And we’re back for another blog post, with a new film, and a new set of readings. This week we watched Sid and Nancy, the 1986 drama directed by Alex Cox. Before I even go on about the film I want to introduce the most important fact I actually missed until it was pointed out. Sid Vicious is played by Gary Oldman, or rather as I know him, Sirius Black. I grew up living and breathing the Harry Potter franchise: novels, movies, fan-based content. There were no limits. I was severely disappointed in myself when I didn’t even recognize him. There is an 18 year gap between his portrayal of Sid Vicious and Sirius Black, so there is a lot of growth and age, but to learn that fact shocked me to my core, more so than the drug film readings.

This weeks film was a lot darker than I was expecting. I really didn’t know what to expect. Before this cult films course I had never even heard of this film, perhaps because of its heavy drug use and drug influence. Growing up in a sheltered world the entire concept of this film would have been a no-go in my household. A lot of these films we watch are very different to me, but I am very grateful for this new experience and all of the films are so drastically different it’s like I am being driven at high speed through all of the culture I have been missing out on.

This week we read the chapter on”Cult Cinema and Drugs.” I was actually very surprised at how deeply effected cinema was by drug consumption and portrayal. I knew it held a role in the history of just about everything, but I had no idea how much or why until this week. “Drugs have also played a crucial role in many sociological accounts of deviance and subcultures. In various, often youthful, sub-cultural groupings, different drugs have often played important roles as agents of altered conscious-ness that can erect barriers between “us” and “them” (i.e.“straight,” conventional society)” (165). Drugs are the newest way we have learned to differentiate between the “mainstream” society and the “outskirt” society. Most of this film follows the destruction of heroin addicts and ultimately ends in the deaths of both characters, something tragic albeit predictable. Based on how I was raised I took this film as a warning of “don’t do drugs kids,” a very common phrase now. In a completely different society this is a tragic love story that doesn’t actually end horribly, because they’re together in this “after” world. With how significant the role of drugs play in the plot and in society it really made me question the ending. I was happy they ended up “together again” rather than it just being a harsh ending, but does this “happily ever after” take away from an important message on heroine addiction? It was hard to tell. The type of drug they chose for the film is also super important. The fact it was heroine instead of marijuana changes so much. The severe drug choice made me sit back and think, even if that wasn’t the ultimate goal of the film.

And finally, this week we had two amazing film presentations. This week we got to enjoy La Haine and Fight Club. I have not seen the first film, something I plan to change, but the second is one of my all time favorites. I won’t go on, as we both know the most important rule of Fight Club, is we don’t talk about Fight Club.