The Tragic Side of the Hell Raisers

Jon Rowe

Jon Rowe is a full Professor of Business at Mercer County Community College, where he teaches business, law, and legal issues relating to politics. Of course, his views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.

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6 Responses

  1. Glyph says:

    The embed wasn’t working for me, so I switched it out.

    you can function — very often brilliantly — and unfortunately, rely on the drug to function.

    I haven’t watched it, but a friend of mine went to see the Amy Winehouse doc. He said there’s a story in the film where she’s in the UK, sober at the time, learning via cross-Atlantic TV of her Grammy win.

    Her longtime friend asks her if she’s happy, and Winehouse replies how *boring* it all is, without the drink/drugs.

    My friend said it was the first time the anhedonia hurdle of addiction recovery really hit home for him – he was aware of an addict’s physical craving for a drug, but not the mental difficulty in taking sober pleasure or experiencing excitement that results from addiction (and/or, the depression that led to the addiction in the first place).Report

  2. Slade the Leveller says:

    There was a show on Chicago Public radio called Magnificent Obsession that used to air early in the morning on Saturday. Each episode was a tale, told in the first person, of someone’s harrowing addiction to alcohol. Unbeknownst to me, the host, Jim Nayder, was a functioning alcoholic.

    Alas, he drank himself into a very early grave at age 59. Here is the beautiful obituary posted on WBEZ’s website: http://www.wbez.org/sections/health/remembering-annoying-music-show-and-magnificent-obsession-host-jim-nayder-110595Report

  3. Michael Drew says:

    I happened to have just finished watching Birdman just shortly before this post went up (or before I saw it). So it was particularly resonant for me out of coincidence.

    I’ve spent a day trying to think of something intelligent to say linking this meditation on alcohol and the thespian life and the one in that figures in that film. And… nope. Not much there. Other than,

    “Yeah, man. Booze. Wow.”

    I actually kind of thought at the end of the day Birdman was a big pile of fraudulent crap on its own terms (it tries to be a lot more than just a portrait of a troubled actor and fails). But I’d still recommend people dial it up if you can get it for free or a couple bucks, because it’s pretty stark on the interplay of the artist’s life, drink, and madness.Report

  4. Michael Drew says:

    …Also, it makes me laugh to think of Richard Harris drinking just beer at the end of his life. How he must have cursed…Report