Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
by Hunter S. Thompson

Most people here have either read or seen Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. I've seen it a dossen times, and read the book maybe 5 times. But i still find it to be one of the most difficult stories to comprehend. There are a million meanings in it. As Thompson intended it, it's about the death of the sixties. Whatever it meant.

To me it's mostly about right and wrong, and the non-existense of either one. And it's very much about the american (mainstream global) culture and way of life (largely the rules and laws of it). Duke and Dr Gonzo are a couple of criminals. Neither of them have any respect of authority, both of them are completely twisted on drugs throughout the story. And yet, these are the only two characters in it that seem normal. It's everyone else around them that appears crazy, once you've seen things from their perspective. Why inforce your own normality on two people who want no part of it?

A great metaphore for the american culture is the scene in the casino right before Dr Gonzo is in the bathtub. Raul Duke bets on a wheel of fortune thing, hoping to get rich. But he loses, and says "It's alright, learn to enjoy losing". Wich is what the american dream is about. Winning, and being better than others. And if you're not a winner, you're a loser. But you can't ever learn to enjoy losing, because then there would be no point in winning. Gonzo and Duke are outside this "system".

They're insane, sometimes violent, disobedient, drugged, and careless. But at the same time, they are neither of these things (from their perspective). If you are born disobedient, then how would you know it unless somebody tries to empose rules on you? If you are insane, how would you know it unless somebody tells you what's sane? So the message to me is mostly that nothing is good or bad. It's a story of a culture clash. The american (mainstream global) culture versus the drug/anarchist culture. And what gives the american culture the ability to call the drug culture criminal and outlaw, when the drug culture willingly chooses to not care about the rules. It's like playing a football game, and trying to punish the people watching it on TV because they're not on the field playing.

I'm looking for a concrete way to describe Fear and loathing, if such a thing is possible. Say what you think the book is about. What's it's point? Either way, i think it's impossible to overanalyze a great story like this.

sorry the point was gonzo journalism

Gonzo journalism is a style.

And sometimes style is all the point you need;)!

But that's the wonderful thing about literature; it can take on so many meanings, both intended, and unintended What the author may have intended may not even come across as what most people understand it to be. That was what I hated about high school english classes. You were told what the meaning was 'supposed to be', and challenging that model meant lower grades if not outright failure.

The 60's were a turning point in the USA, as well as other places on our Brave New World - Internet connected Earth.

The 1960's showed the micro-managing idiots who run things like the War Machine that we, the people, can and will stand up and walk away and form a new society. Hunter S. Thompson saw that wave. He rode it. And he did his best to describe it. Now history has come full circle again. It's not Vietnam, it's Iraq. It's not civil rights for Blacks, it's for gays. It is a time of division here in the USA. From this division we will either make a better nation we can be proud of - or all end up in prison for not thinking the "Right Way."

Good luck.

One of his ever last statements was interesting-
" The end of the American century" with politics in mind, rough times ahead

Whatever else, this book is hilarious.

In many aspects he was right in stating that the fantastic peak of the middle sixties would never return. If you paid any attention to his coverage of life in America leading up to his death, you would realized he seriously questioned America and from his apect babies were being born in to more depraved times.

Pretty damned hard to explain that to typical idiots, though. People raised in such a crazy nation think it's about as difficult to make sure Little Ghengis wears his Kevlar-Vest to school - as June Cleaver worried about The Beaver getting mud in his socks.

People acclimate to insanity.

Hunter S Thompson is my fucking hero. I'll be sure to pick this one up if I ever see it.

And I agree with nagogng totally, people never learn from history, if it's not prohibition it's the war on drugs, if it's not vietnam it's iraq. This country has made me misanthropic with all the shit that happens here every day.

Re: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dre
 

i haven't read the book, so i'm not an expert on it obviously but i've seen the movie
and no to challenge your interpretation, but when Dr. Gonzo picks up the girl and Raul Duke tells him she has to leave, isn't that right?
i mean you say they have different views of right and wrong
i agree, but i think it overlaps with those of mainstream American society.
deep down, all sane human beings have this code or rules they follow.
i like to believe it's like instincts, and the purity of youth that, although left with puberty, still left a profound effect on them.
it's like we have these rules ingrained in our brains
i know there are those that don't follow by those rules, but, although i can't say i'm an expert on psychology, i believe they probably had a bad childhood or are insane. or both
That's just my input, and it's up for discussion