not the fall.

Addiction to any kind of drug is likely to do damage. Drugs are not limited to physical forms. Karl Marx once remarked that religion is the opium of the masses, and certain film industry critics have transcribed this meaning to the Hollywood machine. Relentlessly producing films for the consumption of belief that the American Dream is attainable, the idea has hooked in many and so such films as listed highlight the fallacy of this ideology.

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