History Headscratchers / RequiemForADream

*** You're forgetting that, once again, this was written in the seventies; back then, ECT was basically used for everything and the doctors didn't really know how to utilize the technology effectively. Back then ETC usually WAS brutal and sadistic.

** Right, because Junkies are renowned for making reasonable well thought-out life choices. Look up the definition for addiction when you get a chance.

* So "Little John" won't sell his drugs but will trade them for sex? Does he realize that he can use the money made from selling them to buy all the hookers he wants?

** Not that it matters, because the main characters end up running out of money anyway.

** Didn't the cops arrest Tyrone for fleeing jurisdiction, and it wouldn't take much of a stretch to implicate Harry, seeing as he's actively helping a criminal flee jurisdiction in addition to the myriad of other crimes he could be implicated with?

** He seems to be doing well enough for himself as it is, maybe he's just such a rich bastard that he doesn't need to sell drugs.

** Not to mention that the purist (and most) heroin in the US comes in to New York and Newark Harbors, the absolute farthest Harry and Tyrone would have to go is across the Hudson bridge and over into Newark.

** 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 passed the whole addiction we see other things tearing apart the protagonists: Harry and Tyron's strives 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 HAVE PATIENTS ARRESTED'' (unless they're threatening them.)

** It could be a power thing; he doesn't want women he can just buy off the street, he wants to control the women who need what he's offering.

* So "Little John" won't sell his drugs but will trade them for sex? Does he realize that he can use the money made from selling them to buy all the hookers he wants?

* So "Little John" won't sell his drugs but will trade them for sex? Does he realize that he can use the money made from selling it to buy all the hookers he wants?

* 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 HAVE PATIENTS ARRESTED'' (unless they're threatening them.)

** Yeah, I didn't buy that at all. I think a few months on speed is too short a time to have any permanent effects from it. It also bugs me that this film presents ECT as something sadistic and brutal when it's actually [[humane and effective http://www.slate.com/id/2181158/]]. (In real life she would have been anesthetized.)

** They dilate very quickly because of the pain of shooting up, afterwards they constrict to a pin-point in the manner that you describe. You have to admire the attention to detail in this movie.

** They dilate very quickly because of the pain of shooting up, afterwards they constrict to a pin-point in the manner that you describe.

* In the quick cut scenes when the characters use heroin, their pupil (black hole in the iris) dilates (expands) rapidly; opioids like heroin make your pupils constrict to a pin-point.

* In the quick cut scenes when the characters use heroin, their pupil (black hole in the iris) dilates (expands)rapdily; opioids like heroin make your pupils constrict to a pin-point.

** 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 passed the whole addiction we see other things tearing apart the protagonists: Harry and Tyron's strives 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.

** 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 passed the whole addiction we see other things tearing apart the protagonists: Harry and Tyron's strives 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 love 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.

** Written in the Seventies.

* 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) 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.
** Right, because Junkies are renowned for making reasonable well thought-out life choices. Look up the definition for addiction when you get a chance.

* 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) 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.

* Is shock therapy really the standard procedure for patients disoriented by drugs? Or was that put in the film just for its horror value?

* 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 (when he could've gone to the ER and be protected by patient privacy rights), Marion squanders the opportunities and money given to her by her privileged (albeit unloving - although we don't know for sure) 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.