Finding the “American Dream” one drug fueled bender at a time
Gonzo Journalism has always sparked a certain curiosity in me. Something about telling a story about your experience with something or at an event to tell a larger story about the thing your covering is such a unique way to conduct journalism. The absolute quintessential piece of Gonzo Journalism in my mind is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Covering the Mint 400 while stoned out of their minds, Raoul Duke (probably a pseudonym for Hunter S. Thompson) and his lawyer Dr. Gonzo (definitely a fake name) pursue the ever elusive “American Dream” and get themselves into a huge mess in the meantime.
The book is a serialization of a two parter from the Rolling Stone. I’ve read the two parter and the book many times (in fact I make a point of reading the book once a year) and every single time I get something new from the experience. Just recently I finished reading the book again and felt a sense of disappointment with the “American Dream” as a concept. America is supposed to be the country of success, but all we see now is our failures put under the microscope by the media. How can you succeed in America if you can’t even know how the next congressional session will go?
It probably sounds crazy that I’m talking about a congressional session when reviewing the tales of the “Doctor of Journalism” and his lawyer friend who most write off in the story as just a foreigner you can’t trust, but that’s kind of the point of this story as a thought provoking piece. The “American Dream” isn’t one dimensional, it isn’t the same for everyone, and what it means to you changes every time you think about it. That’s what I took this last time reading the book.
Dr. Gonzo spends the majority of the book threatening the good Dr. of Journalism with a knife while high on various amounts of mescaline and other drugs. This leads the reader to feel fear for Raoul Duke at times, but then the reader must remember Duke is their with Dr. Gonzo intentionally, this was both of their ideas of a good way to find the “American Dream.” Finding what their looking for and what it means to them was more about the experience of the Mint 400 than the actual race itself.
Of course, like any self respecting journalist would do, after covering the Mint 400 they race over to cover a drug conference full of cops while still out of their minds on all the things they brought with them. A classic “great idea” for any one looking for their answer to the “American Dream.”
When the status quo was wrong, Hunter S. Thompson wanted to fix it
Finding the “American Dream” is what the characters in the story are looking to do on their journeys, but it isn’t really the point of the book from my interpretation. Hunter S. Thompson was a loud critic of the standard quo for life at the time (in case that wasn’t obvious by all the crazy drug stories he told in his works), and he was trying to make a point about the way the world was viewed.
Journalism
Throughout the first part of the book detailing the Mint 400 we see many critiques about the eras journalism. Duke criticizes the other magazine writers for “just doing their jobs and nothing else” periodically. He also mentions seeing many of the writers behave in terrible ways just he like was, but pretending that it wasn’t a part of the story. He even criticizes his own photographer for being a boring guy.
Hunter S. Thompson was trying to make the point that they were all just like him but didn’t want to admit it. They couldn’t write about an authentic experience, because they were all too afraid to. Thompson wasn’t afraid to tell the true experience of people at the Mint 400, and he wasn’t afraid to do his understanding of “real and authentic” journalism.
Drug culture and the “War on Drugs”
In part 2 at the drug convention we see Duke engage with several cops and trick them into believing life is far more deprived then it is. He even convinces one Atlanta based cop that people were eating each other on the streets of LA. He does this after leaving the keynote speakers’ presentation on drug users that is so outdated and inaccurate that it proves the police are well outmatched by the average junkie.
Thompson is trying here to do 2 things, one explain that the cops have no idea what they’re looking for (I mean Duke is doing drugs at the convention), and two he is showing his overall disdain at the police. A theme throughout the book is Duke’s fear of being caught and thrown in jail by the “pigs” after him. It doesn’t take much to find out that throughout his life Thompson had been a critic of the way the police handled drug cases and even ran for public office to legalize drugs (he lost). Thompson really was trying to tell the story of drug use from his own inside perspective, while also criticizing the current attempts to thwart drug users like they were little kids.
This story isn’t for everyone, but everyone should read it
There’s is obviously a lot going on in this book. I detailed some of it above to prove the overall points Thompson was trying to make, but I left even more out. Don’t get me wrong, this is a strange and at times difficult read. The book teeters between drug fueled rages and actual journalism quite frequently which can be difficult to keep straight. Some people might even find a lot of the themes and language off putting, but it is something everybody should experience at least once.
My thoughts are at least read the book or watch the 1998 movie to get the idea. While I think the two part journalistic pieces in Rolling Stone are great, the book is the definitive way to get the story. If this is something that interests you I would highly recommend reading more Gonzo Journalism from the Dr. of Journalism himself. Thompson was a great journalist and author, one can gain a lot of worldly knowledge by reading his works.
Verdict
★★★★
This is one of those reads that cements itself in my mind. I find something new each time I read it that strikes me differently then it had the previous time. Gonzo Journalism is hard to follow, skirts around the point, and is generally too long, but that’s the point and that’s what makes it worth reading. Sometimes the “American Dream” really is the journey and not the destination, and sometimes when you want to make a point about something, the best way is to shock your reader.
Overall: 8/10