Fear and Loathing is overrated

whoa i know EXACTLY what you mean....its like this world has completely lost meaning in love for life and just people...i mean...when i hear this and all the knowlege i have about that time...its almost like i live there in my head but the world around me is all wrong..no purpose..just living day to day in solitude with no change...i cant imaging having an entire generation in love with each other...its something ill never know and something ill allways have depression about. i suggest listening to the fear and loathing soundtrack to the movie and listen to the youngbloods - lets get together and listen to his quote from the film. he says basically the same thing u said but it just flows into the song so beautifully. and if reading that quote made u cry...hearing it will really really hit you. especially after he finishes and the song starts...man...its almost like you can see the "wave" of love for life pushing and pushing but sure enough breaks into chaos and pulls back into conservatism and slavery....its depressing...

 

well umm....Fear n Loathing is my absolute favorite movie and book along with a few other great books. HST is a great writer.

 

Heh, I'm not that against it, but I still didn't like it. I watched the movie first, because everyone told me it was so amazing, and I couldn't stand it. I read the book, and found that it was the exact same as the movie. I don't see why it's supposed to be so great... Maybe I'm just missing something.

 

well yea the book is the same as the movie......the book came before the movie. it wa sout in '71.

 

Yeah, but usually when I watch a movie then read the book, I find that the book is much more fulfilling. With Fear and Loathing, I found that the two were exactly the same. It was rather disappointing.

 

im just curious...have those of you who dont like the book ever eatin much psychedelics? i only ask because i think a part of what makes it entertaining for me is understanding and being able to relate to the non-scence and off the wall mind frame hunter was locked into when writing that book. but of course there is much more to the book than just that. its a classic.

its cool also because its a true story, with real characters...hunter met his attorney while covering a story about the assasination of rubin salizar in east LA. crazy times those days must have been, with all kinds of tension in the air.

 

Yea actually, to really understand that movie, you have to be on some drug. Took me a few times to figure it out, but i still love it.

 

wow...this post came back from the dead. anyways...archemetis...umm...fear and loathing in las vegas is not a true story dude...

 

it is...but arguing is kinda pointless. hunter is a journalist and as such records his expiriences. the names in the book were changed for whatever reason, his attorneys real name was Oscar Zeta Acosta, an LA Chicano lawer during the whole Mexican American rights movement that insued after the assasination of Rubin Salazar...

a bit on that..."On that date in 1970, Salazar, popular news director for KMEX Spanish-language TV and Los Angeles Times columnist, was shot through the head by a 10-inch tear-gas projectile fired into the Silver Dollar Cafe by county sheriffs who had followed him after his TV crew filmed their police riot against 20,000 demonstrators at the Chicano Anti-War Moratorium earlier. Salazar died instantly. There was what might be called an investigation, and a hearing. No charges were filed against the officers responsible. Oscar Zeta Acosta (also known as the "Brown Buffalo," an activist Chicano defense attorney whom Hunter Thompson once described as arriving at court, soap scum on his boots and smelling of gasoline, to defend clients accused of fire-bombing) "accused authorities of criminal conspiracy to commit political assassination (and) ... was forcibly ejected from the hearing room" (p. 5). Twenty-two California State legislators, presumably more credible critics, called for a Justice Department investigation; it was refused. Danny Villanueva, then KMEX station manager agreed: "If it wasn't a conspiracy, then it is an incredible set of circumstances."

early in 1971 Hunter was sent to cover the story which is where he met Oscar Zeta Acosta and they became good friends.


heres a link to a very brief biography of hunter...http://www.geocities.com/zardoz_420/HST.html

"April 1971- Hunter and Oscar travel to the city of sin. Hunter and Oscar Zeta Acosta, an LA Chicano lawyer, travel to Las Vegas together to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated. They later return to witness a law enforcement narcotics conference for Rolling Stone. Their adventures are chronicled in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas."

 

fear and loathing has a lot of good ideas in it, hunter s thompson talks a lot about the futility of the american dream, its just that most people take it as they see it, as a mad drug movie. i've heard so many people say 'oh have you seen fear and loathing? you have to watch it when you're tripping!!!' i watched it on pills once and i managed about 2 minutes of it before i ran out of the room to do something else lol. he talks about the hypocritical nature of america, it's just that because he writes from a drug standpoint a lot of people completely miss the message.

btw, absolutely love that right kind of eyes quote, i can almost smell the nostalgia in that bit

 

dude...it isn't a true story. it's fiction. the characters were based on real people, yes, but fear and loathing in las vegas is fiction.

 

...so your saying, the books charachters were real people, hunter and oscar did infact go to vegas to cover the mint 400 motorcycle race, then back again to cover the cop convension for rolling stone magazine. but the book is fiction? thats exactly what happened in the book. and if you dont think hunter led an intence lifestyle of massive drug consumption, you are wrong. sure there are some parts that probably never happend, like the chimp dressed in the kkk outfit in the casino. but thats hunters unique way of interpreting the events with a head full of mescaline. its a true story...iv back up my statement with history and links and all you offer is your statement that it is fiction.

you know johny depp hung out with hunter for months before shooting that film...studying hunter to get the character down, because the movie is about a time in hunters life. hunter even cut depps hair to make it more accuratly portray him.

"I didn't know Johnny Depp could act until he played me," said Thompson, 66, during a telephone interview from his home in Woody Creek, Colorado.

 

dude...you wrote one sentence. the book is like 180 pages. let me explain to you how fiction works...the writer uses himself as a main character...he takes other people from his life and uses them as a basis for other characters...he takes events that may have happened to him in his life and then exaggerates the shit out of them, inserting bizarre, imaginary scenarios (ex: fear and loathing in las vegas). what you are using is your imagination...that's when you pretend that the book you are reading has actually taken place somewhere, word for word. it's okay to do that. sure...it makes the book more interesting, but use some common sense--do you really think that the book is an honest account of what happened?

 

fear and loathing cant really be labelled as fiction... admitedly its a bit exaggerated, but thats because its, well, an interpretation (lol)
it is in fact based on a true story, and thats essentially whats so funny about it... i mean, you obviously wouldnt expect hunter to have remembered everything clearly because his perception of reality at the time was rather subjective
and also its not just about being a silly autobiographical tale... i think its more of a social commentary on the decline of the 60s, and how the "drug culture" just turned out to be "a bunch of permanent cripples and failed seekers, who thought they could buy peace and understanding for 3 bucks a hit", which is essentially the truth no matter how much some people would like to deny it
thats not to say that im denouncing drug use, but its just a more logical and honest way of looking at it
and hunter thompsons honesty is what makes fear and loathing so ironic and funny

 

im done arguing...the events did happen, maybe not exactly as the book but i would hardly call it fiction.

 

That's some damn good ramblin' there hmchick and well worth it's own thread. Spoken like a true Aquarian~

Spread the word little sister. There's always time to open some more minds.
-----
HTS has been living and documenting the American Dream all along. After all, this is supposed to be "the land of the free", right?
Get creative people... and think for yourselves once in a while. Know when to take something for face value and know when to look for a deeper message. A good book can can offer both. Context, perception, opinion... use whatever works for you.

Has our nation has become a majority of mindless drones. Can we thank todays media, corporations and the all powerful religious sectors for the current status of American society. Big Brother is using a combination of all three to remove the line between Church and State as the masses sit around playing Nintendo and watching "Reality" TV.
Look at the election results. Talk about GONZO! I personally Fear and Loathe these troubled times we're living in. Thankfully there are free speech forums like this to express our thoughts.

Now I'm rambling too, so-o-o-o... that's all I have to say about that. M'kay?

 

well whatever. Hunter S. Thompson is dead.

long live Hunter S. Thompson.

 

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BE9436B20-E2DD-4EF4-B10E-BEE9E5DACDD0%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
goddamn... i wonder why he shot himself last night?
i think he would have liked to live long enough to see george bush dethroned...
maybe he was just having a really bad trip or something lol

 

Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac -- They all sucked (with the exception of “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest”). Most of their stuff is pointless and boring. Why would anyone want to read about some one else getting wasted? I put their stuff in the same category as “Pumping Iron” with Arnold.

 

HST's writing style was what made it all so good. Fear n loathing was a true story and the book was awesome. the rum diary was a good book too. IM hoping to read Hell's Angles. IN fact, all of hunter Thompson's books are non fiction. he did most of it. Including the hells angles one where he was with them for like a year.