Table of Contents
Seeing videos and using tobacco weed go with each other like peanut butter and jelly, toddlers and tiaras, pussy and Patron. It is a typical mix for a purpose! But when it arrives to essentially portraying weed, filmmakers have a tendency to fall flat, subbing in 2D stereotypes for nuanced depictions of the world’s most well-liked “illicit” drug and the persons who take in it.
Because I’m aggravating, I have a really hard time suspending my disbelief by means of noticeable mischaracterizations of a drug that so quite a few of us know so perfectly. Sorry, you ripped the bong at the time and experienced complete auditory and visual hallucinations that led to you striving to try to eat your roommate desert-island model? This is not middle university overall health class: I know, and you know that I know, that shit is faux as hell.
My particular favourite stoner character, the just one I come to feel is most true-to-lifestyle, is Anna Faris’s deliciously vacant Jane in Smiley Experience, a motion picture that captures exactly what it feels like to get also large on a working day when you have a large amount of errands to run. She’s paranoid, disoriented, a tiny considerably less eloquent than she thinks she is—to which I say, oh my God saaaaaame. The portrayal, dare I say… strike.
To discover a lot more legitimate-to-daily life pot smokers on the significant display, I asked a several of the coolest, stoniest persons I could believe of about their consider on stoner cinema. There is Rachel Wolfson, comic and formal Jackass. Beca Grimm, founder of feminist hashish neighborhood Graze Club. Zach Harris, cannabis writer and previous budtender. Jessamyn Stanley, yoga trainer and hashish justice/entire body positivity advocate. Trey Smith, VICE producer and our resident awesome man. And writer/editor Sara David. Here’s what they had to say.
What’s your favorite piece of stoner cinema and why?
Harris: I have a several. Sean Penn as Spicoli in Rapid Instances at Ridgemont Higher—the total point of putting weed into a film is to make it a minimal absurd, drag it to an extreme. When he smacks his head with the slip-on Vans and says, “Dude, that is my cranium,” which is the ideal stoner line of any motion picture. Brad Pitt in Genuine Romance is also definitely great in that very same typical way that he’s there just to be stoned and there’s no other character [development].
On the other conclusion of the spectrum, there is a character in that Rian Johnson motion picture Brick, this mob enforcer character who is constantly smoking cigarettes what you believe are cigarettes during the total motion picture. And then at the conclusion, it is really like one particular of these a lot more twists that he’s like, “Oh, no, I do not smoke cigarettes.” And it is really just like, he was smoking weed the whole time, but you never ever realized it or realized it. I considered that was a superior way to do it, exactly where it can be like, Oh, yeah, men and women just smoke weed all the time and you never seriously see.
Wolfson: I enjoy the scene in Knocked Up when Seth Rogen is chatting to his father, Harold Ramis, and his father says, ‘If it grows in the floor, it’s almost certainly Alright.’ I just believed that was this kind of a amazing, refined minute concerning father and son—I by no means forgot about it. And then there’s nonetheless that ingredient in the film of the dumb stoner when the earthquake occurs and the initial factor Seth Rogan grabs is his bong, not his expecting girlfriend. But I Might Wipe out You was one of the very first situations weed was portrayed in a relatable way for me—the key character Arabella takes advantage of it to assistance her creatively, to destress and appreciate her mates. I liked how weed was represented and how she rolled a joint. Then, way earlier, Weeds was amazing. I cherished that it existed and had a impressive female lead, a suburban soccer mom—that does exist, and in this article it is!
Grimm: Really, Melanie in Jackie Brown is residing my aspiration everyday living: camped on the sofa in a bikini with a bong looking at Tv, even while that’s a trope stoners have been fighting for eternally, the entire becoming lazy and sofa-locked matter.
I am not hoping to endorse Woody Allen here—he’s a fucking monster—but Diane Keaton’s eponymous character in Annie Hall is likely the most correct of what I know stoner lifestyle to be. She smokes to chill out, to make dialogue and sex much better. It’s a part of Annie’s regular—if not daily—life, but not what I’d call a defining characteristic. Specially now, weed has absent so mainstream that it looks lazy if not just much too broad to root one’s identity in figuring out as a “pothead.” Weed, to me, is an enhancement, a reward. It can be added glitter and pizazz (and Ok, also medication), not the only factor there is.
Stanley: The scene on Atlanta, Time 2 Ep. 4, when Donald Glover & Zazie Beetz’s characters are smoking cigarettes weed in their vehicle. No massive fuss, just medicating en route to their desired destination. I never even know if the fact that they had been using tobacco weed is at any time truly outlined. Which is the reality of using tobacco weed—it’s just not that large a deal, and everybody does it all the time. I’m talking hyperbolically but you know what I indicate: Consuming hashish is incredibly standard and it is time we progressed beyond these dated stereotypes of what it means to be a stoner.
I want to enjoy issues that assist me appreciate what I love most about being stoned: the emotion of remaining chill, prepared to indulge in enjoyment, and prepared to build on absurdist humor and chortle until I cry. – Sara David
Smith: The first stoner character I actually favored was when I was little. I did not know he was higher all the time, but I realized some thing was up: Bobby from A Goofy Motion picture, Max’s close friend. He was just a neat dude! He had a awesome haircut and cool glasses, but he was definitely on an additional level than all people else was. He was often down to assist out his mates and he just had a great deal of imagination—he built a fucking historic monument after cheese! Soon after I bought more mature, I realized what was up. My girlfriend pointed out that I use the exact same sort of sun shades, so, you know, there is a small subconscious detail there also.
David: When I am stoned, I you should not want to enjoy matters about weed. I really don’t even want to watch documentaries about medication for the reason that it’ll inevitably ship me into a imagined spiral about background and persecution. I want to observe things that aid me take pleasure in what I adore most about getting stoned: the feeling of being chill, all set to indulge in satisfaction, and ready to make on absurdist humor and snicker until I cry. Which is why my favored piece of stoner cinema is just not even about stoners. Pootie Tang is, to me, a stoner motion picture without any weed. It is really just a perfect blend of comedy, absurdism, and delight, all points that are enhanced with weed.
What do motion pictures get wrong about folks who smoke weed?
Smith: In flicks, most people is just blasted out of their brain all the time. The stoner for some reason is viewed as lazy and not willing to subscribe to typical decency and keeping your shit in order in community. Most persons who smoke weed, you really do not even know when they’re using tobacco weed—you just believe they are higher since of previous usage. Fifty percent the time people in opinions below my songs interviews are like, ‘Oh, he is superior as hell!’ No. This is just how I am all the time, men. Sorry to disappoint. And you never see weed smokers donning typical clothes. They’re always dressed like The Dude.
Wolfson: Motion pictures greatly portray weed as a guy issue, and I really don’t consider they portray it precisely. When I was rising up, we experienced How Higher?, Harold & Kumar, Cheech & Chong from my parents’ technology. The stereotypical stoner people in these films characterize a little something you really do not want to be: a lousy pal, a terrible partner, a terrible scholar. And that is not actual, you know? I would like to see stories about how someone experienced to get into weed due to the fact whatever they were being operating in fucked them in excess of, or the kid who had to appear off antidepressants and discovered weed—these are precise tales and I really don’t believe they are currently being represented at all.
Harris: That the governing administration grows great weed. Each and every film has “the government weed.” But if you really know what the government grows, you know the authorities grows the worst weed. Like, there’s a farm in Mississippi that is the only one federally permitted to develop hashish for most cancers individuals and federally funded research… and it is barely recognizable as weed. Also, no a person appreciates how to crystal clear a bong in motion pictures! That is hardly ever been completed.
Stereotypical stoner figures symbolize one thing you never want to be: a negative mate, a lousy companion, a lousy pupil. And that’s not actual, you know? – Rachel Wolfson
Stanley: Movie and tv portrayals of cannabis and the folks who eat it are dated and inaccurate. They seldom showcase the creativity and medicinal benefits that occur from smoking weed and it truly just tends to make the portrayals look foolish.
David: Moreover the simple fact that most stoner flicks star males, I assume the functionality portion is the most inaccurate. Numerous stoners are stoned all working day, together with through their perform shifts, with completely no damaging effect. But I get that that is much less enjoyment to exhibit on movie.
Grimm: Any character who hits a joint is a melt away-out or loser or like the excellent Cher Horowitz said in Clueless, “It is one issue to spark up a doobie and get laced at functions, but it is very another to be fried all day.” Very first of all, it sounds like a narc infiltrating a teen-frequented hot place wrote this line. Next, no, Cher! You can be fried (semi or completely) all working day and live your damn existence. Eventually, non-dudes get large, far too! But that was in 1995. Smoking cigarettes weed is not subversive or hyper-masculine any more. Fucking Martha Stewart hawked lighters alongside Snoop Dogg in a extremely blatantly double-entendre industrial and Goop sells pipes (which are in fact very really excellent). The most monotonous teacher from your substantial college now pops an edible when they come to feel frisky.
What is your most loved thing to watch when you are higher?
David: I enjoy watching points that make me truly feel either smooth-brained with no concerns (no-stakes actuality Tv set like Terrific British Bake-Off or Appreciate Island), that make me laugh right until I cry (I Imagine You Ought to Depart, Pootie Tang), and anything at all that helps make me truly feel deep thoughts, honestly. Occasionally I want to look at a little something nostalgic or psychological since that is how my significant feels that day!
Smith: I love Blue Earth, I adore Bob Ross, King of the Hill… Common stuff, I suppose, practically nothing as well exciting.
Grimm: My spouse and I are major Bravo nerds—particularly Vanderpump Policies, Shahs of Sunset, and the Real Housewives franchises in Potomac and SLC. There is just so much sensory shit popping at when. (My very first-at any time Housewives practical experience was Atlanta, just after a large amount of mushrooms, on a highway excursion in college or university in a lodge room in Dillon, SC. It was way too considerably and I made my good friend turn it off. I’ve progressed because.) Other things: Architecture Digest’s “Open Door” collection I am geographically obligated to like Atlanta but Donald Glover makes it uncomplicated Choose Out with Lisa Ling can make me sense like I am touring without having relocating from the sofa or bed.
Stanley: I am large most of the time and smoke weed all day, so I take pleasure in consuming all media from that point of view. I often like looking at documentaries due to the fact they make me think far more critically and holistically about the globe all around me.
Wolfson: I enjoy any alien stuff—sometimes when I get super substantial I’m like, Alright, let’s set on Historic Aliens. Reality tv, like 90 Day Fiancé or Married at First Sight, due to the fact it is quick to check out from, and—not to be morbid—but in all probability a very good murder documentary.
Harris: Usa Network procedurals. Can’t go erroneous with Monk. I think Monk is secretly for stoners—the only visitor stars they at any time had had been Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg.
Katie Way is a senior employees author at VICE. Stick to her on Twitter.
