Limitless was a wonderful and intriguing movie to watch, I really enjoyed it. This movie was especially intriguing because in so many ways Bradley Cooper’s character, Eddie reminds me much of myself: lazy, distracted, and hence not working to his maximum potential. Like me, Eddie seeks some foreign substance or maybe I should say some outside tool to make him a better person much like myself. I use chess, prayer, spending my spare time reading news articles in the Washington Post that do not interest me in the least bit all in an attempt to become a “better me” and access my virgin potential (because it has never been touched) because I am told that is what I am supposed to do much like Eddie does in the movie, he also goes outside of himself to be the best he can be. But making this observation about myself and watching the movie lead me to ask the question why. Why do I play chess and read in my spare time to be a better me? Why does Eddie use a pill to be a better him? I excelled just well last semester without ever having touched a King, Queen, or Bishop let alone actually playing a game of chess. I had straight A’s last semester, a 4.0 without reading the NY Times or Washington Post ONCE but I do these things now because society, the culture I live in, the people I surround myself with, and even some of the films I watch say that in order for me to be that successful and it make sense then these are the things someone of my class must do; these are activities that “smart” people do and in some way I feel like these are things I should do to maintain my success, to complete a look, and also to take my intelligence and awareness to a higher level, simply to fulfill the idea of what it means to be intelligent in this society and awareness the very same way that Eddie does, he is seeking to fulfill an idea that is pre-established. Now granted it is not shown to us that Eddie reflects on his life the same way I do nor does he actually labor to achieve the success that he does; he simply pops a pill and becomes Superman of his world but the he and I share a common motive: we want to be successful. But how do we know what successful is? How do we know how to be successful? Adorno’s and Horkheimer’s essay help me to answer these questions. We and I mean Eddie and myself have an understanding of what success is based on what we see in our day to day lives. Society, culture, film, media, the CEOs that produce what we consume establish a set definition of what success is but we all know that there are still some free thinkers in the world who define their own success, but we as consumers also perpetuate the cycle of producer and consumer and what is and can be consumed. Consider us wanting to be successful, success can only continue to be considered success as we know it (money, cars, nice clothes, rich friends, etc…) so long as we the people continue to support this stigma, so long as we continue to do what has been outlined for us to do in order to achieve this kind of success which may include going to college, working a six figure job, hanging out in Georgetown with the who’s who of Washington or modeling our lives after Olivia Pope. For Eddie, it involved making a lot of money as quickly as possible and understanding as much as possible in a given amount of time. Eddie even says it to his girlfriend in one scene that he is only using NZT so that he can make it out of his old life and they can live a better life more or less, and what I am saying is that his desire for a better life is fueled by his culture’s implications of what it means to be successful.
In addition, I also liked this movie because it had a deeper meaning than other movies that flood U.S. theaters as a form of entertainment. As it is said in the essay, “…culture industry remains the entertainment business.” (pg. 1229) which is very true, this movie is a form of entertainment but at the same time it also informs us, well at least it did for me. I think Eddie serves as a symbol of people everywhere who seek a quick way to the top as opposed to taking their time and achieving gradual success and people who struggle with a substance abuse problem. Eddie is an example of someone who seeks the quick and easy way out because he digest a drug that enhances his performance so that he does not have to reach within himself to find whatever it is he needs to perform the tasks that he does while “high” off the effects of NZT. He does not search within himself for his ability to focus or use all of his knowledge nor does he use natural resources such as reading finding an alternative job to pay his rent for example, he simply uses the drug as a way out which simultaneously establishes a substance abuse problem. I think this movie was exceptionally brilliant in its portrayal of Eddie as someone with an addiction to drugs. It was exceptional because number one, the drug of choice is not a common drug and it actually does help enhance the body versus a common drug like heroine that does the body more harm than good nonetheless NZT is still a drug. The movie did a wonderful job in showing the negative effects of drugs; oftentimes people get so wrapped up in the pleasure effects drugs have on people they can forget how it can negatively effect the human body. I make this judgment based on my generation, I live in a generation of “I popped a molly now I’m sweating. Woooo!” and “I’m on that good kush and alcohol…” ingrained in the minds of my fellow generation members as easily as their ABCs so yes it is very evident that many people only focus on the pleasing effect of drugs and forget about its risks and this movie is a wonderful depiction of of how drugs only offer temporary pleasure but eventually a person will crash and how a person’s day to day function depends on the presence or absence of a drug.
