Throughout Easy Rider, Captain America and Billy constantly use drugs. The pair of Captain America and Billy is cool, but I believe that their drug use has little to do with their coolness. Furthermore, their use of LSD near the end of the film definitely detracts from their coolness. When they enter their acid trip, Captain America and Billy become completely imprisoned in a world of hallucinations which, instead of freeing their minds, strips them of their American freedom. Because their coolness originates from this freedom, and because acid causes their freedom to fade, LSD is definitely not cool.
Drug use for anyone is not cool. In most stories, any character that uses drugs is portrayed with a shade of uncoolness because of their drug use. For example, Dr. House in the television show House is horribly addicted to vicodin, a prescription painkiller. Even though he has the opportunity to take physical therapy in order to mitigate his pain and perhaps even back off of the vicodin, he is too attached to his drug to leave it. This ultimately leads to a lessening of House's coolness when he is brought before a trial for his drug use. During this trial, his friends are forced to risk their careers in order to falsely clear his name. The amount of pain that his addiction causes for his friends leads to a lessening of his coolness. If he had instead went through rehab and suffered through attaining a drug-free life, he would have been a much cooler person as a result.
A unique case where drug use is portrayed as cool is the movie Drunken Master. In this film, an old drunkard is a kung fu master who relies on being constantly being drunk in order to perform amazing martial arts feats. Throughout the film, he trains a young Jackie Chan into taking his place as a new drunken master. Eventually, the student slips into alcoholism, and combined with rigorous training, he surpasses his master in the art of fighting. However, even though the old drunken master and Jackie Chan are both require alcohol to fight, their coolness is a result of their fighting skills. Even though their alcoholism is cool, it is only a small shard of their overall coolness. However, in most cases, drug use of any kind is not cool. Drugs only separate people from the true coolness that lies at the heart of their personalities.
This is a good argument for why drugs are uncool, but if it were that easy then why does the counterculture in all its coolness like drugs so much?
ReplyDeleteI agree that drug addiction is definately not cool, but is there a difference between addiction and recreational drug use? Is recreational drug use cool?
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