Pubdate: Wed, 21 Mar 2001
Source: Ubyssey (Canada)
Contact:  http://www.ubyssey.bc.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/706
Author: Greg Amos

MOVIES ABOUT MARIJUANA AND OTHER EVILS

EPHEMERAL DEVIANCE at the Blinding Light!! Mar. 20 and Mar. 21

Imagine yourself as a typical middle-class suburban teenager of the 1950s. 
It's a sunny afternoon, your high school social studies class is about to 
start watching a reel-to-reel film. Up until now you were blissfully 
unaware of the dangers of drugs, depression, and poor judgement, but that's 
all about to change...

Ephemeral Deviance is an assemblage of these socially-relevant 1950s and 
1960s educational films that feature stories of teenage "DRUG ADDICTION," 
persons undergoing "PSYCHOLOGICAL TURMOIL," a man named "DICK SMITH: DRUG 
ADDICT," and a hasty marriage that is "DOOMED TO FAIL."

This collection strikes at the heart of many modern social commentaries. 
With their 1950s moralistic themes, these films more than implied that 
conforming to the norm is the safe path, while deviations from socially 
determined standards lead one down a slippery slope indeed.

More propaganda than education, these films are fun to watch.

I especially enjoyed trying to determine what special interests were at 
work behind the scenes. Each movie had its own distinct and peculiar angle 
of critique; the films' different filters on essentially the same society 
made for an interesting glimpse into the ideologies of 1950s America (and 
Canada).

In Drug Addiction, the naive young protagonist makes the well documented 
transition from MARIJUANA CIGARETTES to HEROIN in just a few months, 
starting as a user, and soon enough, becoming 'the pusher.' He finds that 
DRUG ADDICTION is really a bad thing, as he has tremendous difficulty in 
rebuilding his life after former friends shun him. The proposed solution to 
ending tragedies like these?

A WAR ON DRUGS, to get all the pushers thrown in jail.

Your Psychological Turmoil is the story of an unassertive young woman who 
experiences chronic TURMOIL (such as headaches, depression, and constant 
fatigue) in her daily life. The individual is not the focus of the blame in 
this film-the problem is traced back to the parents, who "train" their 
daughter too well, crushing her spirit.

As a little girl competing for her parents' attention with her younger 
sister, she dances around, trying to get noticed. Her mother just eyes her 
contemptuously, and says coldly: "Nobody likes a showoff." Using flashbacks 
and a quasi-scientific rationality not unlike James Burke's method of 
deduction on Connections, this film had a remarkably modern, intelligent 
take on the situation causing TURMOIL in the first place.

Dick Smith: Drug Addict was the lone Canadian entry in the lineup.

Heroin addict DICK SMITH goes really nuts under the effects of DRUG 
WITHDRAWAL. While in prison, he advises a convict played by Bruno Gerussi 
(previous to his role as Nick Adonidas on CBC's Beachcombers) to stay away 
from heroin, before he himself spirals back into a narcotic skydive.

The twisted psychotic derangements make poor Dick undergo sick-looking 
contortions, leading him to bash his head repeatedly against his cell wall, 
unequivocally demonstrating the rigours of his withdrawal.

Doomed to Fail was probably the best film shown.

In it, a young academic researcher falls for THE WRONG GIRL-a simplistic, 
spontaneous, and energetic woman who could never fit into his world of high 
society.

Their future demise is foreshadowed ominously throughout the film, from 
Ken's panicked objection to Winnie picking flowers, to Winnie's insistence 
that stubborn Ken should write books for fame and fortune.

This film features possibly some of the most brutal dialogue ever written, 
as seen by the modern viewer.

Lines such as "I want to die before you, Ken!" and "If you didn't love me, 
I'd kill you, Winnie!" are delivered with such earnest glee, one would 
think these two psychos are the ONLY matches for each other.

Despite the simplistic moralising undercurents, there are some inescapable 
good points made about drug addiction and neglected children.

Despite the twisted spins on reality presented in these films, it wouldn't 
be hard to imagine yourself back in the 50s high school classroom, taking 
it at face value-who could blame the Silent Generation for harbouring such 
irrational prejudices about social homogenisation and normalcy?

This was a time before "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll,"; there were few 
outlets for counterculture to show an alternative view of things.

So did these films work educationally? Not for me, but I'm not so sure 
about some of our parents...
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MAP posted-by: Beth