Skip to content
1981
Volume 17, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1753-6421
  • E-ISSN: 1753-643X

Abstract

Objects can have rich, complex stories of themselves as items or play a crucial role in telling the tale of another. This article traces the hunting knife from Hunter S. Thompson’s as it is contacted by sources of influence and experiences transitions and re-definitions starting with the original tapes recorded by Thompson during the trip, through his original article and book and continuing to include spec scripts, the final movie script and performances on both stage and screen. The hunting knife plays a significant role in certain scenes across all these mediums, one that is a mix of form vs. function and is so complicated that no visual depiction yet has used the actual knife noted in the text because its appearance does not match the emotional dread conjured by the text. This article engages questions of accuracy and narrative truth as it explores the depiction of the weapon and the complicated interface of object identity and adaptation in the material culture of literature and visual performance.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jafp_00106_1
2024-07-22
2024-10-13
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Anon. (1982), ‘Fear and Loathing in Battersea’, Financial Times, 7 January, p. I15.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ashcroft, R. W. (n.d.), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 17–18), screenplay, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Baudrillard, J. ([1986] 2005), The System of Objects, Brooklyn, NY: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Baxter, M. (1995), Product Design, New York: Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Boatman, S. K. and DeVincentis, D. V. (n.d.), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 21), spec script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Boscagli, M. (2014), Stuff Theory: Everyday Objects, Radical Materialism, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Britton, P. (2021), Design for Doctor Who: Vision and Revision in Science Fiction Television, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Britton, P. and Barker, S. (2010), Reading Between Designs: Visual Imagery and the Generation of Meaning in The Avengers, The Prisoner, and Doctor Who, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Brockett, O. G. and Ball, R. J. (2013), The Essential Theatre, Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cohen, H. R. (n.d.), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 19–20), spec script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Elam, K. (2003), The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama, London: Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Ezra, E. (2017), The Cinema of Things: Globalization and the Posthuman Object, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Gerber, Knives (1969), ‘Gerber Mini-Magnum’, Advert.
  14. Gilliam, T. and Grisoni, T. (1997), Not the Screenplay to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, New York: Applause.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Glazer, M. (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 2), spec script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Gosden, C. and Marshall, Y. (1999), ‘The cultural biography of objects’, World Archaeology, 31:2, pp. 16978.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Gulliksson, H. (2015), Pervasive Design, Umea: Videoiterna.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hahn, H. P. and Weiss, H. (2013), ‘Introduction: Biographies, travels and itineraries of things’, in H. P. Hahn and H. Weiss (eds), Mobility, Meaning & Transformations of Things, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 114.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Hinte, E. van (1997), Eternally Yours: Visions on Product Endurance, Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Jellenik, G. (2017), ‘On the origins of adaptation, as such: The birth of a simple abstraction’, in T. M. Leitch (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3652.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Jordan, P. W. (2000), Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors, New York: Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Joy, J. (2009), ‘Reinvigorating object biography: Reproducing the drama of object lives’, World Archaeology, 41:4, pp. 54056.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Joyce, R. A. and Gillespie, S. D. (2015), ‘Making things out of objects that move’, in R. A. Joyce and S. D. Gillespie (eds), Things in Motion: Object Itineraries in Anthropological Practice, Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press, pp. 319.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Knappett, C. (2013), ‘Imprints as punctuations of material itineraries’, in H. P. Hahn and H. Weiss (eds), Mobility, Meaning and Transformations of Things: Shifting Contexts of Material Culture Through Time and Space, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 3749.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Kopytoff, I. (1986), ‘The cultural biography of things: Commoditization as process’, in A. Appadurai (ed.), The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 6491.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Leussenhop, A. J. Jr. (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 4–5), spec script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Lin, C. (2011), ‘Research in the use of product semantics to communicate product design information’, in M. Kurosu (ed.), Proceedings of the Human Centered Design Second International Conference, HCD 2011, Orlando, FL, 9–14 July, New York: Springer, pp. 55665.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Linson, Art (1980), Where the Buffalo Roam, USA: Universal Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Little, T. (2015), Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sherman Oaks, CA: Top Shelf Productions.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Mankiewicz, F. and Swerdlow, J. L. (2016), So as I Was Saying… My Somewhat Eventful Life, New York: St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. McIver, G. (2021), ‘Michael Chapman’s Rauschenberg: Mise en scène and scenography in Taxi Driver’, in A. Von Rosen and V. Kjellmer (eds), Scenography and Art History: Performance Design and Visual Culture, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 4764.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. McKeen, W. (2008), Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson, New York: W.W. Norton.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Moere, A. V. and Patel, S. (2009), ‘The physical visualization of information: Designing data sculptures in an educational context’, in M. Huang, Q. V. Nguyen and K. Zhang (eds), Visual Information Communication, New York: Springer, pp. 123.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Mormar, M. (1994), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 3), partial script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. New Criminals (1991), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 8, Folder 24), play script, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Nikolaeva, O. (2021), ‘Killed by drones: Embodying live performance scenography’, in A. Von Rosen and V. Kjellmer (eds), Scenography and Art History: Performance Design and Visual Culture, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 85100.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Nuttall, N. (2007), ‘Cold-blooded journalism: Truman Capote and the non-fiction novel’, in R. Keeble and S. Wheeler (eds), The Journalistic Imagination: Literary Journalists from Defoe to Capote and Carter, London: Routledge, pp. 13044.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. O’Brien, M. (2010), My Week at the Blue Angel, Las Vegas, NV: Huntington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Olsen, B., Shanks, M., Webmoor, T. and Witmore, C. (2012), Archaeology: The Discipline of Things, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Parsons, T. (2009), Thinking: Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design, Worthing: AVA Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Peer, L. H. (2009), ‘Introduction: Romanticizing the object’, in L. H. Peer (ed.), Romanticism and the Object, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 17.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Shen, T. (1991), ‘On stage: Fear and loathing in commedia dell’arte’, Chicago Reader, 14 November, https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/on-stage-fear-and-loathing-in-commedia-dellarte/. Accessed 15 September 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Spielberg, S. (1981), Riders of the Lost Ark, United States: Paramount Pictures.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Stavans, I. (ed.) (1996), Oscar Zeta Acosta: The Uncollected Works, Houston, TX: Arte Público Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Steadman, R. (2006), The Joke’s Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson and Me, San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Inc.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Stein, L. (1987), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam Collection (Box 7, Folder 18), screenplay, Boston, MA: Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Stein, L. (2006), ‘Selected Productions’, https://www.loustein.co.uk/productions/index.htm. Accessed 15 September 2021.
  48. Thompson, H. (1971a), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, New York: Vintage Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Thompson, H. (1971b), ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Part 1)’, Rolling Stone, 11 November, pp. 3648.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Thompson, H. (1971c), ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Part 2)’, Rolling Stone, 25 November, pp. 3850.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Thompson, H. (1979), The Great Shark Hunt, New York: Simon & Schuster.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Thompson, H. (1983), The Curse of Lono, New York: Bantam.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Thompson, H. (2000), Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, New York: Simon & Schuster.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Thompson, H. (2008), The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, audio recording, Los Angeles, CA: Shout Factory.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Veltruský, J. (1940), ‘Man and object in the theater’, in P. L. Garvin (ed.), A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure and Style: Selected and Translated from the Original Czech, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, pp. 8391.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Wenner, J. S. and Seymour, C. (2007), Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson, New York: Back Bay Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Wilkie, C. (2018), ‘The doctor is in’, in D. Streitfeld (ed.), Hunter S. Thompson: The Last Interview and Other Conversations, Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing, pp. 5574.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Winston, M. (2014), Gonzo Text: Disentangling Meaning in Hunter S. Thompson’s Journalism, Bern: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Woolley, A. (2014), ‘The Lou Stein extended interview’, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 21 August, https://www.broadwaybaby.com/news/lou-stein/546. Accessed 15 September 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jafp_00106_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/jafp_00106_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): attributes; combat; design; Gonzo literature; symbolism; weaponry
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error