The cinematic depiction of drug addiction: A

semiotic account

ELIZABETH C. HIRSCHMAN

Introduction

The present inquiry examines the depiction of drug addiction in American

films.1 The possibility and utility of undertaking such an inquiry was
guided by two recent developments: one in consumer research and
the other in sociology. As consumer researchers (see Holbrook and
O'Shaughnessy 1988) have argued, our semiotic knowledge base would
be greatly expanded by including a larger variety of cultural texts among
our investigative data. To this end, researchers have responded by examin-
ing consumer behavior as manifested in texts such as product labels
(Sherry and Camargo 1987), plays (Holbrook, Bell and Grayson 1989),
television shows (Hirschman 1988), magazines, novels and autobiogra-
phies (Hirschman 1990), advertisements (Stern 1989, 1991a; Scott 1990),
artworks (Holbrook 1988) and motion pictures (Holbrook and Grayson
1986). The majority of the research conducted on such cultural texts by
consumer researchers has utilized a structural (Levy 1981, Levi-Strauss
1978), critical theory (Murray and Ozanne 1991), or literary criticism
(Stern 1989; Scott 1990) framework for analysis.
This trend in consumer research has been duplicated within sociology
by researchers informed by the perspectives of Barthes (1974, 1975),
Baudrillard (1981, 1983), Derrida (1981, 1987), and Lyotard (1984).
These researchers have also explored how media of popular culture such
as novels (Agger 1992), television programming (Kellner 1981;
Gottdeiner 1985; Miller 1988), motion pictures (Denzin 1991a, b; Luke
1989) and advertisements (Leiss, Kline and Jhally 1986; Wernick 1983;
Williamson 1978) may be interpreted as vehicles for encoding and com-
municating cultural ideology.
In particular the recent work of Denzin (199la) is germane to the
present inquiry. In a groundbreaking effort, Denzin examined a set of
thirty-seven American motion pictures produced over a time period
extending from 1912 to 1989. These films were those he judged to be

Semiotica 104-1/2 (1995), 119-164 0037-1998/95/0104-0101

© Walter de Gruyter
120 E. C. Hirschman

outstanding exemplars of the alcoholic film genre which he defines as a

'movie in which inebriety, alcoholism, and excessive drinking of one or
more of the major characters is presented as a problem which the charac-
ter, his or her friends, family, and employers, and other members of
society self-consciously struggle to resolve' (Denzin 199la: 3). Denzin's
analysis drew upon his own previous inquiries into alcoholism within the
general population (1987a, b, c), and focused largely upon the ideological
messages communicated by this body of films, for example the evolving
roles of men and women, the eifects of alcoholism on family structure,
and the embeddedness of critics' appraisals of the films in contempor-
aneous social norms.
While following the spirit of Denzin's work, the present effort differs
from it in three respects. First, it is a more modest effort. While Denzin
examined almost forty films covering an eighty-year time span, the present
study uses twelve motion pictures released over a thirty-five year period:
1955-1990. Second, whereas Denzin's focal form of compulsive-addictive
consumption was alcoholism, the present inquiry concerns itself primarily
with drug addiction.2 In particular, I shall examine films dealing with
heroin and cocaine addiction, marijuana use, and multi-drug dependency.
Third, whereas Denzin's interpretive approach was grounded in sociologi-
cal theory, the present inquiry draws upon current consumer research
knowledge of addictive behaviors and semiotically-grounded notions of
symbolic consumption.
As noted earlier, researchers have recently begun to delve into the
'dark side' of consumer behavior, including the various manifestations
of addictive consumption (Faber et al. 1987; Hirschman 1991, 1992a, b;
Hoch and Lowenstein 1991; O'Guinn and Faber 1989; Rook 1987; Rook
and Hoch 1985). Among the generalizations that may be gleaned from
these studies are the following: (1) Addictive behaviors are often mani-
fested in multiple forms in the consumer's life, both concurrently and over
time, for example, a consumer may simultaneously be a compulsive
gambler, smoker, and alcoholic. (2) Addictive behaviors often are used
as a type of self-medication by the consumer to assist in stress manage-
ment, anxiety reduction, and to exert control over his/her emotional and
mental experiences. (3) Consumers who exhibit addictive behaviors fre-
quently originate in families they view as dysfunctional due to drug or
alcohol abuse by parents, physical or emotional abuse, and/or conditional
love. (4) Consumers who engage in addictive behaviors often attempt
to establish boundaries to control their reliance on those behaviors.
(5) Addictive consumers may resort to crime and/or the deception of other
people in order to disguise their behaviors. (6) They may make several
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 121

attempts to halt their addictive consumption, only to ultimately relapse

into active use, and (7) these consumers may contemplate or commit
suicide as a way of escaping/controlling their self-destructive addictive
behaviors (Hirschman 1992b).

Method and objectives

The films used for the study are listed in Table 1, together with their
release dates and the forms of addiction they depict. Following Denzin,
we selected films that possess one or more of the following features:
(1) they are viewed as classics, (2) they are viewed as significant by other
researchers and/or critics, (3) they reflect the evolving cultural representa-
tion of drug addiction and (4) they were commercially successful at the
box office and/or as video rentals. Also, consistent with Denzin (1991b:
11), I selected films which portrayed the presence (or absence) of formal
therapy or support groups (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics
Anonymous) in treating drug addiction.
In congruence with the researchers previously cited (e.g., Holbrook
and O'Shaughnessy 1988; Scott 1990; Stern 1989), each film was treated
as a cultural text that encoded and communicated cultural values regard-
ing drug addiction (see also Hall 1980). Each film was viewed multiple
times, and a scene-by-scene synopsis was constructed of its content. In
particular, semic (Barthes 1975) or representational (see Fiske 1987: 5)
codes apparent in the text were noted, as well as a record of syntactical
(see Greimas 1987) events. These codes are the means by which any

Table 1. Drug addiction in American cinema 1955-1990

Title Release Date Form of Addiction Depicted

Man with the Golden Arm 1955 heroin, alcohol

Days of Wine and Roses 1962 alcohol, cigarettes
Easy Rider 1969 cocaine, marijuana, alcohol
Trash 1970 heroin
The Rose 1979 alcohol, heroin
Sid and Nancy 1986 heroin, alcohol
Scarface 1987 cocaine, alcohol, heroin
Less Than Zero 1987 cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes
Bright Lights, Big City 1988 cocaine, alcohol
Clean and Sober 1988 cocaine, alcohol
Drugstore Cowboy 1989 dilaudid, speed, morphine
Postcards from the Edge 1990 Cocaine, alcohol, tranquilizers
122 E. C. Hirschman

narrative, e.g., a motion picture, a novel, conveys to the reader/viewer a

sense of realism. As Fiske observes:
A code is a rule-governed system of signs, whose rules and conventions are shared
amongst members of a culture, and which is used to generate and circulate
meanings in and for that culture... Codes are links between producers, texts, and
audiences... People's appearance in 'real life' is already encoded: in so far as we
make sense of people by their appearance, we do so according to the conventional
codes of our culture. The casting director is merely using these codes more
consciously and conventionally, which means more stereo typically. (1987: 4)
Thus, the extent to which we experience a text as real is dependent upon
the degree to which 'the text displays fidelity to the representational
discourse present and recognized in society' (Fiske 1987: 21). Or as Eco
(1979: 206) has argued, Ά movie is a text. As such it is governed by
textual rules. It carries pre-existing codes'.
Three conscious objectives guided the interpretation of each film. The
first was to identify the underlying consumption ideology (see Wolff 1981)
of the text; in particular, I was concerned with how the addict was
portrayed as a consumer. I also was sensitive to the depiction of appro-
priate social responses to addictive behavior. For example, how did
friends, family, and employers respond to the addicted consumer's condi-
tion? Were they condemning, pitying, supportive, critical? Did they sug-
gest treatment for the addict, encourage the addict to use willpower to
abandon drugs, or view the addict's behavior as acceptable and normal?
The responses depicted by the films to these issues are socially significant,
because such cultural media may be viewed as instructive narratives by
their audiences. In other words, consumers may learn what they believe
to be appropriate responses to addiction by watching motion pictures
and television programs. Films also are ideologically powerful means for
influencing public opinion regarding social issues such as addiction (see
Denzin 1991a; O'Guinn and Faber 1989), and may therefore influence
public levels of support for treatment programs and/or criminal sanctions
for addicted consumers.
The second objective was to render a semiotically-detailed interpretation
of the films' meaning from a symbolic consumption perspective. For
example, how was each character's social status, personality, and lifestyle
represented through such products as apparel, home furnishings, residen-
tial type, automobiles, food preferences, and so forth? Gaining knowledge
of how addicts and their associates are portrayed in films as consumers
can enhance our understanding of how society views them as people', that
is, people are culturally labelled according to the constellation of goods
(McCracken 1989, Solomon and Assael 1987) with which they surround
themselves, for example, businessman, housewife, yuppie, hippie. Thus,
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 123

the portrayal of an addicted consumer as a business executive versus a

hippie will influence the cultural meanings assigned to addiction and the
social responses to it.
The third objective was to compare the etiology and phenomenology
of drug addiction as depicted in the films with the seven generalizations
about addictive consumption (Hirschman 1992b) stated earlier, i.e.: (1) the
presence of concurrent and or serial addictions, (2) the use of a drug as
self-medication to escape or control anxiety or stress, (3) the origin of
the addict in a dysfunctional family, (4) the attempt to establish bound-
aries around the addictive behavior, (5) the incidence of crime and/or
deception to hide the addiction from others (6) the tendency to relapse
after abandoning use of the drug, and (7) the contemplation or commis-
sion of suicide as a way of escaping or ending the addiction.

Interpreting the addiction film

The present interpretations are assisted by two significant insights result-

ing from Denzin's (1991b) analysis of alcoholism films. The first is the
discovery by Denzin that the alcoholic protagonist's moral career is
typically presented as falling into three phases that correspond to the
classic morality tale in Western Civilization: seduction, the fall from
grace, and then redemption. 'Alcohol is the catalyst that moves the
alcoholic through these three phases, although nearly all [alcoholism]
films start with the fall from grace... Entry into recovery typically occurs
in a "vital scene of recognition" where the alternative between continued
self destruction and recovery is dramatically clarified' (Denzin 1991a:
42). As I shall demonstrate, several drug addiction films also portray this
pattern and communicate similar 'turning points' in the addicted consum-
er's behavior.
The second is the identification of a canonical or archetypal film, which
served to culturally define the alcoholism film as a genre and came to be
used as a template for evaluating other examples of the genre. For Denzin,
this film was The Lost Weekend (1945), a motion picture which proved
to be so powerful in its representational discourse that it 'has maintained
its canonical status for nearly fifty years' (Denzin 199la: 49).

The Lost Weekend: Archetype of addiction

Although it would not be appropriate to present a detailed interpretation

of The Lost Weekend here,3 for the purposes of the present paper the
following facts are relevant in establishing its role as a guidepost or semic
icon for later films on drug addiction.4 First, the protagonist of The Lost
124 E. C. Hirschman

Weekend, Don Birnam, is portrayed as a writer with a once-promising

career, whose anxiety and stress over not being able to fulfill his potential
lead him to alcoholism. Through Don's attire (business suit and tie),
musical preferences (the opera), and courteous, articulate manner we
semiotically 'read' him as a talented, intelligent (i.e., good) man who has
gone bad due to his drinking. His girlfriend and brother represent oppos-
ing ways of dealing with Don's addiction. The girlfriend attempts to
encourage and nurture him; while his brother, although caring, believes
Don must rely upon willpower to overcome his addiction.
Of significance for our subsequent analyses is the fact that The Lost
Weekend displays several of the seven markers characteristic of drug
addiction: (1) Don is not only an alcoholic, he also has a concurrent
addiction to cigarettes; ultimately, at the narrative's conclusion, he sticks
a freshly-lit cigarette into a full glass of whiskey, signalling his abandon-
ment of both. (2) Don uses alcohol (and cigarettes) as a form of self-
medication to alleviate his despair and anxiety over his troubled writing
career. (3) Don does attempt, albeit unsuccessfully, to demarcate his
drinking from other aspects of his life. In one scene he attends an opera.
At first he is sober and composed; however, a drinking scene in the opera
creates an irresistible impulse in Don and he leaves abruptly to fetch his
whiskey flask from his coat. (4) Don engages in several acts of crime
and deception to obtain alcohol over the course of The Lost Weekend.
In various scenes he steals money left for the cleaning woman, steals a
woman's purse, steals a bottle of whiskey from a liquor store and lies to
his fiancee and brother about his drinking. (5) Don relapses several times
during the narrative; the most serious occurs after he escapes from the
alcoholic ward of a hospital. (6) Ultimately, Don attempts to kill himself;
he steals his fiancee's fur coat and pawns it to purchase a gun with the
intention of committing suicide.
Thus, the only compulsive consumption marker not portrayed in The
Lost Weekend is that of a dysfunctional family background.5 This is
significant for, as described before, this film is viewed as a strong exemplar
of the alcoholism film genre, whereas the markers described originated
from qualitative research studies conducted on compulsive shoppers and
drug addicts. This suggests that these markers may be representative of
our cultural understanding (and discourse) regarding addictive consump-
tion, generally, and are not confined to specific manifestations of this
type of consumption.

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

The first film on drug addiction released during the time period chosen
for the present study was The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). This
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 125

film was released a decade after the archetypal The Lost Weekend. It is
a significant film in several respects. First, it featured a prestigious cast
(i.e., Frank Sinatra in the central role, Kim Novak as his supportive
friend, Molly, and Eleanor Parker as his clinging wife, Zash) and a well-
known director (Otto Preminger), which insured its commercial success.
Second, it was the first American motion picture to deal directly and
explicitly with heroin addiction, which was then coming to public attention
as a social problem (see Ray 1961). A brief synopsis is given below:

Franky Machine (Frank Sinatra) returns to a rundown area of the city, after
being released from a drug rehabilitation program where he was treated for
heroin addiction. While an addict, Franky had worked as a card dealer at an
illegal gambling club run by a man called Shrevka. Franky is married to, but
does not love, a woman named Zash (Eleanor Parker). Zash tricked Franky into
marrying her by pretending to be crippled in a car wreck he was responsible for.
Franky's responsibilities to Zash have prevented him from marrying Molly (Kim
Novak), a supportive, kind woman who works as a hostess at a nightclub. Molly's
current boyfriend is an alcoholic named Johnny.
While in rehabilitation, Franky learned to play the drums. Now 'clean' from
drugs, he plans to work as a drummer and quit his former life as a card dealer
and drug addict. But Zash is threatened by Ms reformed life style and begins to
undermine his new career. Molly, by contrast, encourages Franky's ambitions
and builds up his confidence. Though their relationship is platonic, she provides
Franky with a place to practice and encourages him to get an audition.
Franky, having returned to the 'people, places and things' that supported his
addiction in the past, becomes discouraged and obtains an injection of heroin
from Louie. Zash's continued discouragement leads him to steal their grocery
money and purchase another hit of heroin. Franky meets Louie and Shrevka at
a local bar where they promise to pay him $250 for dealing in an upcoming
game. Franky agrees and then is enticed by Louie to take more heroin. Franky
goes to Molly's club where he drinks whiskey. Molly inquires why he has stopped
practicing the drums, notices his constricted eyes, realizes he has returned to
heroin use, and runs off. Franky gets another fix from Louie.
Franky deals very successfully at the club, but is not paid by Shrevka. He
begins to suffer drug withdrawal and begs Louie for a fix. Louie demands he
keep dealing (the house is now losing) and cheat to win. Franky's deception is
discovered and he is beaten up by a gambler. Exhausted and desperate, Franky
hits Louie when Louie refuses him drugs. Franky arrives for his drum audition
haggard and shaking. His performance is a failure. Louie, angry, comes to
Franky's apartment, discovers Zash walking (she had faked her injuries) and
threatens to expose her. Zash kills him, leading the police to believe Franky was
the murderer.
Franky goes to see Molly to get money for heroin. Molly pleads with him to
get clean; Franky agrees and, with her support, undergoes an agonizing with-
drawal at her apartment. Afterwards, he goes to see Zash to tell her he is leaving
126 E. C. Hirschman

her, but will continue to provide financial support. Zash, stunned, runs after him.
The police, (who had come to arrest Franky) see her walking and realize she is
the murderer. Zash jumps off the balcony to her death. Franky and Molly walk
away together.

Let us examine The Man with the Golden Arm from the three perspec-
tives suggested earlier: (1) the presentation of the addicted consumer's
behavior and the responses of his/her associates, (2) the semiotic devices
used to represent the addicted consumer's lifestyle and (3) the presence/
absence of addictive markers in the narrative.
As with Don Birnam, Franky Machine is presented to us as a 'good
man gone bad'. Franky's essential goodness is indicated by his sense of
obligation to and support of Zash, whom he believes he has crippled,
despite his true love for Molly. This suggests that Franky places his
responsibilities above his emotions. Further, we later learn that Franky
has always been a 'clean' card dealer, using bluff — not deceit — to win
at gambling. Because of this presentation of Franky's character, the
viewer comes to see him as an unwilling victim of his drug addiction;
one who has been used, tricked, and manipulated by Louie, Zash, and
Shrevka for their own selfish ends.
Molly is presented to us in much the same fashion as Don Birnam's
fiancee in The Lost Weekend. She is a supportive, nurturant woman who
very much wants to help Franky succeed (even though she believes they
can never be together due to his marriage) and who challenges him to
quit his drug use. In fact, in both films, these women dare the addict to
'go ahead and commit suicide — you're just killing yourself with drugs/
alcohol anyway'. This dare causes both of the protagonists to re-evaluate
the self-destructive aspects of their addictions. Thus, the viewer is taught
to have sympathy for the well-intentioned — but misguided — addict,
who is shown to be capable of abandoning his addiction once he is given
love and support.
There are several striking semiotic aspects of The Man with the Golden
Arm that bear discussion. First, the title is actually a triple entendre,
signifying the three social statuses/roles held by Franky. Two of the
'golden arms' are evil and corruptive for him: the criminal golden arm
that he uses to win for Shrevka at illegal gambling, and the addicted
golden arm into which he pays Louie to shoot heroin. In both these
roles, Franky — as a machine — is being used by others. The third
golden arm is Franky's gift for drumming that is ultimately his salvation.
It is significant to note that this 'arm' was given to him in the drug
rehabilitation program and serves to symbolize the value of the program
in the reconstruction of his life.
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 127

Franky's world is given to the viewer as one of the underbelly of

society; the sets consist of rundown bars, nightclubs, and cheap
apartments. Franky is usually dressed in cheap, casual clothes. In con-
trast, affluence is associated with illegality — Louie and Shrevka both
wear suits, and Louie, in particular, is made to appear evil with a dark
mustache and pomaded hair. Yet even in this seamy underworld there is
sincerity and generosity in the form of Molly.
The Man with the Golden Arm displays several of the markers associated
with addictive consumption: (1) Although the primary focus of the
narrative is on Franky's heroin addiction, he displays strong dependencies
on liquor and cigarettes as well. (2) Franky is depicted as using heroin
directly in response to the stress and emotional conflicts he experiences
over Zash and Molly, and his careers in gambling and drumming. Later,
his heroin addiction is also attributed to the pain suffered from with-
drawal. (3) Initially, Franky attempts to place a boundary on his use of
heroin by hiding it from Molly; however, once she detects it, he openly
acknowledges his need for the drug. (4) As noted above, Franky
attempted to deceive Molly into believing he was still 'clean'; he also
stole grocery money from Zash and rifled through Molly's purse in efforts
to obtain money for drugs. His craving for heroin also caused him to
cheat at card dealing. (5) Franky relapsed into drug use only days after
leaving the rehabilitation program. The film suggests — in keeping with
N.A./A.A. — that this was due to his return to the familiar people,
emotional conflicts, and career pressures that initiated his drug use.
(6) Franky, unlike Don Birnam, does not overtly attempt suicide; how-
ever, he does warn Molly that 'junkies sometimes kill themselves...' and
asks her to kill him during his agonizing withdrawal.
This film, as in The Lost Weekend, provides us with virtually no
information on Franky's family background. However, as has been
shown, its ideology is largely consistent with that of the alcoholism film
genre and current theorization on addictive behavior in consumer
research.

The Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Perhaps second only to The Lost Weekend as an iconic film of alcoholism,

The Days of Wine and Roses also featured a prominent cast (Jack
Lemmon, Lee Remick, Jack Klugman) and famous director (Blake
Edwards). Released in 1962, the film was a huge commercial success and
received five academy award nominations.6 The film is significant for our
128 E. C. Hirschman

present purposes because of its treatment of female alcoholism and pat-

terns of familial addiction.

Synopsis. Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) is a public relations man frustrated with the
unseemly demands of his job (e.g, pimping for clients). On one excursion he
encounters the pretty secretary of his client; she is Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick).
Kirsten at first rebuffs Joe's advances, but finally they have dinner together, and
Joe introduces her to liquor. Joe drinks heavily at dinner and also carries a
whiskey flask.
Joe and Kirsten date and marry. When they tell her father, a widower who
runs a tree nursery, he rejects them. To console themselves, Kirsten and Joe go
have a drink.
The couple now live in an attractive apartment with their baby, Debby. Joe
continues to drink heavily with his clients. Kirsten disapproves. They argue. Joe
demands that Kirsten drink with him and not breastfeed the baby. Kirsten does
so. Joe is reassigned to a lesser account due to his drinking. Kirsten has become
a regular daytime drinker who smokes cigarettes, watches T.V. and ignores her
child. Joe is fired from his job for drinking, and Kirsten accidentally sets their
apartment on fire while drunk.
They now live in a shabby apartment. One day Joe sees his reflection in a bar
window and is shocked at his deterioration. He tells Kirsten they are both
alcoholics and must become sober. The family moves to the Arnesen nursery.
For two months they remain sober and work productively. Then Joe sneaks some
liquor into their bedroom. They become drunk. Joe goes to the greenhouse to
fetch a hidden bottle, destroys several plants trying to locate it, and then gulps
it down like a baby.
Joe is placed in a sanitarium where he is introduced to A.A. by Jim (Jack
Klugman). Joe begins attending A.A. meetings, but Kirsten refuses. One day
Kirsten gets drunk and runs away to a motel with another alcoholic. When Joe
goes to get her, Kirsten taunts him. Joe gives her cigarettes, then pours himself
a drink. They both get drunk. Joe breaks into a liquor store, collapses and is
taken to a mental hospital. Jim comes to get him and warns him he must stay
away from Kirsten.
Joe recovers and takes $500 to Kirsten's father to repay money he had bor-
rowed. Kirsten's father tells Joe that Kirsten has run away with another 'alco-
holic bum'.
Kirsten comes to see Joe in his and Debby's modest apartment. She wants to
move back in with him, but is unwilling to abandon drinking, even for her
husband and child. She leaves, walking past a bar, but does not go in. Debby
awakens and asks: 'When is mommy coming home?' Joe tells her that Kirsten is
sick and must get well before she can come home.

As Denzin comments (199la), The Days of Wine and Roses is a film

that very much embodies the A.A./N.A. disease theory of alcoholism/
addiction. In several passages in the film, Jim instructs Joe that some
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 129

people have an allergy or weakness for alcohol and are unable to control
their consumption of it. These people are alcoholics and must abstain
totally from alcohol in order to maintain their sobriety. The appropriate
treatment for alcoholism is depicted in the film as medical intervention
(i.e., hospitalization) followed by continuing membership in an A.A.
support group. Joe, after a serious relapse, follows this prescription and
is depicted as regaining control over his life and career, as well as
functioning successfully as a father. Kirsten, by contrast, is depicted as
attempting to rely on willpower, failing, and being unable to abandon
drinking. She is portrayed as being unable to function as a wife and
mother.
The semiotics of the film depict Joe and Kirsten at the outset as
successful young career people. Kirsten is an attractive, well-groomed
executive secretary; Joe is a handsome, nicely-attired businessman. By
the midpoint of the story, they are physically degraded, live in a rundown
apartment, dress sloppily and are both unemployed. At the film's conclu-
sion, Joe has regained his physical health and dresses modestly; the film
implies he is now employed, albeit at a lower status job than at the
outset. Kirsten's continued alcoholism, however, has left her haggard
and wasted in appearance. While Joe and Debby reside in an inexpensive,
but well-kept apartment, Kirsten (it is implied) still dwells in motels with
'alcoholic bums'.
This film incorporates approximately half of the addictive markers
under study. First, Joe displays concurrent dependencies on alcohol and
cigarettes, (although, as in the earlier films, only his alcoholism is treated
as a 'problem' — indeed, the A.A. spokesman offers him a cigarette!).
Second, Joe is shown using alcohol to escape the feelings of humiliation
and powerlessness he experiences at his job. Kirsten, however, is depicted
somewhat differently. For her alcohol is shown to be a means to escape
'the ugliness of the world', to create a private, interior space where all is
beautiful. Third, Joe seems to place few or no boundaries on his drinking.
He drinks steadily at dient parties, at dinners, at night. He is sober only
at his office. Kirsten attempts to halt her drinking while breastfeeding
Debby, but soon succumbs to Joe's demands that she 'drink with' him.
Fourth, Joe and Kirsten also engage in deception. Kirsten initially does
not admit her daytime drinking to Joe. Joe deceives Kirsten's father by
sneaking liquor into their room at the tree nursery. Joe also steals a
bottle from a liquor store. Kirsten abrogates her duties as a wife and
mother by abandoning Joe and Debby to 'shack up' with alcoholic men
in shabby motels. Further, both .Joe and Kirsten experience several
relapses after periods of abstinence during the film. Joe is shown to
130 E. C. Hirschman

ultimately control his alcohol consumption through the support of A.A.;

Kirsten is not.
There is, however, no suggestion of suicide, either contemplated or
attempted, in the film and there is only minor indication of family
dysfunction in either Joe or Kirsten's childhood. Joe's family, we are
told, is a vaudeville act, suggesting (given the conventional morality of
the early 1960s) that he may have been reared in a 'loose' show business
environment. Kirsten's father is sullen, strict, and withdrawn; her mother
is dead. Kirsten tells Joe that her father rarely is happy or talkative; so
the film suggests that a lack of familial openness and warmth may have
played a minor role in the origin of Kirsten's later addiction.
The Days of Wine and Roses and the earlier Man with the Golden Arm
both were produced in an era when drug addiction and alcoholism were
culturally viewed as stigmata and signs of personal weakness and deprav-
ity. The use of drugs and alcohol at that time signified a lack of self-
control and a serious deviation from normalcy. Hence, both these films
encode and communicate the message that alcoholism and drug addiction
are 'bad' forms of consumer behavior and should be recognized and
corrected.
However, as one former drug addict/alcoholic (i.e., Bob Dylan) noted,
by the mid-Sixties, the times they were a changin'.

Easy Rider (1969)

Released in 1969 — an epochal year in an epic decade of social change

— Easy Rider was a remarkable film in many respects. First, unlike the
other films discussed, it was produced, directed, written, and acted by an
ensemble of unknowns.7 Second, its semiology of kaleidoscopic visual
imagery, vivid hippie apparel, and contemporary rock-n-roll soundtrack
(e.g., 'Born to be wild', 'God damn the pusher man') immediately estab-
lished Easy Rider as an innovative and iconic film. Indeed, the film
introduced many forms of cinematic imagery that now have become
motion picture conventions (e.g., recall the musical soundtrack in The
Big Chill). And third, the film flouted established, culturally-shared norms
regarding drug and alcohol consumption.

Synopsis. The story opens with two hippie motorcyclists, Captain America and
Billy (Fonda and Hopper) purchasing a kilo of cocaine from a Mexican dealer.
They resell the coke to a rich, hiply-dressed man in Los Angeles and purchase
new motorcycles. Fonda's bike is elongated and decorated with an American
flag. They hide their extra money in the gas tank. The soundtrack plays 'Goddamn
the Pusher Man'.
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 131

Captain America tosses away his watch and the two set off across the U.S. for
Mardi Gras. Along the way they meet different exemplars of American life: an
Anglo rancher with his Hispanic wife and several children, a hippie hitchhiker
who takes them to his commune in the rural Southwest, and an alcoholic A.C.L.U.
lawyer named George Hansen (Jack Nicholson). Every night they smoke mari-
juana and get high; they also frequently light up joints during the day. In
Louisiana the trio (Captain America, Billy and George) are harassed by a redneck
sheriff and local townspeople who label them 'Yankee queers'. That night, as the
three sleep, they are attacked and George is killed.
Captain America and Billy continue on to New Orleans where they visit a
whorehouse. Billy drinks liquor heavily. They and two whores venture out to
view Mardi Gras. The four drop acid and experience a psychedelic vision in a
graveyard.
Upon leaving New Orleans, Captain America tells Billy, 4We blew it' in response
to Billy's suggestion that they have 'done it, we're rich!'. The next day as the two
drive down a rural road in Mississippi they are shot and killed by two men riding
in a pick-up truck.

Unlike previous cinematic representations of drug/alcohol addiction,

Captain America and Billy are not presented as 'good men gone bad',
but rather as icons of a new social order — revolutionary challengers to
the prevailing set of consumption norms. Within this counter-ideological
context (see Wolff 1981), their drug/alcohol use is not depicted as a
'problem', but rather as an appropriate response to a repressive social
order. When they were slain at the end of the picture, young viewers saw
their deaths not as remedies for their drug use, but rather as political
acts to suppress the burgeoning counterculture which they, and drugs
such as marijuana and LSD, represented. Indeed, within the oppositional
ideology espoused by Easy Rider, drugs were not seen as part of the
problem at all, but rather as part of the solution. To contemporaneous
counterculture youth, Billy and Captain America died as martyrs;
whereas to parents and elders, they died because they were anarchic flaws
in the fabric of a rule-governed society.
Despite its simple plot and often amateurish photography, Easy Rider
stands as one of the most semiotically rich and communicative drug
consumption films of the past several decades. Fonda and Hopper essen-
tially became enshrined (and entrapped) in their fringed leather jackets,
bell bottom pants, long hair, sunglasses, and joint-laden hands.
Adolescents rushed to emulate and imitate the Easy Rider look. Smoking
grass and dropping acid became symbolically redefined as political state-
ments, rather than substance abuse. And yet a subtle anti-drug message
encoded in the film's imagery went all but unnoticed. As the film's
opening and closing musical statements ('Goddamn the pusher man' and
132 E. C Hirschman

'Its alright Ma, I'm only bleeding', respectively) suggest, Captain America
and Billy died not only because they represented anarchic freedom to a
political system which feared it, but also because they were drug dealers
intent on reaping a profit from the addiction (to cocaine) of others. That
is why they died — because they valued money — the ultimate capitalist
symbol — over concern for others. Thus, the film suggests semiotically,
they were not true hippies at all, but rather businessmen in bell-bottoms.
True to its oppositional ideology, Easy Rider exhibits few of the tradi-
tional markers of addictive consumption. Captain America and Billy are
dependent primarily upon marijuana, George upon alcohol. With few
exceptions (e.g., the one acid trip, Billy's drinking at Mardi Gras) they
do not utilize multiple addictive substances. Further, their drug use,
although habitual, was not presented as an escape from stress, but rather
as an avenue to experiencing mellowness and comraderie. There were no
hints of familial dysfunction, no suggestions of suicide, no attempts at
maintaining boundaries, no relapses (because there were no withdrawals)
and no acts of deception or crime — with the exception of the actual
purchase and use of illicit substances. Easy Rider was — and is — what
it was intended to be: the essential cinematic statement of the Sixties, the
antithesis of law and order.

Trash (1970)

However, the ideology of Easy Rider was not the only sentiment expressed
about drug use within the counterculture movement. A dialectical state-
ment was issued from an unlikely source: Andy Warhol's creative bou-
tique termed The Factory'. Located in New York City and populated
by persons such as Edie Sedgwick, Bob Dylan, and filmmaker Paul
Morrisey, The Factory produced poetry, artistic soup cans, underground
music, and motion pictures such as Trash. Trash could perhaps best be
characterized as Easy Rider From HeJJ, a film in which hippie drug users
are depicted as passive, self-centered, lazy, apolitical, and stupid.

Synopsis. The story covers a few days from a hippie heroin addict's (Joe
D'Allesandro) life in Greenwich Village circa 1969. The opening scenes depict
Joe receiving fellatio from a young woman who also performs a strip tease for
him. Both fail to arouse Joe, because he is sexually impotent due to heroin usage.
Joe lives with a heavily made-up woman named Holly (Holly Goforth) in an
unheated apartment furnished with discarded items Holly has scavenged. Joe
wanders down a city street with his dog, shaking from withdrawal. He goes to
the apartment of a young counterculture woman, who wants to watch him shoot
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 133

up. Joe does so. The woman fondles his genitals and displays her breasts, but
Joe cannot get an erection. He asks the woman for money.
In a later scene Joe scavenges an empty wine bottle from a garbage can for
Holly. He returns to their apartment where Holly has brought a prep school
student wanting to 'buy dope5. Holly gives the student a shot of heroin and then
fondles him sexually as the young man passes out.
Next, Joe breaks into an expensive apartment to steal items for drug money.
An attractive young woman encounters him. He asks her for drug money; she
asks Joe to rape her. He declines. The woman's husband arrives home and permits
Joe to shave and bathe. The husband and wife then ask to watch Joe shoot up.
He does. They fear he will o.d., and toss him naked into the hallway.
Holly's pregnant sister comes for a visit. She is a hippie addict who got pregnant
'at a party'. Holly wants the sister to stay with them so they can receive welfare
when the baby is born. Holly tells Joe he must enter a Methadone treatment
program and overcome his drug-induced impotence so they can have sex. She
then masturbates with a beer bottle.
The next day, Holly's pregnant sister seduces Joe. Holly discovers them and
throws her sister out. Holly laments that they will now be unable to obtain
welfare: Ί wanted to get back on welfare so I could be respectable, have a decent
home... I need welfare... I deserve welfare... I was born on welfare, and I'll die
on welfare!'
A Welfare Department representative interviews Holly and Joe at their
apartment. Holly has put a pillow under her shirt to feign pregnancy. The Welfare
Man promises to award them welfare in exchange for Holly's silver platform
shoes (which she, of course, scavenged). She refuses, arguing she is entitled to
receive welfare. The Welfare Man tells her: 'You may be entitled to it, but that
doesn't mean you're going to get it!' Holly jumps up, her pillow falls out, and
the Welfare Man departs. Holly and Joe sit quietly; Holly comments that she
saw 'some nice garbage up on 24th Street... Joe, let me suck your cock...' Joe
ignores her.

Trash is significant as a drug addiction narrative for several reasons.

First, unlike the first two films discussed (i.e., The Days of Wine and
Roses, The Man with the Golden Arm), it does not take a moral or medical
position on Joe's addiction. Joe is seen as in need of heJp by his associates
not so much because he is taking drugs, but because he is sexually
impotent. Thus his 'problem' is depicted as impotence and not addiction.
Joe contemplates entering a Methadone treatment program only because
(1) he will then be eligible for welfare and (2) Holly wants him to perform
sexually. Even Joe, therefore, does not define himself as being an addict
in need of treatment.
Second, the film represents an important document of heroin addiction
because it was the first, and is perhaps still the only, film to actually
show in direct graphic detail an addict injecting himself with heroin. Joe
134 E. C. Hirschman

D'Allesandro was, in real life, a heroin addict and in the film he is shown
shooting up and then experiencing the hot rush as the heroin spreads
through his system. In fact, it is the very vividness and graphic realism
of Joe's response to his drug consumption — his glazed eyes, slurred
speech, and marked inability to respond to what is going on around him
— that implicitly empower Trash as a potent anti-drug message. Joe is
not an actor acting Out of it' and 'wasted', he is a real man who is out
of it and wasted. In this respect, it would be difficult to create a more
effective anti-drug narrative by using actors, no matter how talented they
might be in simulating addiction.
Semiotically, the film is primitive but powerful. Hippies and street
people — the revolutionaries and urban guerillas of the era — are
depicted as selfish, lazy, unimaginative, and unattractive. Unlike their
enshrined status in Easy Rider, Trash fashions them into symbols of
intellectual malaise and empty posturing. They are not to be admired
and emulated, but pitied and rejected by the viewer. They are, in a word,
trash — i.e., detritus, discards.
Because, as in Easy Rider, the protagonist does not ever recognize that
his drug use is a 'problem' needing a solution, Trash exhibits few of the
expected addictive consumption markers. For example, Joe's drug use is
largely restricted to heroin; he is not shown drinking, smoking cigarettes,
smoking marijuana, or taking LSD. Joe shoots up in response to with-
drawal symptoms, not to escape stress. He sets no boundaries on his
drug use and does not ruminate over suicide. No mention is made of
Joe's family background or of recovery-relapse patterns. However, Joe
does attempt to steal money (or at least items he could sell for money)
in order to obtain drugs. Finally, Joe is open about his addiction; he
makes little or no effort to hide it from friends or even casual
acquaintances.

The Rose (1979)

Easy Rider and its evil twin, Trash, were produced during the countercul-
ture era of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Ideology concerning drug use and
drug addiction was in great flux during this period, norms were unsettled,
and the cinematic genre of which they were a part was destabilized. By
the late 1970s, however, anti-drug sentiment was once again prevalent;
former flower-children had matured into responsible adults, and the
political agenda had become more centrist (Hirschman 1992c). Into this
societal milieu, The Rose was released in 1979. Starring rock singer/
actress Bette Midler8 in the central role, The Rose attempted to recreate
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 135

the career of Janis Joplin and to make some sense — a decade later —
of the Sixties. However, as we shall see, it did so through 1979 'eyes'.

Synopsis. Rose (Bette Midler) is an active alcoholic and recovering heroin addict
rock 'n' roll singer circa 1970. She is currently on a tour of the U.S. She tells her
manager (Alan Bates) that at the conclusion of the tour she plans to take a year
off: Ί got no fucking life. I can't get laid. I sound bad. I got too much work'.
Her manager, who is quite domineering, refuses to consider it. When the press
enters the room Rose, although exhausted, basks in the attention of the
photographers.
After one show her manager takes her to see a famous country/western singer.
The singer insults Rose. Rose runs off and jumps into a nearby limousine
chauifeured by a young man named Houston. Houston befriends and defends
her. Rose likes him. They go to an elite New York hotel and spend the night.
The next morning, Rose's manager calls and berates her. When Houston tries to
defend their behavior to the manager, Rose insults him.
Houston leaves angrily. Rose chases after him, they make up, and he joins her
on tour. Rose continues to drink heavily. (She always carries a large liquor bottle
in her handbag.) After the next concert, Rose is met backstage by a woman with
whom she has had a lesbian relationship. Houston becomes angry and leaves
again. Rose and a young soldier unsuccessfully search for him.
The next concert is in Rose's hometown. We learn that she was unpopular as
an adolescent (she is somewhat heavy-set and not pretty) and once had sex on
the football field with the entire high school team.
Rose's manager, seeking to attain total dominance of her life, threatens to fire
her if she takes time off. Rose gulps down liquor and runs after him. Instead of
finding her manager, however, she discovers Houston. She and Houston decide
to run away together. On the way out of town, Rose asks him to stop at a Honky
Tonk bar where she once sang. She gets drunk and begins singing with the band.
She asks for some uppers from a band member and takes them. She is heckled
and a fight breaks out. Houston takes her to the limousine. Her manager calls
on the car phone and begs her to return. She agrees. Houston leaves. A man
from the bar gives Rose some heroin and a syringe. Rose drives to a phone booth
next to the high school stadium. She is emotionally distraught. She calls her
manager and then takes several pills and drinks liquor. She calls her parents and
tells them she will be home for Easter. She then shoots up the heroin.
Rose arrives at the concert in a helicopter, completely stoned. She mounts the
stage, begins crying, and tells the enormous crowd, 'You're my family'. She sings
a blues song, becomes unsteady, sings a children's song ('Let me call you sweet-
heart'), collapses and dies. The narrative ends with a shot of a James Dean poster
that hangs in the garage of her childhood home.

Although The Rose is 'about' the sixties, its narrative clearly conveys
the ideological ethos of a decade, hence (or a decade earlier). In the
tradition of The Lost Weekend, Man with the Golden Arm, and Days of
136 E. C. Hirschman

Wine and Roses, this film is structured as a traditional morality tale

(Denzin 1991b). However, this time the protagonist is a female. And as
we learned from observing Kirsten's experience in The Days of Wine and
Roses, a woman who chooses to pursue secular decadence (i.e., addiction)
instead of the traditional roles of wife and mother is doomed. A tradi-
tional reading of The Rose would suggest that she was an unpopular,
unloved little girl who found love through her music, but, because of her
underlying emotional instability, turned to alcohol and drugs for support.
Because of her self-centeredness and insecurity, Rose was unable to
respond appropriately to the love of a 'real' man (i.e., Houston) when
he came into her life. A feminist reading (see Stern 1989; 1991a, b),
however, would suggest that Rose has been used and damaged by the
men in her life — the football players who took advantage of her
vulnerability, the manager who views her wholly in instrumental terms
as a product-resource, the fans who demand that she entertain them, and
even Houston, who wants Rose to abandon her career in order to be
his woman.
This film therefore, invites two ideological interpretations — the tradi-
tional and the feminist. The traditional reading is a carryover from earlier
examples of this film genre. The feminist reading is one that is made
possible by the changes in consciousness that emerged as a result of the
political and social upheavals of the sixties and early seventies. Both
interpretations are valuable, however, because they depict Rose's addic-
tion not as an entity in and of itself, but rather as part of the fabric of
her existence, a portion (but not the entirety) of her identity.
Semiotically, the film's imagery is simple and direct. Rose dresses like
a hippie (e.g., fringe, flowered shirts, loose hair, tie-dyed clothing) and
uses loose language (e.g., motherfucker). Her manager — the bad guy
of the narrative — wears black leather pants, dark shirts, dark jackets,
and has long black hair and a black beard. And he is British (Alan
Bates). Houston, Rose's 'real man, true man', is cleanshaven with short
hair. He invariably dresses in cowboy gear and speaks with a soft western
drawl. Thus, semiotically, Rose is portrayed as being given a choice
between two men and two lifestyles. In the narrative, she chooses wrongly
and dies.
The Rose displays several, but not all, of the seven markers of addictive
consumption. Rose is shown to have serial and concurrent addictions to
alcohol, heroin, and pills. She does turn to her addictions in times of
stress and to cope with anxiety. However, she does not resort to crime
and deception in her addiction. She drinks quite openly. Her adolescence
was unhappy, but we are not told whether or not this was linked to a
dysfunctional family. At the outset, Rose has set boundaries on her addic-
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 137

tions. She is 'clean' from heroin and pills, but by the end of the story
she has relapsed into multiple drug use. Finally, the film makes it clear
by her severe emotional distress and final farewell call to her parents,
that she is indeed committing suicide and does not die from an accidental
drug overdose.
The Rose is representative of a subgenre of addiction films which
describe the lives of celebrities (see Denzin 1991b for his discussion of
the Ά star is born' film series). Among the recent entries to this subgenre
have been several biographical films based on the lives of rock 'n' roll
musicians or jazz singers, e.g., Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Doors
(1991). The film which we next consider is an excellent example of this
subgenre and provides a grippingly realistic portrayal of drug addiction
as well.

Sid and Nancy (1986)

This film is a starkly realistic account of the lives of Sid Vicious, guitar
player for the 1970s English punk-rock group the Sex Pistols, and his
American girlfriend, Nancy Spungeon.

Synopsis. As the story opens, Sid (Gary Oldham) and his bandmate, Johnny
Rotten, first meet Nancy (Chloe Webb) at the home of a young woman named
Linda. Sid and Nancy become lovers and are regulars on the London punk rock
club scene. Nancy introduces Sid to heroin. Soon both are junkies. Sid's perfor-
mances with the Sex Pistols, already nihilistic, become even more violent and out
of control. Both he and Nancy wear studded black leather clothing, torn
underwear and stiff, punk hairstyles.
When the Sex Pistols go on tour in the United States, Nancy is left behind.
Sid drinks heavily and becomes self-destructive (at one point carving Nancy's
name on his chest with razor blades). Eventually, Sid is hospitalized in New York
for acute alcoholism and the Sex Pistols disintegrate.
Nancy comes for Sid. They go to Paris and return to heavy heroin use. Sid
records a solo album. They return to New York City and take up residence at
the Chelsea Hotel in Greenwich Village (recall Trash). They make a suicide pact
to die together. Nancy: Ί hate my fucking life'. Sid: Ί couldn't live without you'.
Nancy: 'You could kill yourself then'. Days pass by as they continue in a heroin-
induced stupor.
The two enroll in a Methadone clinic to clean up from their addiction; while
both are clean, Nancy serves as Sid's manager and gets him three 'gigs'. Sid
relapses. His performances are poor. They resume their zombie-like existence —
watching T.V. continuously and buying heroin. They become physically debased
and chronically ill. At one point they set their hotel room on fire, but are too
stoned to escape. Firemen rescue them.
138 E. C. Hirschman

Nancy tries to get Sid to kill her and himself. He refuses. They have a violent
fight and then pass out. Nancy awakens, covered in blood, collapses, and dies.
Sid is jailed, goes through withdrawal, and is released. The film ends in a
metaphorical fashion with Sid getting into a mystical taxicab in which a beautiful,
living Nancy is riding. A caption reads: Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose
on February 2, 1979.

Sid and Nancy presents a powerful message about drug addiction

conveyed in an almost existential manner. The second half of the film,
which focuses on their stupor-like life at the Chelsea Hotel, is strongly
reminiscent of the passivity which Joe D'Allesandro exhibited toward his
life in Trash. As in that film, no one rushes in to save these two misguided
young people. No Molly from Man with the Golden Arm or Jim from
Days of Wine and Roses enters the narrative to encourage them to get
their lives back together, to enter rehab, or to attend an N.A. meeting.
Instead, despite their fame (or perhaps because of it) they are left alone
to their own devices, which ultimately lead to self-destruction.
This, the film instructs us, is what really happens to most addicts —
even celebrity ones. They die. The film's message is even more disturbing
because the means for Sid and Nancy's salvations are at hand; they are
simply never grasped. For example, Nancy's family lives nearby, but
despite knowledge of her addiction, offers no assistance. Several famous
friends drop by for a visit, but make no effort to push the couple toward
therapy. Methadone clinics are available, but Sid and Nancy never seem
to get themselves there. Thus, this film diverges from the happy endings
typical of the archetypes of this genre because it tells the truth about
addiction: i.e., it is hard to recover; most addicts do not.
Semiotically, the film has several compelling images. At the outset of
their relationship, Nancy puts a padlock necklace around Sid's neck.
There is no key. Symbolically, the necklace shows Nancy's (and her
heroin's) control over Sid, even until death. The theme of the film is self-
annihilation, and Sid and Nancy's hairstyles and apparel communicate
this well. Their hair (dyed black and bleached blonde, respectively) is
brittle and erratic. Their clothing is invariably soiled black leather. Their
apartment is filthy. They degenerate from healthy — albeit strange —
teenagers to stupefied zombies before our eyes. The film tells us
semiotically (for it is never verbalized): heroin did this.
Sid and Nancy exhibits several of the characteristic markers of addic-
tion. First, both protagonists use multiple drugs, including heroin, mari-
juana, and alcohol. Sid, anxious over Nancy's absence, drinks until he
develops acute alcoholism. We are told little about their family back-
grounds, except that we learn Nancy is estranged from her family, appa-
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 139

rently due to her drug use. The two appear to set no boundaries on their
drug use. At the outset of the film, Nancy deceives Sid to obtain money
for heroin. By the end of the narrative both have relapsed after a brief
recovery period, and the narrative strongly suggests that both did, in
fact, commit suicide: Nancy because she 'hated her fucking life', and Sid
because he 'couldn't live without her'.
Sid and Nancy was released during the mid-1980s, a time period during
which the destructive aspects of drug addiction, especially cocaine, were
beginning to be widely recognized (see Hirschman 1992c). Several films
were produced which examined cocaine addiction from a consumer's
perspective, and we will discuss examples of these (e.g., Clean and Sober).
However, one film vividly portrayed the supply side of the cocaine market,
and it is to this motion picture that we next turn.

Scarf ace (1987)

This film portrays the rise and fall of a fictitious Cuban immigrant named
Tony Montana, who became a major cocaine trafficker in Miami during
the early 1980s. Scarf ace represented a major effort to make a strong
statement about the cocaine trade; it starred Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer,
and Steven Bauer; it was directed by Brian DePalma and written by
Oliver Stone (who would go on to write and direct The Doors five years
later). The result is a powerful, sordid, and violent narrative that speaks
of the corruption of American society as well as drug addiction.
Synopsis. Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and his friend Manola (Steven Bauer) arrive
in the United States as a part of the 1980 Cuban exodus to Miami. Tony is an
assassin who has been frequently jailed; he also is an ardent anti-Communist.
Tony and Manola 'earn' their way out of an army detention center by killing a
political prisoner there and they find work as dishwashers. For $5,000, they agree
to assist in a cocaine delivery. They are 'set up' and Tony is almost killed, but
he manages to rescue both the cocaine and the buy-money. His employer, Frank
Lopez, is impressed and takes Tony on as his protege. Tony is attracted to Frank's
mistress, a beautiful, blonde WASP named Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Tony, Frank, Elvira, and Manola go dancing at the Babylon Club (significantly
named), favored by young, affluent Cubans in the drug trade.
Tony goes to visit his mother and sister, Gina, who live in a modest house on
the outskirts of Miami. Tony attempts to give his mother $1,000, but she angrily
refuses it, labeling it 'blood money'. Gina, however, is more receptive toward
Tony. Manola is attracted to Gina, but Tony strongly warns him to stay away.
Tony and another of Frank's henchmen go to Bolivia to set up a deal with a
major cocaine cartel member, Manuel Soza. Tony makes a successful deal with
Soza, but Frank Lopez is suspicious of him, fearing (wrongly) that Tony has sold
140 E. C Hirschman

him out. Frank hires two hit men to kill Tony at the Babylon Club; however,
Tony kills them and then kills Frank. Tony goes to Elvira's bed: 'Get your stuff;
you're coming with me'. A blimp flies through the night sky as Tony watches; it
reads The World is Yours'.
Tony and Soza grow extremely rich; Tony grosses $15 million per month in
the cocaine trade. His money is laundered through Miami banks by smiling
WASP businessmen. Tony purchases a huge house, a chained tiger, fancy cars,
and custom-made clothes. He marries Elvira. He seems to have made his material
dreams come true. However, Tony and Elvira have both begun snorting large
amounts of cocaine. Tony becomes increasingly paranoid and irritable. He decides
to use a Jewish money launderer who will charge lower fees.
Tony, Manola, and Elvira go out to dinner at an elegant Miami restaurant.
They are drunk and high on cocaine. Elvira refuses to eat. Tony asks rhetorically,
'Is this it? Is this what it's all about? — eating, drinking, fucking, snorting? Then
what? You're 50, you got a bag for a belly, you got a liver with spots on it...
That's what I worked for? Look at her (Elvira) — a junkie. I got a junkie for a
wife. She don't eat nothin', sleeps all day. Wakes up with a Qualuude. Won't
even fuck me 'cause she's in a coma...'
Tony continues to take his money to the Jewish money launderer. It is a sting
operation, and Tony is arrested. Tony goes to Bolivia to see Soza. Soza promises
to fix Tony's trial (through corrupt U.S. officials) in exchange for Tony's assassina-
tion of the Bolivian U.N. Ambassador, who is against the cocaine cartel. Tony
agrees, but is unable to blow up the Ambassador's car, because the Ambassador's
wife and children are riding with him (Tony, despite his criminality, is principled).
Soza vows revenge against Tony.
Tony's mother tells him that Gina has run off with a man. Tony snorts coke
and goes off to find her. He discovers her with Manola and shoots him. Gina
becomes hysterical, sobbing that she and Manola were just married. Tony takes
her to his house. Soza's assassins are scaling his walls, but Tony is oblivious. He
continues to snort cocaine. Gina enters his office and tries to kill him, but is shot
by an assassin. Tony is killed by another assassin; his body falls off the balcony
and into a reflecting pool beneath a golden globe. The globe's caption reads:
The World is Yours'.

N.A. and A.A. do not make an appearance in Scarface, and there are
no drug detoxification or rehabilitation clinics in sight. Perhaps this is
because the central addiction portrayed in the film is greed — the over-
whelming impulse to obtain more and more money. The film depicts the
addiction to money as a corrupting force that surpasses in social destruc-
tion even that attributable to drugs, for greed goes beyond consumers
and eats into the financial system, the judicial system, and ultimately
corrupts even the political system. This is an aspect of the drug trade
that is rarely acknowledged (much less controlled), and it is significant
that Scarface chose to expose it so vividly.
Once one gets past the film's overt display of violence, it is seen to be
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 141

an elaborate, highly structured series of semiotic images — metaphor

upon metaphor, with strong ethnic overtones. Tony is a coarse, brutal,
but essentially moral Cubano. He also represents capitalism in its rawest,
most primitively basic form: he is very clever, he is very brave, he works
very hard, and he succeeds. Tony marries what he has been taught is the
icon of success in America: a beautiful, blonde WASP princess, an aristo-
crat, a blueblood; he desires her to be the 'mother of his children',
reasoning that with 'the right woman, I can go right to the top'.
For Elvira, Tony exchanges his over-large, leopard-skin convertible
Cadillac for a more tastefully elegant Porsche. For her he builds a huge
house, works hard, and puts money in the (WASP) bank. The restaurant
scene is the semiotic turning point for Tony. He has it all: He is dressed
correctly; his wife and best friend are dressed correctly. They are dining
among the social elite. Through his drunken, stoned stupor he suddenly
has an extraordinarily clear vision. It is all a big ironic joke. His wife,
the junkie, will never bear children. He can work all his life and still will
never be accepted by the social 'mummies' that surround him. What was
the point of killing himself for this (literally, metaphorically, and
ironically)?
After this turning point, Tony's life nosedives into a sea of troubles
created by his addictions to greed and cocaine. His dreams are shown to
be empty, his debts to other predatory capitalists have multiplied beyond
redemption, and his family and friendships have disintegrated. There is
little left to look forward to except death and, in the narrative, it comes
quickly. Tony's final fall into the pool under The World is Yours globe
signifies not only the collapse of his drug empire, but also the hypocrisy
of the American Dream that he pursued.
There are few traditional addiction markers in Scarface, because it is
not a traditional addiction film, despite the fact that its two principal
characters, Tony and Elvira, are certainly addicts. However, they do
share some attributes with the other cinematic addicts we have already
encountered. For example, they both consume multiple drugs (e.g., liquor,
cocaine, Quaaludes, nicotine), and use these drugs to escape stress and
control anxiety. (One of the most memorable scenes displaying this
marker was Tony's burying his face in a desktop mound of cocaine as
assassins swarmed into his house). Moderate drug users at the beginning
of the film, Tony and Elvira descend into unbounded use by the film's
conclusion. Although Tony is obviously engaged in crime and deception
on a massive scale through his drug dealings, he does not attempt to
deceive his family or associates about his drug use. However, the film
tells us nothing about Elvira's childhood, and little is revealed about
Tony's family history, hence we are not shown a link between their
142 E. C Hirschman

current drug use and a dysfunctional family of origin. Tony and Elvira
never attempt to halt their drug use, so there is no possibility of a
recovery-relapse pattern. Finally, although Tony dies at the conclusion of
the narrative, his death is more tied to his own greed and that of his
associates, than to his drug addiction, per se.
Scarface depicts the violence and hypocrisy that characterize interna-
tional cocaine trafficking. The next three films we will consider critically
examine the consumption side of the cocaine trade. The first of these,
Less Than Zero, is perhaps the most damning, both because the addicted
protagonist dies and because it so graphically displays the emotional,
physical and familial deterioration that can be caused through cocaine
addiction.

Less Than Zero (1987)

Released in 1987, at the height of public concern over cocaine and crack
addiction (Hirschman 1992c), Less Than Zero was targeted toward a
young audience and used the talents of emerging actors to communicate
the ideology that drugs (especially cocaine) can, and do, kill.

Synopsis. The narrative opens showing three affluent friends at their high school
graduation in Los Angeles. Clay (Andrew McCarthy) goes East to college, while
his best friend, Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.), and Clay's girlfriend, Blair (Jamie
Gertz), remain behind in California. At Thanksgiving, Clay returns home to
discover that Julian and Blair have become lovers. Prior to Christmas break,
Blair calls Clay and asks him to come home to help her with Julian, who has
developed an addiction to cocaine. Clay reluctantly agrees.
Upon Clay's return to Los Angeles, the narrative provides a glimpse of the
lifestyle in which the three were raised: incredible wealth and social privilege
coupled with broken homes and selfish, disinterested parents. For example, Clay
has no one to meet him at the airport and takes a cab home; Blair's father does
not even come out of his bedroom to accept her Christmas present.
Blair confides to Clay that Julian's attempt to become a record producer failed.
Julian, despondent, turned increasingly to cocaine and now owes his drug dealer,
Rip (James Spader), $50,000. Julian spends his nights dancing high at discos and
his days 'coming down' from drugs at the beach, public parks or Blair's apartment.
His father has forbidden him from returning home after repeated attempts at
rehabilitation failed, and Julian continues to steal money from the family for
drugs.
Toward the end of the narrative several significant events occur: Julian is forced
to become a male prostitute by his drug dealer, and Julian finally admits to Clay
that he is an addict and owes a great deal of money. While Clay is attempting
to help him, Julian steals jewelry from Clay's house. Clay and Blair later find
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 143

Julian at Blair's house and help him through a difficult withdrawal. Julian
promises them to stay off drugs. Julian then goes to his father and asks to be
taken back. His father agrees. Julian next goes to see his drug dealer in Palm
Springs to square away his debts, but instead the dealer lures Julian back into
homosexual prostitution and addiction. Blair and Clay arrive at the dealer's
house and rescue Julian. While they are driving back to Los Angeles, Julian dies.
After Julian's funeral, Blair — who has given up her own cocaine habit — agrees
to return to college with Clay.

The narrative of Less Than Zero is played out in both phenomenologi-

cal and symbolic interactionist terms. Throughout the entire film one
senses the alienation which the three principal characters, Clay, Julian,
and Blair, feel from their families and from the surrounding culture as a
whole. One of the ways they dealt with this sense of anomie was drug
use. All three experimented with drugs in high school; Clay, however,
abandoned drug use upon going to college (thereby signalling his maturity
and stability, i.e., semiotically he is clay — solid earth). Blair, fearful of
leaving her already uncertain existence for one even more uncertain, has
returned to moderate cocaine use. Julian, the weakest and most emotion-
ally unstable, has drowned himself in freebase cocaine. Allusions to
rehabilitation and treatment ideology are made throughout the film (for
example, Clay offers to put Julian in the Betty Ford Treatment Center;
Julian's father alludes to Julian's 'conning his way through rehab'), yet
they are not treated as serious or effective solutions to Julian's addiction.
Instead, the film is premised upon the ideals of friendship and emotional
support as cures for addiction. Clay offers to take Blair and Julian back
to college with him — 'away' from the damaging environs of Los Angeles.
In essence, the film proposes — as did Man with the Golden Arm — that
addicts need love and emotional support to recover, and that formal
therapy or specialized institutions are not sufficient (or perhaps even
necessary) remedies.
The film is remarkably rich in subtle semiotic imagery. Clay, the solid
friend, is down-to-earth; Rip, the drug dealer, is a conscienceless predator.
Clay arrives home to an elegant but empty house and discovers a
Christmas offering of red and green jelly beans set on the living room
table. Through much of the film Julian wears a white shirt with a
decorative red splotch over his heart, indicating his injured status. At
another teenage Christmas party, sincerity and homeyness are replaced
by walls of television sets, pink plastic glitter, and a mechanical Santa.
When Julian dances high on cocaine at the disco, the soundtrack plays
songs by Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison (of the Doors), both of whom
died as drug addicts. When Julian tries to pitch his rich uncle to lend
him money, the uncle gazes at himself in a mirror, indicating his detach-
144 E. C. Hirschman

ment from Julian's problems. Thus, in many ways and through many
metaphors, the film signifies the emotional emptiness and poverty of
genuine feeling among a wealth of material possessions that is the ideolog-
ical core of these teenagers' worlds.
Less Than Zero signals, also, a strong return to the traditional markers
of the drug addiction movie genre. Julian and Blair not only use cocaine
steadily, they also drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. Their drug use is
also clearly tied to personal anxieties and emotional distress. And — a
first in our present set of films — their addictions are strongly linked to
dysfunctional family life. Parents here are depicted as distant, selfish
figures too consumed with their own careers and personal lives to exhibit
concern for those of their children. Julian engages in several deceptive
and criminal acts attributable to his drug habit. He breaks into his own
house and attempts to steal audio equipment before being discovered by
his father. He breaks into Clay's house and steals jewelry, even as Clay
is attempting to raise money to help him repay his drug debts. Julian
also, tragically, relapses. Having gone through a painful withdrawal from
cocaine with the help of Clay and Blair, he visits the drug dealer, Rip,
to square away his debts. But instead Rip — easily and cruelly — lures
him back into drug use. This relapse, the film suggests, is fatal. Julian
dies only hours later on his way to a new life with friends. Thus, the
narrative instructs us, some salvations arrive too late.

Bright Lights, Big City (1988)

A different avenue of salvation from cocaine is presented in Bright Lights,

Big City. Also intended for a young audience and making use of youthful
stars, this film presents a modified version of the plot in The Lost Weekend
(1945), the archetype of the alcoholism film genre. Once again we see a
young writer, struggling with addiction/alcoholism, overcome his sense
of failure and reintegrate himself through willpower. However, in this
retelling of the story, the young writer is damaged, not aided, by the
woman he loves.
Synopsis. Jamie Conway (Michael J. Fox) is a clean-cut aspiring young writer
working for an elite magazine in New York City. Originally from the Midwest,
Jamie has taken up with a fast crowd. He frequently stays out all night dancing
at discotheques; he drinks heavily and uses cocaine. While the actual origins of
Jamie's addictions are unclear, the narrative suggests that they are linked to the
death a year earlier of Jamie's mother, and his attractive wife Amanda's (Phoebe
Gates), desertion of their marriage for a modeling career.
The narrative covers a three- or four-day time period in Jamie's life, during
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 145

which he is fired from his editing job due to sloppy performance, is pursued by
his brother, Michael, to attend their late mother's memorial service, re-encounters
Amanda at a fashion show where he is thrown out for drunkenness, and meets
the virtuous, sensitive Vickie, who becomes his new love.
The narrative suggests that after 'hitting bottom' in his professional and per-
sonal life, due to his addictions, Jamie resolves his emotional conflicts over his
mother and wife, abandons drugs (symbolized in the film by his trading his dark
sunglasses for a fresh bread roll), and vows to begin life anew. The film ends
with Jamie sitting on a pier overlooking the ocean early on a Sunday morning.
He tells himself, 'You're gonna have to go slowly. Have to learn everything all
over again'.

Bright Lights, Big City is a simple and somewhat simplistic, tale of an

innocent's induction into the harsh adult world of cynicism, death, materi-
alism, and lost dreams. The death of Jamie's mother from cancer, his
wife's discarding of him for a lucrative modeling career, and his exposure
to the bright lights of the big city have eroded his values and sense of
self-worth. Jamie's addictions to alcohol and cocaine are portrayed as a
response to his overwhelming loss of self-direction. In the film, Jamie's
rejection of drugs comes at an epiphanic moment (see Denzin 199la). He
looks in the mirror at a fashionable party and sees a self that is literally
(and metaphorically) bleeding.9 He experiences a spiritual reawakening
in which he accepts his mother's death and his wife's abandonment. He
resolves to return to his traditional values and lifestyle. To enact this, he
calls Vickie (who represents virtue) and tells her of his problems and
struggles; Jamie then abandons Unfashionable party, the fashionable
drugs, the fashionable Amanda, and resolves to begin his life anew.
Such epiphanic moments are a part of the A.A. and N.A. folklore,
where they are termed 'hitting bottom', that is, the addict reaches a point
in his/her life where there is a self-revelation of the destructiveness of
drugs. The addict then takes steps to turn his/her life 'around'. A similar
epiphanic moment occurs for Don Birnam in The Lost Weekend, for
Franky Machine in The Man with the Golden Arm, and for Joe Clay in
The Days of Wine and Roses.
Bright Lights, Big City is rich in semiotic imagery. For example, above
Jamie and Amanda's bed is a painting of two people whose heads are
bound in white bandages, signifying the couple's estrangement from each
other. A metaphoric trope used throughout the film is a story being
featured in a New York tabloid about the 'coma baby'. Jamie avidly
follows this story in which a dying mother (who is comatose for several
weeks) finally gives birth to a healthy baby. The dying mother, of course,
is analogous to Jamie's mother and the child whose future survival is
questionable is Jamie. At the story's conclusion, the coma baby is success-
146 E. C. Hirschman

fully delivered, just as Jamie finally is 'delivered' of his traumatic memo-

ries and addictions. The final scenes of the film are also semiotically rich:
Jamie, emerging from the dark decadence of 'being fashionable' into a
bright new day, removes his sunglasses (worn to disguise his coke-
reddened eyes) and trades them for a loaf of fresh bread, representing
his re-embracing of traditional Midwestern values and healthy spiritual-
ity. Thus, we are told, he has recovered himself.
Despite being a traditional morality tale, the film does carry several of
the markers associated with drug addiction. Jamie displays a common
cross-addiction pattern to stimulants (cocaine) and depressants (alcohol).
He uses both substances to control and escape his feelings of loss and
emotional anxiety. Jamie at first attempts to place boundaries on his drug
use, but these become eroded over the course of the narrative. He begins
drinking and snorting coke during the day, instead of reserving it for
evening use. Jamie does not resort to crime to supply his drug use, but
he does deceive others — at one point he raids a friend's medicine cabinet
to obtain tranquilizers and he lies to his brother, Michael, in an effort
to avoid seeing him and discussing his mother's death. Jamie also
attempts to deceive his coworkers into believing his drug hangovers are
just 'a bad cold'.
However, Jamie does not contemplate suicide and does not exhibit
relapse (he recovers only at the conclusion of the film). Finally, Jamie's
family, through flashbacks, is revealed to us as loving and close-knit.
Hence, the narrative instructs us his addictions are not to be attributed
to his upbringing, but rather to e!fit>tionally overwhelming events that
occurred concurrently (i.e., maternal death, divorce, career failure).

Clean and Sober (1988)

Released in 1988 and directed to young adults, this film was hailed by
Denzin (199la) as the best film to deal with drug addiction and alcoholism
since The Lost Weekend ana The Days of Wine ana Roses. Others strongly
agreed with this assessment and also found the film to be an especially
realistic portrayal of treatment and rehabilitation programs for drug/
alcohol addiction (e.g., Hirschman 1992a).
Synopsis. An affluent young commercial real estate broker, Daryl Poynter
(Michael Keaton) awakens after a night of drinking and snorting cocaine to find
his date has suffered a heart attack (due to cocaine use) in his bed. Daryl disposes
of the drugs and calls the police. After they accuse him of cocaine use, he first
tries to flee to Canada, but cannot because his credit card has been revoked. He
then goes to a colleague's house where he drinks beer for breakfast and asks to
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 147

hide out. The colleague refuses. Desperate to hide himself, Daryl checks into a
private drug rehabilitation clinic, where his presence will be kept confidential.
Despite going through withdrawal, Daryl refuses to admit he is an addict, and
continues to try to obtain cocaine from outside sources. While at the clinic, Daryl
falls in love with another recovering addict, a young, blue-collar woman named
Charlie. Upon their release from the program, Daryl attempts to get Charlie to
leave her addicted, small-time-thief husband, Lenny, and come live with him.
While in the clinic, Daryl reluctantly joins A. A./N. A. and gets a sponsor named
Richard. Richard helps Daryl restructure his life away from drugs and alcohol.
Daryl is fired from his job for having embezzled money to buy drugs when he
was an addict. Charlie and Daryl make love at his apartment; Daryl discovers
she is still using cocaine and has her flush it down the toilet. Charlie finds she
cannot leave Lenny, because he 'needs' her more than Daryl does. Daryl finally
lands a job and calls Charlie to tell her. She agrees to come see him. Driving
over, Charlie snorts cocaine, has a car wreck, and is killed. Richard comforts
Daryl by telling him he could not have saved Charlie.
The narrative closes with Daryl speaking to an A.A./N.A. meeting. He tells
them that he entered the program merely to escape the police, but now has come
to realize that he is an addict and must continue to recover.

Clean and Sober is a highly realistic portrayal of recovery from drug

addiction/alcoholism, perhaps more so than any prior film on the topic.
Because of this it is instructive to consider why the film comes across as
a realistic rather than as a fictive account. First, the protagonist is not
given to us as a misguided or emotionally distressed artist/writer (e.g.,
Don Birnam, Franky Machine, Jamie Con way, Rose). Instead he is a
'common' young professional in an unglamorous profession (commercial
real estate). Second, there are no enormous problems or failures in his
life that animate his addiction. Much like Joe Clay in Days of Wine and
Roses, he is just a work-a-day manager, comfortably middle class but
not highly affluent. And yet, the film instructs us, even amidst such
normalcy, addiction can create chaos. The accidental overdose of a date
and a mismanaged escrow account suddenly transform Daryl from a
functioning Yuppie into a potential felon and accessory to manslaughter.
Daryl's comfortable world rapidly begins falling into jagged, frightening
pieces. Like a real, normal person, his first instinct is to run away, to flee
to Canada (anywhere!). But his escape is marred not by some meta-
phorical, dramatic device, but rather by overextended credit cards, an
Everyman problem. By accident and by whim and by virtue of having
no other available alternatives, Daryl wanders into a drug rehabilitation
clinic. And, the film suggests, it is by this odd twist of fate that his
recovery is begun.
Realistic also is Daryl's refusal to acknowledge that he is an addict,
148 E. C. Hirschman

even after experiencing withdrawal, being surrounded by fellow addicts,

and listening to lectures on addiction. Only gradually, layer-by-layer,
does his denial system peel away and he comes to see his true self. This
is the pattern of discovery and recovery followed by most addicts in real
life, not the melodramatic epiphanic 'scene of recognition' that is por-
trayed in film, and this is what makes Clean and Sober so remarkably
real and truthful.
Because the film is grounded in social realism and not in didactic
metaphor, there are fewer semiotic devices used to encode the story as
compared to the other films we have discussed. We recognize Daryl as a
Yuppie because he surrounds himself with the product constellation
(Solomon and Assael 1987; McCracken 1989) appropriate for this social
type: a BMW, a handsome townhouse, three-piece suits, an elaborate
stereo system, modern furniture... and cocaine. Similarly, his blue-collar
girlfriend Charlie's social status is signalled to us by her over-permed
hair, rundown row house, dilapidated sedan, and coarse language. These
semiotic gestures, however, are not elaborate; they are given only as
minimal details to enable us to socially 'locate' the characters (see Scott
1990), not to confine them to stereotypes.
Because of its realism, Clean and Sober adheres closely to the markers
of addiction drawn from social science inquiry. Daryl, on the run from
the police, gulps down beer for breakfast at a friend's house to help quell
his anxiety. Once in the rehabilitation clinic, he repeatedly calls his dealer
attempting to obtain cocaine to calm his desperation. Daryl apparently
placed few boundaries on his drug use, for we later learn that he kept a
stash of coke in his desk drawer at work. Despite his successful profes-
sional status, Daryl is shown to be both criminal and deceptive due to
his addiction. His behavior here is both disturbingly real and heartbreak-
ing. Daryl has embezzled $90,000 from an escrow account to invest in
the stock market for drug funds. His theft is discovered and he is fired
from his job. Daryl lies to his best friend, denying that he took the
money. Daryl lies to the police, denying that he and his date had con-
sumed cocaine. And, in the most poignant instance of his deceptiveness,
Daryl calls his parents, tells them he is 'short of funds', and asks them
to mortgage their house and send him the money. His ability (and
willingness) to lie convincingly even to his parents is a strong marker of
the depth of Daryl's addiction.
There are, however, three addictive traits that Daryl does not display.
First, we are given no evidence that his family life was dysfunctional.
Further, Daryl does not attempt or even contemplate suicide. Finally,
Daryl does not relapse after he has undergone withdrawal; Charlie,
however, does so with fatal consequences.
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 149

Drugstore Cowboy, 1989

Clean and Sober introduced a new level of realism to the addiction film
genre. Treatment programs, counseling sessions, and the process of recov-
ery were all shown largely 'as they really are' with little moralism or
metaphoric allusion. This style of addiction portrayal was used with
equally compelling effect in an independent film released the following
year. This film, Drugstore Cowboy, received widespread critical acclaim
not only because of the excellent acting displayed by Matt Dillon and
Kelly Lynch, but because of the first-person, phenomenological account
it provided of addiction (see Rugoff 1991). The film is narrated by its
central figure, Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon), a self-described 'full-blown
dope fiend'. The device of using Bob's private thoughts to elaborate
upon the personal meaning of events in the narrative provides, for the
first time, a cinematic testimony of the lived-world of addiction (see
Thompson, Locander, Pollio 1989, 1990).

Synopsis. The film is set in Portland, Oregon 1971. The narrative recounts the
adventures of four young drug addicts: Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon), the group's
leader, his wife Diane (Kelly Lynch), his friend Rick, and Rick's girlfriend
Nadine. Their lives revolve largely around robbing pharmacies for drugs. At the
outset, Bob and his 'crew' hit a drugstore and steal 'blues and Dilaudid'. Bob
shoots up in the getaway car: 'Crawling up my veins the drug would explode at
the back of my neck and pour through my brain until I felt such pleasure that
the whole world took on a warm glow; everything took on a rosy hue of unlimited
success. You could do no wrong, and as long as it lasted, life was beautiful'.
The group returns to their rented suburban ranch house, where they all shoot
up drugs. Another addict, David, comes by to sell speed. After frisking him, they
trade him some morphine for speed. Later, Diane tries to get Bob to make love
to her, but he obsessively talks about stealing more drugs. Police arrive and
ransack their house, but discover no drugs. (Diane had buried them.)
The group moves to an apartment building, which the police place under
observation. Bob constructs an elaborate scheme to trick the police and succeeds
in humiliating them. A senior detective warns Bob, and then beats him up.
Bob and his group leave, sending their drugs ahead by bus. Bob, Rick, and
Nadine break into another pharmacy. They shoot up and hide their stash in the
ceiling. Bob, Rick, and Diane break into a hospital to obtain additional drugs.
Bob is almost caught. They return to their hotel room and find Nadine dead
from an overdose. They hide Nadine's body in the ceiling.
A sheriff's convention arrives at the hotel. Bob makes a pact with God that if
he successfully gets Nadine's body out and buried without being discovered, he
will enter a Methadone treatment program. He does so, returns to Portland and
enters a treatment clinic. Now twenty-six years old, he tells the administrator,
150 E. C. Hirschman

Tve been on drugs all my life... I'm a junkie. I like drugs. I like the whole
lifestyle, but it just didn't pay off'.
Bob gets a job at a machine shop and begins attending N.A. meetings. Bob
encounters David, the junkie, shaking down a younger boy for money and
reprimands him: 'Grow up'. Diane comes to see Bob, bringing him a bag of
drugs. He asks to make love to her, but she declines, saying she is 'Rick's old
lady now'. Bob gives the drugs to an elderly addict down the hall.
David and an accomplice break into Bob's room, beat him, and shoot him,
believing he is hiding drugs from them. Bob is put into an ambulance and driven
off to the hospital. He is smiling because 'these guys are taking me to the biggest
pharmacy in town'.

Set in the early 1970s, but released in 1989, Drugstore Cowboy attempts
to recreate an era almost two decades earlier. As will be recalled from
Easy Rider and Trash, this era viewed drug use as socially permissible,
and drug consumption by young adults was, in fact, a widespread phe-
nomenon at the time. Hence, Bob and his group do not view themselves
as criminals, but rather as hippie outlaws who steal from the 'rich' (i.e.,
pharmacies) to supply the 'poor' (i.e., their drug habits). They do not
steal money, only drugs, and therefore see their actions as something of
a game. (Bob's mother at one point says to him, 'You are like children
who only want to run and play'.)
Further, unlike other protagonists we have encountered, Bob views
himself as an addict — 'a full-blown dope fiend'. He views his life's work
as one of escaping from the harsh realities of adulthood and the mundane:
Ά dope fiend knows how he's gonna feel from one moment to the next;
all he's gotta do is look at the labels on the bottles'.
However, as in The Man with the Golden Arm, The Days of Wine and
Roses and Bright Lights, Big City, Bob experiences an epiphanic moment
which causes him to abandon his lifestyle of addiction. This moment
occurs with Nadine's death and the unplanned arrival of the sheriff's
convention. Faced with the strong possibility of a lengthy jail term, Bob
promises God to clean himself up. Spared from jail, he keeps his spiritual
pact. Ironically, the film informs us, it is through 'going straight' that
Bob puts his life into the most serious jeopardy. A junkie-from-the-past,
not believing Bob could have possibly gone straight, shoots him when
Bob can give him no drugs. The film closes on an ambiguous note. As
Bob rides the ambulance to the hospital we are uncertain if he will live
or die and if he lives, whether he will stay clean or instead clean out 'the
biggest pharmacy in town'.
This ambiguity is purposeful and serves well the realistic sense of the
film. In actual life, recovered addicts' lives go through many crises, some
of which may harm them, some of which may cause them to relapse.
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 151

Unlike most cinematic narratives that have a definite conclusion,

Drugstore Cowboy — like life — is open-ended, ambiguous, and carries
the potential for several alternative outcomes.
Because it is grounded in social realism and not didactic metaphor,
Drugstore Cowboy is not marked by detailed semiotic encoding. The film
is set in the early 1970s, so the central characters wear appropriate,
hippie-style apparel (e.g., fringed jackets, long hair). The detectives wear
short, greased hair and dark raincoats. Thus, other than 'locating' its
characters in the appropriate historic context, the film places little reliance
on semiotic cues to tell its story.
The characters in Drugstore Cowboy exhibit some, but not all, of the
seven markers of addiction. Their drug use is multiple and generalized
— over the course of the film they consume barbituates, Dilaudid,
cocaine, speed, and morphine. True to the sixties epoch, however, they
use these drugs primarily as an adventure or phenomenological experi-
ment, rather than to control specific instances of anxiety or stress. The
group does attempt to maintain some boundaries, or controls, over its
drug consumption. For example, excess drugs are stored or 'stashed' in
a budgetary fashion for later use. The group also makes arrangements
to dispose of drugs carried in their car (by dumping them through the
floorboards), if stopped by police. This suggests that their drug use —
although Jieavy and steady — is regulated and managed to some degree.
The group supported its habit through crime; i.e., 'knocking off' drug-
stores was its primary way of providing a steady supply of drugs. The
film provides us with few clues as to the group members' childhoods, so
we are not informed about the possibility of dysfunctional family life
contributing to their addiction. The film does suggest, however, that
Nadine likely committed suicide by taking a purposeful overdose of drugs
(she believed the group had abandoned her). Finally, as the wounded
Bob rides to the hospital in an ambulance, his propensity for relapse and
indeed, even his survival, are uncertain. As with addiction in real life,
there are no conclusive endings except death.

Postcards from the Edge (1990)

The twelfth and final addiction film was released in 1990 — a distance
of forty-five years from The Lost Weekend and thirty-five years from The
Man with the Golden Arm. Yet, as we shall see, it is remarkably similar
in spirit and structure to these two earlier efforts, while incorporating
novel features that identify it as a contemporary narrative. As with these
earlier motion pictures, Postcards from the Edge was intended as a signifi-
152 E. C. Hirschman

cant statement on addiction and alcoholism. Its cast included several

prominent actors in the major roles (e.g., Meryl Streep, Shirley McClaine,
Randy Quaid) and minor roles (e.g., Gene Hackman), as well as some
major actors known to be recovering addicts who played cameo parts
(e.g., Richard Dreyfus). In essence, both the story and the casting of
Postcards from the Edge displayed Hollywood's attempt to 'get honest'
about its own drug problems.10 Further, the film was based on an
autobiographical novel by Carrie Fisher, describing her own addiction
to and recovery from cocaine.

Synopsis. The story opens with Suzanne Veil (Meryl Streep) being thrown off a
movie set by a director (Gene Hackman) angry at her use of cocaine. Later, back
in Los Angeles, Suzanne cannot be awakened by her boyfriend after a night of
coke and liquor. He realizes she has consumed a large quantity of tranquilizers
and rushes her to the emergency room. In a fantasy sequence, Suzanne walks
down a long hallway filled with pictures of other celebrities who died from drug
use: John Belushi, Lenny Bruce, Judy Garland, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, etc.
Suzanne is placed in a drug rehabilitation clinic. She begins crying when asked
if her overdose was a suicide attempt. She attends N.A./A.A. counseling sessions.
When her mother, Doris (Shirley McClaine), attends, she receives more attention
from patients than does Suzanne. (The mother represents Carrie Fisher's real
mother, Debbie Reynolds). Suzanne's mother also pays more attention to her fan-
patients than she does to Suzanne. Suzanne's mother is critical and controlling;
she and Suzanne are emotionally estranged.
To obtain a work permit, Suzanne must return to her mother's house (i.e., be
under parental supervision). She gets a small part in a B movie. Suzanne's mother
sets up an elaborate welcome home party for her. Suzanne sings 'You Don't
Know Me' at the party. But once again her mother outshines her by belting out
Tm Still Here'.
The next day on the movie set, Suzanne faces a barrage of criticism about her
acting, her figure, and her appearance. She sees some available drugs, but walks
away. Suzanne reluctantly begins seeing her boyfriend, Jack Faulkner, again. She
fears being rejected. He assures her this will not happen. She spends the night
with him. Suzanne returns home to find her mother drunk and waiting for her.
They argue over Doris's alcoholism and over Suzanne's drug addiction. The
mother refuses to see herself as an alcoholic.
The next day Suzanne learns that Jack has been unfaithful to her. She confronts
him. He smokes marijuana. They argue. Suzanne returns home. She steals some
drugs from her mother's medicine cabinet. Her mother tells her that Suzanne's
agent was just discovered to be an embezzler and has taken all Suzanne's earnings.
Suzanne: Thank God I got sober now, so I can be superconscious of this series
of humiliations!'
Suzanne and her mother argue again about their alcoholism/addictions. Her
mother denies her alcoholism: Ί just drink like an Irish person'. Suzanne holds
her mother responsible for her addiction to drugs: 'From the time I was nine
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 153

years old, you gave me sleeping pills!' Suzanne runs from the house and swallows
the stolen pills as she drives away. She then stops the car and forces herself to
vomit the pills.
Suzanne goes to a recording studio where she redubs her lines for the film she
had messed up earlier due to her cocaine use. The director congratulates her and
gives her another acting job. On the way home, Suzanne learns that her mother
has been in a car wreck due to alcohol intoxication. She rushes to the hospital
where she is supportive and comforting to her mother.
Later, Suzanne's mother and her rehab roommate look on as Suzanne success-
fully performs in the director's new movie. Suzanne does an excellent job singing
the title song. The director smiles and says 'Cut. Print!' Suzanne goes on singing.

Postcards from the Edge is simultaneously a revival of the Hollywood

formula for the alcoholic/addiction movie and a radical departure from
it. It reiterates the formula by depicting the protagonist's fall from grace,
her struggle with temptations to restart her addiction, and her ultimate
triumph over both her addiction and her emotional insecurities. In this
the narrative echoes such archetypic films as The Lost Weekend, The Man
with the Golden Arm, The Days of Wine and Roses, and Clean and Sober.
The story, however, also possesses significant aspects which represent
radical departures from the established formula. Foremost among these
is the gender of the protagonist, Suzanne Veil. Suzanne is the first female
addict we have encountered who has successfully overcome her addiction
and maintained her recovery. This, in itself, is a striking retelling of the
addiction tale. All prior females encountered in this cinematic genre have
fallen prey to their addictions.11 Kirsten in Days of Wine and Roses is
left at the conclusion of the story still mired in alcoholism; Rose in The
Rose purposely overdoses on heroin and dies; Nancy in Sid and Nancy
perishes from heroin addiction; Charlie in Clean and Sober relapses to
cocaine use and is killed in a car wreck; Diane in Drugstore Cowboy gives
up her husband Bob to remain a drug addict.
The history of the addiction film is replete with images of women who
have fallen victim to drugs or alcohol and not survived and/or recovered.
Thus it is a radical restructuring of this familiar morality tale to find a
woman who does drugs, recovers and lives to tell about it — both
figuratively and literally.12 Postcards from the Edge is a feminist statement
in a strong sense. For the protagonist not only recovers and lives, she
also is shown to succeed in her career and her personal life (i.e., she
reconciles with her mother). In the past, women were often depicted as
damned to addiction or death, if they chose careers over their traditional
roles as wives or mothers (recall the lesson of The Rose). Postcards from
the Edge breaks dramatically with this tradition by showing a woman
who overcomes addiction and then successfully reintegrates her life as a
154 E. C Hirschman

performer and caring daughter. Further, she accomplishes these tasks

without receiving male support (and, in fact, despite receiving male
rejection). It will be of interest to discern if the liberal, feminist version
of the addiction film depicted in Postcards from the Edge is carried
forward into future films.
Semiotically, there are some rich moments in the film. The majority of
these are encoded in visual and musical cues. In one scene, Suzanne and
Jack are discussing their future as a couple while standing on a movie
set. As Jack reassures her of the genuineness of his feelings, the back-
ground set of a small cottage with white picket fence is slowly driven
away, leaving an empty lot behind them. Jack's promises are thus revealed
to the viewer as fraudulent. In another scene, Suzanne, dressed in a police
uniform, angrily confronts Jack about his infidelities. In her role as
'feminist enforcer', she then shoots blanks at him. At her welcome-home-
from-rehab party, Suzanne sings 'You Don't Know Me' to her friends
and family, signalling her detachment and isolation from them. Her
mother, still struggling to dominate Suzanne's life, sings 'I'm Still Here'.
Then at the close of the film, Suzanne, triumphant in her recovery and
having exorcised the emotional ghosts from her past, sings Ί packed my
bags and I paid my bill... I'm checkin' out of this heartbreak hotel...',
an apt summary of her experiences.
Remarkable in its storyline, Postcards from the Edge is also remarkable
in the veracity with which it communicates the markers of addiction.
Suzanne is depicted as consuming multiple drugs including cocaine, alco-
hol, and tranquilizers. Her use of drugs to deal with anxiety and stress
is revealed during her recovery. On two occasions after experiencing
emotional distress she seeks out drugs but ultimately does not consume
them. We are shown Suzanne primarily in the recovery phase of her
addiction, so we do not see what boundaries, if any, she set on her
consumption of drugs during her active addiction. However, she does
suffer one potentially serious relapse event; after arguing with her mother,
she swallows two pills, but minutes later forces herself to vomit them.
Suzanne displays one act of deception after her recovery; frustrated by
personal events, she sneaks into her mother's medicine cabinet and steals
pills (likely tranquilizers). Further, Suzanne's adult addictions are vividly
linked by the film to her childhood experiences in a dysfunctional family.
Both her mother and father (the real-life Eddie Fisher) are described to
us as alcoholics/addicts. Her mother recalls giving Suzanne sleeping pills
at age nine to assist her 'getting through' her parents' traumatic divorce.
Finally, at the outset of the narrative, it is suggested that Suzanne's
consumption of a large quantity of tranquilizers belonging to her boy-
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 155

friend, Jack, was likely a suicide attempt. Although Suzanne verbally

denies this to her rehab counselor, her emotional breakdown shortly
thereafter suggests she was trying to take her own life. Thus, Postcards
from the Edge, a genre film based on a true story, exhibits a strong
veridicality with the markers of the addiction experience.

Discussion

We have now examined a series of twelve motion pictures belonging to

the addiction genre and extending across a time period from 1955-1990.
What lessons have been learned from this analysis?
The study thus far has explored the meaning given to addictive con-
sumption within the narrative of each film, the semiotic aspects used to
communicate this meaning, and the consistency with which each film
exhibited seven markers of addiction. Our discussion now turns to a
deeper examination of four additional ideological themes drawn from
the twelve films: (1) the evolution of the role of women in the addiction
film genre, (2) the evolution of the image of A.A./N.A. and treatment
programs in the addiction film genre, (3) shifts in the type of drug use
depicted in this genre, and (4) a consideration of the veracity with which
drug addiction is portrayed.

The evolving role of women

In the archetypic alcoholism film, The Lost Weekend (1945), Don

Birnam's fiancee plays a pivotal role as both an early enabler of his
alcoholism and later as an impetus to his recovery. Early in the narrative,
Don's fiancee (and brother) enable his alcoholism by continuing to sup-
port him financially and emotionally. Later, after several crises, the
fiancee challenges Don to either commit suicide as he is planning or to
abandon alcohol. Don chooses the latter course of action and, at the
narrative's conclusion, sets out to write of his experiences as a way of
helping other alcoholics. This structural pattern of 'the good woman'
assisting the man she loves to overcome his addiction is continued in
Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Here, Molly, Franky's 'true' love, helps
give him the self-confidence and encouragement he needs to undergo
withdrawal from heroin and gambling and begin a new life as a drummer.
However, in Man with the Golden Arm we also see the entrance of a
destructive female character, Zash. This character represents the female
156 E. C. Hirschman

type who is clinging, weak, and dependent; who fears that her man's
abandonment of addiction will also mean his abandonment of her. Her
selfishness and possessiveness are so consuming that she would rather
see the man remain addicted or imprisoned than have him leave her.
This ideological ambivalence or duality regarding the nature of women
is extended to an examination of female addiction in The Days of Wine
and Roses (1962). Kirsten, a virtuous and caring woman, is introduced
to alcohol by her addicted husband. Unlike her husband, who is depicted
as saved through the intervention of A.A., Kirsten is portrayed as aban-
doning her sacred roles as wife and mother and falling uncontrollably
into a life of promiscuity and alcoholism. As Denzin (1991b) notes,
women who become alcoholics in films typically are shown to fall lower
and become more debauched and disgraced than are men. In essence,
the woman is viewed ideologically as more deserving of punishment and
humiliation for abandoning her traditional, sacred roles and venturing
into the secular world than is a man, (who already is seen as secularized
in our culture).
The two films from the late 1960s/early 1970s, Easy Rider and Trash,
displayed an interlude in the portrayal of women addicts. Both these
films were focused almost entirely upon the drug consumption patterns
of their male protagonists, and utilized women only in the roles of
onlookers or minor participants. However, The Rose (1979) exhibited a
return to traditional norms regarding women's roles and the requirement
of strong punishment for women who violate them through addiction
or career-seeking. In The Rose, the female protagonist is depicted as
emotionally distressed and conflicted between choosing to become a
traditional (non-career) woman married to a 'real' man (Houston) or
continuing her successful (but self-destructive) career as a performer. The
film suggests that Rose's present alcoholism and fatal return to heroin
use are attributable to her inability to form a lasting emotional relation-
ship with a traditional (i.e., 'real') man. As a consequence of her ideologi-
cal Jy incorrect (i.e., nontraditional) choice, she dies.
In Sid and Nancy (1986) we find a reversal of the pattern in The Days
of Wine and Roses. Women by the 1980s had become culturally viewed
as more secularized (and hence more potent as agents of the negative
effects of secularization, i.e., addiction). Thus, in this narrative, it is
Nancy, the woman, who brings heroin addiction to her husband, Sid.
However, unlike the outcome in The Days of Wine and Roses, both Sid
and Nancy are damned by their revolutionary and nihilistic lifestyle (as
well as their drug addiction) and die. In this, their stories mimic those of
the two male protagonists in Easy Rider. That is, the political subplot
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 157

informs us that those who stray too far from the confines of normal
society will perish.
In Scarf ace, the metaphorically-symbolic WASP wife of Cuban cocaine
dealer Tony Montana leaves him just prior to his violent death. The
narrative, however, suggests that she is still heavily 'infected' with the
addiction she 'caught' from him. In this narrative the female element has
been enlarged to represent the United States in its passive acceptance
and widespread adoption of drugs emanating from the aggressive 'male'
centers of South and Central America. Less metaphorical, but still ideo-
logically-grounded, is the female character of Blair in Less Than Zero.
Blair portrays an intermediate female figure pulled between a strongly
negative, addicted male lover (Julian) and a strongly positive, clean male
lover (Clay). In choosing Clay, the film suggests that Blair has made the
appropriate, healthy choice. But it also suggests that the choices women
make (and the cures they receive) emanate from the more powerful male
figures in their lives, and not from personal efficacy.
There are three female characters in Bright Lights, Big City to whom
Jamie Conway reacts. He reacts to the death of his mother and the
desertion of his wife, Amanda, by self-destructive acts of cocaine and
liquor consumption. Amanda, like Nancy in Sid and Nancy, represents
the super-secularized female, one who is capable of destroying the virtu-
ous and noble aspects of a man. In contrast, the narrative presents Vickie,
who becomes Jamie's girlfriend and through her traditional values
reintroduces him to his earlier, virtuous identity.
Clean and Sober (1988) and Drugstore Cowboy (1989) both reiterate
the ideology of female roles introduced three decades earlier in The Days
of Wine and Roses. Two female cocaine addicts die in Clean and Sober,
while the male cocaine addict accepts treatment and lives. Similarly,
Diane in Drugstore Cowboy abandons her husband once he becomes
'clean', and continues to pursue her drug addiction with a male addict;
this pattern replicates exactly that of Kirsten and Joe in The Days of
Wine and Roses, and suggests that a strong cultural ideology stiJJ persists
which harshly condemns those women who fall into secular vices such
as addiction.
The only film of the twelve examined which deviated from this pattern
was the last in our series — Postcards from the Edge (1990), which
depicted its female protagonist as capable of responding successfully to
rehabilitation and also of being able to successfully manage both the
sacred (i.e., familial) and secular (i.e., career) aspects of her life. It
remains to be seen if future cinematic narratives continue this novel
feminist (see Stern 1989, 199la, b) ideological pattern or perpetuate
158 E. C. Hirschman

instead the traditional segregation of women in the sacred, domestic

sphere.

The Role of A.A., N.A. and rehabilitative treatment

Another significant ideological aspect of the motion pictures examined

is their attitude toward Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous,
and the rehabilitative treatment of addictive consumer behavior. The
messages these films send to their viewers regarding such programs may
impact public consciousness of and willingness to utilize them. The two
motion pictures from the early period of our study, The Man wiih the
Golden Arm and The Days of Wine and Roses, presented generally positive
images of rehabilitative treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous, but also
suggested that they were not successful or complete remedies for all
addicts/alcoholics. Franky Machine learns a valuable craft (drumming)
while in a rehabilitation program, but then is depicted as quickly relapsing
once he returns to his familiar environs. Only the love and support of a
good woman, Molly, the story suggests, can fully effect his cure. Joe in
Days of Wine and Roses successfully recovers from alcoholism through
the support of hospitalization and Alcoholics Anonymous. But Kirsten,
unable to admit she is an alcoholic, refuses to join A.A. and remains
uncured.
Counterculture mores regarding drugs and alcohol are depicted in both
Easy Rider and Trash. Although these films differ markedly in their
portrayal of drug consumption (i.e., Easy Rider: good; Trash: bad),
neither suggests rehabilitation or group support programs as viable alter-
natives for their protagonists.
In The Rose, the female protagonist is an alcoholic who has 'gotten
off' heroin addiction. However, no mention is ever made of the means,
or even time period, needed to bring about this cure. Under stress, her
heroin addiction resurfaces and proves fatal. The male and female central
characters in Sid and Nancy enter a methadone treatment program to
cure their heroin addictions. They succeed in 'getting clean', but Sid soon
relapses and later Nancy does as well. There is no mention of a support
group, such as Narcotics Anonymous, in the film. The failure of treatment
in this instance is attributed to the couple's outside-the-law lifestyle which
is presented as inherently nihilistic and self-destructive.
In Scarface the narrative presents little opportunity for rehabilitation,
since the principal figures are drug dealers whose business revolves
around cocaine consumption. In Less Than Zero the character of Julian
is described as a cocaine addict who 'conned his way through rehab',
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 159

meaning that he refused to admit his addiction and open himself to the
possibility of effective treatment. However, the message of the film pre-
sented an essentially negative image of rehabilitation programs, since
they were depicted as being ineffective in helping Julian, and Blair's cure
from addiction was provided by her relationship to Clay and not a formal
treatment program. Similarly, in Bright Lights, Big City, Jamie Conway
is depicted as essentially 'walking away' from a heavy cocaine dependency
after meeting a new, supportive girlfriend. Hence, these latter two films
reiterate the treatment message of The Man with the Golden Arm, i.e.,
that emotional support from a loved one is more important in treating
addiction than is formal treatment.
The last three films in our series — and the most recent — tell a
markedly different story. Clean and Sober, Drugstore Cowboy, and
Postcards from the Edge all portray rehabilitation and support groups
such as N.A./A.A. in a positive and preferential manner. In these narra-
tives, the protagonists are shown to come to recognize their addictions
through the vehicles of counseling and group support, and to then be
able to successfully resist severe temptations to relapse upon returning
to their regular lives. All three films, and especially Clean and Sober,
present realistic images of what occurs during rehabilitation and the types
of discussions which recovering addicts engage in during support group
meetings. These depictions are valuable to viewers who may be ignorant
and/or fearful of entering such programs themselves.

Type of drug use depicted

The twelve films examined for purposes of the present study follow a
roughly chronological sequence of public interest in and awareness of
specific drugs in our culture. For example, popular culture awareness of
heroin addiction was at its highest during the mid-1950s and again during
the early 1970s (Hirschman 1992c). This corresponds to the portrayal of
heroin addiction in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Trash
(1970).
The use of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, and marijuana peaked in
the United States in the late 1960s (Hirschman 1992b), corresponding
to the portrayal of drug usage given in Easy Rider (1969). And cocaine
consumption — and public concern over its use — was at its highest
level in 1986 (Hirschman 1992c), shortly before the appearance of five
films portraying that form of addiction: Scarface (1987), Less Than Zero
(1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988), Clean and Sober (1988), and
Postcards from the Edge (1990).
160 E. C. Hirschman

The few exceptions to this pattern are instructive as well. The Rose
(1979), Sid and Nancy (1986), and Drugstore Cowboy (1989) are films
which depict drug addiction in time periods other than the one in which
they were released. The Rose, for example, depicts its protagonist as an
alcoholic and heroin addict, which is discordant with its release date of
1979. However, the film's narrative mimics the life of singer Janis Joplin
and is temporally located during the late 1960s-early 1970s. (Joplin died
in 1970). Hence it attempts to evoke drug usage patterns during this
earlier era. Similarly, Drugstore Cowboy is set in 1971, although it was
released almost two decades later. Thus, its protagonists exhibit the multi-
drug use typical of the time period, rather than the concentration on
cocaine addiction more typical of films released (and set) in the late 1980s.
The lone exception to this account is Sid and Nancy which was set in
the late 1970s (another period of heavy cocaine usage), yet depicts its
protagonists as addicted to heroin. The reason for this apparent discrep-
ancy lies in the film's biographical grounding. Sid and Nancy recounts
the story of two actual persons (i.e., Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon)
who lived — and died — as heroin addicts in the late 1970s. Thus this
narrative is grounded in biographical fact, rather than popular culture
ideology.
With this single exception, however, the general observation may be
made that addiction films manifest and communicate the popular culture
concerns of the time period in which they are released and/or set. Because
of this they are valuable documents of our cultural ideology concerning
drug consumption.

Veridicality between the cinematic portrayal of drug addiction and actual

drug addiction

One important question left unanswered by the present inquiry is the

degree of veridicality or phenomenological consistency between the
portrayals of addiction in the films discussed and the actual experience
of addiction. Certain of the films evoked strong responses of phenomeno-
logical recognition, while others seemed artificial and contrived. Among
the most genuine portrayals of addiction were the performances in The
Days of Wine and Roses, Trash, Sid and Nancy, and Clean and Sober.
Joe and Kirsten were strikingly genuine in several of the alcoholism
scenes in The Days of Wine and Roses, and it is likely for this reason
that the film is widely regarded as a classic three decades after its release.
As already noted, the protagonist in Trash was portrayed by an actual
heroin addict; hence his performance is genuine not only as art, but also
 Cinematic depiction of drug addiction 161

as life. For this reason, the film serves as one of the strongest anti-drug
narratives ever produced.
The acting of Gary Oldham and Chloe Webb in the title roles of Sid
and Nancy also evoked the lived-world of addiction in a compelling,
vivid, and deeply affecting fashion, and could serve as an effective vehicle
for dissuading young, would-be followers of the punk rock subculture.
Similarly, the denial, deceitfulness, and frantic desperation of Daryl
Poynter (Michael Keaton) in Clean and Sober was a painfully real
portrayal of cocaine addiction and alcoholism.
The verisimilitude of these depictions of addiction contrasted sharply
with the artificiality found in some others. The effect of Frank Sinatra's
otherwise strong performance as a heroin addict in The Man with the
Golden Arm is marred by the fact that his dealer is shown injecting him
with heroin. This inauthenticity would likely render the film unbelievable
to actual heroin users. Analogously, Michael J. Fox in Bright Lights, Big
City is shown simply abandoning a heavy cocaine addiction overnight
without experiencing cravings or withdrawal symptoms. This also would
likely be seen as improbable and unrealistic by most current and
recovering cocaine users.
These, however, are personal evaluations and observations. A more
rigorously grounded approach would be to gather the responses of a
diverse sample of active and recovering addicts to these films. By gauging
what is deemed genuine and authentic versus false and artificial in their
perceptions, moviemakers and consumption theorists alike would be able
to make better sense of what constitutes addiction.

Notes

1. The author is grateful to Morris Holbrook and Barbara Stern for their comments on
an earlier version of this paper.
2. However, severaJ of the films incorporate alcoholism, and one (The Days of Wine and
Roses) is entirely focused upon alcoholism.
3. For a full interpretation and story synopsis see Denzin (199la).
4. In the present paper, alcoholism is viewed as a manifestation of drug addiction; how-
ever, in all but one of the films analyzed (The Days of Wine ana Roses, 1962), alcohol
is portrayed as a secondary addiction along with a dependency upon a narcotic (e.g.,
heroin) or stimulant (e.g., cocaine).
5. As we shall see, few films treat the childhood of the drug addict. This is unfortunate,
for it conveys the misimpression that addictive behaviors somehow 'spring up* in late
adolescence or early adulthood.
6. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Song.
7. The picture featured Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. It introduced Jack Nicholson
162 E. C. Hirschman

and Karen Black. Peter Fonda served as producer, Dennis Hopper as director; Fonda,
Hopper, and Terry Southern wrote the script.
8. Midler was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance.
9. Due to excessive cocaine use, Jamie's nose has become perforated and is spurting
blood.
10. By this time several popular actors had fallen victim to addiction (e.g., John Belushi,
Chevy Chase, Richard Pryor, Richard Dreyfus).
11. One partial exception is Blair in Less Than Zero. However, Blair's status as a 'genuine'
addict is left uncertain, and her rescue is effected by a man (Clay) and not through
her own willpower.
12. Recall that the film is based on the life and writings of actress Carrie Fisher.

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Elizabeth Hirschman is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers

University in Princeton, N.J. Her principal research interests include interpretive consumer
research and the philosophy of science. Among her publications are The ideology of con-
sumption: A structural-syntactical analysis of Dallas and Dynasty' (1988), 'Secular immor-
tality and the American ideology of affluence' (1990), and The Semiotics of Consumption,
with Morris B. Holbrook (1993).