Genuis 'round the world stands hand in hand, and one shock of recognition runs the whole circle 'round

I've been reading a lot of Hunter S. Thompson lately. I'll admit I had nothing more than a passing familiarity going into it. To me he was simply a paranoid sociopath, wandering around in a drug-induced stupor, absolutely wreaking havoc in the City of Sin. Or at least that was how he was portrayed in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A movie, coincidentally (or so I thought), made by one of my favorite directors, Terry Gilliam.

When it comes to pop culture, I tend to shy away from bombastic, in-your-face displays of outrageousness. A whisper gets the point across more powerfully than a full-throated yell. I've never really bought into the whole "are you shocked because you should be, or because of the close-minded culture into which you have been indoctrinated since birth" argument. Maybe it's not really an "argument", but what would you call it? "Genre"? How about simply "thing"? The Fight Club mentality (not so much in reference to the book/movie, but more to the groups of idiots who popped up in their wake actually beating the shit out of each other for fun). So anyway, I laughed superficially at F & L in LV (the movie incarnation) and never got around to reading the book, thinking it wasn't my cup of tea.

Gilliam's movies all share certain themes. They are all about the fine line separating reality from fantasy. What's real and what's not? And how do we know? Can we believe in something so much that the truth becomes irrelevant? Often these themes are coupled with questions into the sanity of the characters. Is reality (and thus sanity) absolute or simply a matter of perception? Watching F & L in LV, I wondered whether the man-eating lizards and demoniacal freakouts were real, imagined or somewhere in between, but pretty much left it at that.

Upon reading the book, however, it's not about outrageous behavior and sanity. It's about Las Vegas itself, to be sure. But also about the drug culture, the impetus behind it and society's misplaced and ill-timed reaction to it. It's about class and social status. And all the while it is hilarious and effortlessly written. The themes from Gilliam's work are still there, it is unclear what is real and what isn't, but this is really not the point. There is a fine line between what's real and what isn't. And sanity is a matter of perspective. But only to a point. There is also an underlying truth that comes through, thanks in part to the juxtaposition of the good doctor's extreme behavior with everyone else's. Thompson uses similar techniques in some articles, like "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," but he's not a one trick pony. His articles lacking these drug-addled shenanigans are just as effective.

The one constant is that he cared about what he wrote. Maybe he was a bit out there, but he was passionate about life and he was passionate about writing. He didn't just write to meet a page limit or make a buck. He wrote about what he cared about. His style is efficient, almost elegant in its simplicity, yet his is a unique voice. He's a journalist, writing accurately and passionately about the world around him, yet he can do so with effortlessly flowing prose that is almost too fantastical to believe.