Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Review

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Cody Brown 7/12/11 Moore Critical Essay Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas Movie This savage search for the American Dream during the 1970’s includes feelings of fear, loathing, and desperation while searching throughout their tour through Vegas. The main characters are actually alter egos of Hunter S. Thompson, and his life long friend/attorney Oscar Acosta. Raoul Duke, a journalist writing for Sports Illustrated and his attorney Dr. Gonzo are supposed to be covering the Mint 400, a famous annual race in the desert of Las Vegas, but instead write about their misadventures and pushing themselves to the limit while chasing the American Dream. The film was based off the novel by Hunter S. Thompson as well as his real life experiences, and is captured the same way in the film by taking the audience inside Raoul’s own head as the story unfolds. This movie points out the connection to Thompson’s biography and of his work, and how they are seemingly the same. The way that H. S. Thompson wrote was portrayed in the Narrative form in Raoul’s mind throughout was done as if it were being read. This provided personality to the work by allowing more than just actions speak for themselves, Thompson explained in an interview with Rolling Stones Magazine that Duke is a mess from the drugs taking their course in his body and he begins to hallucinate bats, swatting at them and taking cover from their attacks (Nash, Fear and Loathing). The author goes into detail in the movie of what sort of situation he’s dealing with in a I don’t care who knows it sort of manner, “we picked up everything we could get our hands on. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.” (Duke 1stscene ‘Bat Country’) Extreme paranoia comes into the picture and is spotlighted as they pick up the oakie

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