Eddie Morra has the world by the balls, or at least he feels like it, save for those troubling side effects of NZT. Having been treated to a depressing lunch by a condescendingly kind ex, and recognized wandering through the streets by his ex-brother-in-law living his unfocused, unmotivated, drug and alcohol addled life out of a fleabag in NY, he feels like there is nowhere to go but up. Then he discovers NZT ,which seems like almost a kind of meth* for rich people- and he is suddenly endowed with what looks to be almost magical mental powers, he learns to speak any language, gets any chick, kicks anyone’s ass, out-thinks any situation, makes tons of money and does so in an aging-ex-druggie-loser-turned Equllibrium/Matrix-pretty-boy-Matthew McConaughey/Gavin Newsom hybrid with super-blue contact lenses kinda way-even getting the better of De Niro. There’s a few plot flaws that are glaring enough for most to say ‘how could he have not thought of that?’ but those may have been intentional- which poses a challenge to the movie’s title, if it is indeed limitless after all-because magic pill or not, you are still you- even when you think you have overthought it all.
Ok, that said… NZT seems to also create a Hollywood version of what is now called bi-polar disorder, previously called manic-depression. This film is disturbing – but not surprising-the striving to make desirable ‘enhanced’ qualities one gets from drugs- and a state that mimics what people feel like who have manic-depression, not super-ability- I prefer this to the ‘bi-polar’ as it seems more descriptive- as most of us go through highs and lows but we have some ability to regulate ourselves either by various means, external or internal- friends, sports,hobbies, volunteering, creative outlets…but the M/D people don’t seem to have that resource though they go to great lengths to hide it- when they can.
Here the idea is reinforced that we need to be falsely ‘improved’ and that improvement is magical, pharmaceutical and extreme- real life is sucky, shyttty and generally demoralizing and humiliating as well as the portrayal of yet another white male- gaining self-acceptance, success, attention while on said pharmaceutical/magic powers crap behaving as if he is manic much of the time yet perceiving that as having control and feeling great-it is to testosterone appeal what I suppose those ‘are you sad?’ zoloft-type ads are for women,where one minute you are in bed practically comatose and crying, or staring past your kids at some geraniums that are wilting before your eyes- the next you are dining on some tropical beach with a freakin’ silver fox. Right.
There is also a very sneaky meta-message…that a lot of guys are Eddie Morra before, and you , the viewer- are probably one of them. It is not the message of Bond or what I call action-d*ck -a/d films, where the viewer is in on the fun. It is meant for the viewer to identify with pre-NZT Eddie, the Eddie who has been twice-dumped, can’t work or pay his rent, and when the shit wears off, always has effed up hair and is somehow way less pretty than the ‘after’ Eddie. Thus it can’t be lumped in with white guy feel-good a/d films or even Mad Men-ish middle-agey, old-timey feel-good stuff.
Nope, none of those guys in those type shows started off as a loser than I remember. None of those guys got anything because of dope- Rx or otherwise. None of those guys had to morph into anything magically to be, do or get anything. Point being, the new Eddie- however pretty- is not really even cyborgishly hawt even fake improved-because At The End of The Day, Eddie is no more than a commercial for white guy bad self-esteem, and probably for that very reason, left me only wanting to sniff the scent of new car leather more than Ed’s nifty NZT sweat..Eddie, you are not The One.
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Addendum to the anon email> Yes, I have posted in the wee hours prob from too much coffee intake, but no, I don’t have m/d- my blood pressure is low, my heart rate is low. I don’t like planes or roller coasters, most of the time logy and calm to a fault, don’t think I could even fake manic.
No, I am not making fun of the people that have ‘it’, meaning they don’t have terrific control of regulating their mental state and all the various minutiae of brain parts that usually do a lot of this on their own. Yes, I have made fun of the excessive use of definitions in the DSM as they do seem overly applied to white people especially ( and especially those with generous insurance) and if you have a DSM you know how much is continally added to it and how much seems ridiculous – and yes I think people are over-diagnosed and Rx’d- but- if people really need it I’m not against it at all and they should make whatever informed choice is best for them and not feel any kind of shame that would stop them from getting help or cause them to try to self-medicate , or seek help for the self-medicating and not the real problem.
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*No, I don’t do or am on any drug(s), Rx or otherwise aside from the occasional ibuprofen, caffeine and nicotine and any cinnamon hot candies- and never tried meth, you can pee test me any time. If you have come this far I have a surprise in your cracker-jack box from stuff I have been reading that is oh yeah so chock full o’ corn-syrup-fueled hatery goodness (and scary pictures)…brought to you once more by Dino’s Deli, home of the Darth Evader 5 ft sub- come to the dark side, we have baklava!
The Spoils of War 