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The Evolution of Addiction Portrayal in American Cinema: Culture and Morality

This essay explores the portrayal of drug use and addiction in American film, analyzing how these representations have evolved over time. It examines whether depictions are sensationalized or sympathetic and what they reveal about cultural attitudes towards addiction. The paper discusses the historical influence of the Motion Picture Production Code on filmmaking and reflects on the responsibility of art to uphold moral standards. Through examples like “Reefer Madness,” it highlights shifts in viewer perception and the artistic choices made in response to censorship.

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The Evolution of Addiction Portrayal in American Cinema: Culture and Morality

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Addiction and Film They Say, I Say Chapter 10

  2. Quickwrite #8 • Think of a portrayal of drug use, alcohol use, or addiction that you have seen on film or television. Was the portrayal sensationalized? (Trying to shock the audience.) Was it sympathetic? Funny? Realistic? What do you think that this portrayal of addiction says about the attitudes of the artists who produced it and the culture who watches it?

  3. “Addiction and Recovery in American Film” p. 335 • According to the author, how has the depiction of drug use in American film changed over time? • What do these changes tell us about how our culture thinks about drug use and addiction? How do these changes mirror changing attitudes/ideas?

  4. The question of censorship • In paragraph 6, Hall states that the Motion Picture Production Code “upheld moral standards and opposed crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin. Moviemakers dutifully followed these rules” (335). • The big question here is whether or not it is the responsibility of a piece of art to “uphold moral standards.” The writers and enforcers of the code were operating under that assumption (and were also afraid of federal regulation). What do you think?

  5. “Thou Shalt Not” – Photograph by A. L. Schafer “In 1934 the MPAA voluntarily passed the Motion Picture Production Code, more generally known as the Hays Code, largely to avoid governmental regulation. The code prohibited certain plotlines and imagery from films and in publicity materials produced by the MPAA. Among others, there was to be no cleavage, no lace underthings, no drugs or drinking, no corpses, and no one shown getting away with a crime. A.L. Schafer, the head of photography at Columbia, took a photo that intentionally incorporated all of the 10 banned items into one image. The photograph was clandestinely (secretly) passed around among photographers and publicists in Hollywood as a method of symbolic protest to the Hays Code” (Jordan).

  6. Reefer Madness Poster This is a poster for one of the films discussed in the essay. It was released in 1936. What do you notice about this poster? What message does it seem to be sending about its subject of marijuana use? Keep in mind that this poster was released during the “Code Era,” when there were strict rules about how drug use, sex, and violence could be depicted in film.

  7. Chapter 10 of They Say / I Say • What is metacommentary? Why do authors sometimes feel the need to include it in their writing? • What is a section of your research paper where you might need to explain to your readers how to read it in order to avoid confusion or misunderstanding?

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