MovieChat Forums > X (1963) Discussion > A parable for LSD?

A parable for LSD?

posted 18 years ago by deliriousTremens
17 replies | jump to latest

Just wondering how many other people saw this movie as a parable for the mind expanding effects of acid? This was actually the first thing I thought twenty minutes into the flick, but I haven't seen anyone else noticing the parallels... No one else noticed this? I mean, why is it a drug that causes x-ray vision? Why is he worried about cumulative effects? And why doesn't it stop with looking through peoples clothes, but continue on to a vision of god? And why are there so many psychedelic effects? Just wondering if anyone else saw this...

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[–] jakewashere 18 years ago

Interesting. Never thought about that angle - I felt, as Stephen King apparently does, that it was more of an homage to Lovecraft...

[–] efrasnel-1 17 years ago

There is a groovy party atmosphere a la Playboy after Midnight in some scenes...

[–] kcdee 17 years ago

Yes, I saw this too. Or just a look at addiction in general.
I also saw it as a metaphor for lots of things, even psychotherapy.
I think the psychodelic aspects were from seeing into atoms, which are constantly moving in everything around us but of course the normal human eye cannot see.

[–] Xcalat3 16 years ago

yeah specially the colors he sees

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[–] Puvwall (1460) 2 years ago

Yes

[–] ElitistScum 15 years ago

No, it is not. And neither is Alice in Wonderland for that matter, nor nearly any other film which has unusual visuals and/or out of this world themes. One sees these kinds of threads in the boards of such films all the time and it is rarely more than a failed attempt to appear intelligent by sapless teenagers. In truth, there are hardly any movies at all which are true allegories for drug use... but people see what they like to see, no matter how silly it is.

[–] JesseOL 14 years ago

Roger Corman wanted to make a film about LSD, but the studios would only back him if the moral was that drugs were bad, and he wasn't sure that was the film he wanted to make, thus he changed the drug, and the lead from a jazz musician to a scientist, but the drug references are still there, this can be interpreted as a LSD parable, thinly veiled.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Veronica65 12 years ago

I definitely thought the same thing. It seems like the "X" drug was inspired by LSD.

[–] churchr-1 11 years ago

"I definitely thought the same thing. It seems like the "X" drug was inspired by LSD."

I was *on* acid the first time I saw it and still didn't get the connection. I missed a lot of details in those days.

[–] SpacemanBob 11 years ago

All Corman wanted from his films was to make a profit. He made a real good film with a social commentary called The Intruder with Wm. Shatner that lost money and he gave up on making films trying to send a message

[–] scotpens 11 years ago

Although LSD was first synthesized in 1938 and there were experiments with the drug in the 1950s, most of the general public had never heard of LSD until 1967 -- the start of the hippie movement and the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It's unlikely that Corman would have had the prescience to be thinking of LSD in 1963.

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[–] MystMoonstruck 9 years ago

Well, he might have thought of LSD considering that William Castle includes the drug in "The Tingler" (1959), in which Vincent Price's scientist takes a dose in order to summon the titular creature.

(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC

[–] Costumer (1834) 2 years ago

Having just recently re-seen the Tingler, exactly what scene had Price taking any drug at all. He doesn't summon the Tingler. He extracts from the dead body of Martha Ryerson Higgins. He sees it, Ollie sees it. No one takes any drugs.

You may be conflating some other film.

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[–] grizzledgeezer 9 years ago

I have no problem with interpreting the film as a comment on psychedelic drugs, whether or not it was intentional.

Why shouldn't (you should excuse the expression, with respect to Corman's oeuvre) a work of art be open to multiple interpretations?

[–] gribfritz2 9 years ago

I agree because of all of your points, plus one additional nagging question. The drug worked, he was able to see very far into things. Experiment over, no? Of course not, because he was addicted and needed to keep taking more and more to see further and further.