History Headscratchers / RequiemForADream

*** I daresay there was, as she wasn't yet having hallucinations at that time.

** Was there even a phone call at all?

* So was the call to Sara from the TV channel real deal or was it a prank?

* So was the call to Sara from the TV channel real or was it a prank?

** Unfortunately that's truth of how it usually goes. Drugs, heroin especially, is not something you just 'quit' especially cold turkey. It's a lifelong struggle they didn't have the support or motive to do it. Maybe they will try to quit now that they have hit rock bottom or double down and stay that way the rest of their short lives.

** Depending on the person, sometimes it's difficult finding a vein. Even the medical field, it's often difficult trying to locate a good vein to tape into for collecting blood and/or injecting medicine and/or IV contrast for CT scans on people (some are easy to find, others not so much). But as mentioned above, Harry wanted to shoot up very fast and being on withdrawals clouded his judgement on looking for another vein to use.

* Perhaps a stupid question, but why didn't the characters ever even consider going cold turkey over the extreme fates they instead sealed for themselves? Addiction can be extremely powerful, yes, but Marion in particular seems to go completely off the deep end very quickly. If she simply bunkered down for a couple of weeks she could kick the habit, at least for as long as the dope drought lasted. Instead she goes to one of the most evil guys in the whole city and immediately sinks into completely degrading herself for drugs, seemingly for the rest of her life.

** As mentioned above, taking heroin in the past will have reduced the pain in the arm, which is probably one reason it took so long for him to notice the infection. Injecting it directly into the wound probably makes twisted sense in his head, as he's aware the drug is a painkiller.

** I thought the same thing, but on a second watch: he's shooting up in a car. He's too addicted to just wait and go somewhere more private, he's got a limited range of movement due to being in the passenger seat and fully clothed, and he's right handed. He can't use his wounded arm to operate the syringe, so that's where the needle has to go in. It could also just be plain ignorance/addled judgment; at that point he's in a lot of pain and he's after the analgesic effect as much as the euphoria, he may be applying it directly to the wound in the hope of getting faster relief. Alternatively, he might think/know that the needle is filthy and he doesn't want to risk spreading the infection to a new site.

* Why did the writers choose to make the characters so unsympathetic (outside of simply being drug users)? Harry abuses his loving grandmother in order for his drug fix and later makes the really smart move of shooting up when his arm is beginning to go gangrenous, Marion squanders the opportunities and money given to her by her privileged (albeit unloving -- although we don't know for sure) parents and has fantastical dreams of making it big when even people with recognized talent are routinely ignored, and Sara delusionally ignores the advice of her son to stop taking her weight-loss pills.
** The whole point of the film was the fact that each of the characters had some sort of addiction which caused them to be delusional and ultimately destroy themselves. Even looking past the whole addiction, we see other things tearing apart the protagonists: Harry and Tyron strive to get money an "easier" way by selling drugs instead of getting real jobs. Marion obviously is ''supposed'' to have overly fantastic dreams of being a designer (which is a difficult job) that she probably wouldn't be able to achieve. She's also kind of a slacker, as it's shown that Harry is the one who pushes her to try and start a shop instead of waiting for it to fall into her lap. And Sara, I can't believe you missed it since it was pretty obvious, but she loves television. Obsesses over it, ''wants to be on it'' so bad. The red dress and the weight loss pills compound her addictions of trying to look good enough to be on it. The whole story is sort of a representation, too, of the seeking of escapism as all of the characters are trying to find ways to avoid life instead of facing it, which causes their ultimate demise.
*** Plus, I don't think Sara is all that unsympathetic? I mean she ignores what Harry says but she seems a little senile before she starts taking drugs and it's implied they've had kind of a rocky relationship, but for the most part she seems like a reasonably nice person if a bit deluded and oblivious, which makes what happens to her even sadder.
** I mean... they're drug addicts. It's a sad irony that while drug addiction is a condition that is certainly worthy of sympathy, it also tends to drive those who are afflicted with it to act in increasingly awful ways that don't exactly encourage sympathy for them. This is the point of the movie.

*** Agreed. ECT has developed a lot from its origins a good 80-something(?) years ago. And anaesthetic was not used, although even in the 70s, there were variations and different ways to use it that the entire psychiatric profession was arguing about. In state institutions, the state of care was downright horrifying and ECT was used as a cure for everything from simple depression to undifferentiated schizophrenia. It was either than or Insulin comas.... which were ''way'' worse. Yeah, psychiatry in America was pretty horrifying back in the day, although the quality of care varied wildly from institution to institution - some private ones were downright wonderful by all accounts. Actually, put in the proper time context and assuming that Sara and Harry are in state hospitals and institutions - which were desperately running on low funds - everything was a pretty bad but realistic portrayal.

* Why did the writers choose to make the characters so unsympathetic (outside of simply being drug users)? Harry abuses his loving grandmother in order for his drug fix and later makes the really smart move of shooting up when his arm is beginning to go gangrenous, Marion squanders the opportunities and money given to her by her privileged (albeit unloving - although we don't know for sure) parents and has fantastical dreams of making it big when even people with recognized talent are routinely ignored, and Sara delusionally ignores the advice of her son to stop taking her weight-loss pills.
** The whole point of the film was the fact that each of the characters had some sort of addiction which caused them to be delusional and ultimately destroy themselves. Even looking past the whole addiction, we see other things tearing apart the protagonists: Harry and Tyron strive to get money an "easier" way by selling drugs instead of getting real jobs. Marion obviously is ''supposed'' to have overly fantastic dreams of being a designer (which is a difficult job) that she probably wouldn't be able to achieve. She's also kind of a slacker as shown that Harry is the one who pushes her to try and start a shop instead of waiting for it to fall into her lap. And Sara, I can't believe you missed it since it was pretty obvious, but she loves television. Obsesses over it, ''wants to be on it'' so bad. The red dress and the weight loss pills compound her addictions of trying to look good enough to be on it. The whole story is sort of a representation, too, of the seeking of escapism as all of the characters are trying to find ways to avoid life instead of facing it which causes their ultimate demise.

* Well, at least Harry has the consolation that he's about to become very rich from suing the doctor and prison. Lord, ''DOCTORS AREN'T ALLOWED TO HAVE PATIENTS ARRESTED'' (unless they're threatening them.)

** 1970s, people. Nowadays, doctors are only allowed to call the police on a patient if they are a distinct danger to themselves or others. This is when there is clear evidence of suicidal or homicidal intentions, or the patient attacks someone. Back then, drug addiction was considered a sort of mental illness that was looked down upon with fear and misunderstanding. It would have been easy for a doctor to call in the cops on a sick junkie back then. Nowadays, Harry could have sued his ass off and been living in heaven. He could also have sued him for malpractice, considering the bastard didn't do anything about an obvious gangrenous and necrotizing lesion - although back in the 1970s, the medical profession kinda sucked. Screw the Hippocratic oath.

** Yeah, it's pretty stupid. Understandable, but stupid. Also, considering the gangrenous and necrotic state of his lesion, I'm surprised he managed to shoot up through the deteriorating and thrombotic veins. Seriously, what a waste, all it is going to do is get trapped in the swelling and inflammation, rather than getting to the spine.

** 1970s, people. Nowadays, doctors are only allowed to call the police on a patient if they are a distinct danger to themselves or others. This is when there is clear evidence of suicidal or homicidal intentions, or the patient attacks someone. Back then, drug addiction was considered a sort of mental illness that was looked down upon with fear and misunderstanding. It would have been easy for a doctor to call in the cops on a sick junkie back then. Nowadays, Harry could have sued his ass off and been living in heaven. He could also have sued him for malpractice, considering the bastard didn't do anything about an obvious gangrenous and necrotizing lesion - although back in the 1970s, the medical profession kinda sucked. Screw the hypocratic oath.

** It takes too much time to search for one. He wanted the shot very fast.

* Couldn't Harry just use another vein? He had lots of them. Or a different spot on that same vein?

* Couldn't Harry just use another vein? He had lots of them.

** Big Tim is a pimp, not a drug dealer. He recruits addicts and uses their addiction as leverage to turn them into hookers.