i originally posted this as a response to another interpretation by "tawdryhepburnon," who, i believe, made many valid points. i'm sorry if i'm breaking the rules by re-posting it but i feel that it's important to note that addiction has it's own language.
i disagree with you on a few points.
you wrote: "Smith is a "Method actor" because he is getting inside the 'character' of Elliott Smith by relapsing on drugs because he cannot write without them."
the dictionary definition of method acting is: "a dramatic technique in which actors identify as closely as possible with the character played by correlating experiences from their personal lives to the character."
he is a "method actor" because his work is a catalog of his personal pain.
in reference to the lines:
"Open your parachute and grab your gun"
you wrote, "Smith feels at war with himself, so he extends the acting metaphor from before to imply that his 'method acting' of heroin addiction is part of his audition for a war movie."
actually, parachuting is a way to do meth. you put a little dab in a bit of tissue or piece of toilet paper and swallow it. the term "gun" refers to a syringe (i.e. happiness is a warm gun).
lastly, in reference to the lines,"
"It don't matter because I have no sex life
All I want to do now is inject my ex-wife
I've seen the movie
And I know what happens"
you wrote: "He feels emasculated because he cannot function sexually and now he is being penetrated by the feminine heroin. The movie metaphor, a reference to living near Hollywood, his music appearing in films and the perceived 'glamor' of heroin in media, continues."
i don't believe the first two lines have anything to do with emasculation/penetration, but rather the fact that when you have a hardcore dope habit you are married to it. it's what you go to work for. it's what you center your life around.
furthermore, the last two lines are a reference to the movie "trainspotting" which doesn't glamorize heroin use in anyway. unless dead babies and dead friend with aids are glamorize.
i appreciate your attention to detail but i believe you have to have had an up close and personal relationship with smack to get a lot of the references.
I agree almost totally with your last statement, there. It's not something that you can analyze through a window (though Travolta did a pretty damn good job in a role that probably did its part, along with Kurt C, Layne, heroin chic,. and all the rest, not in glamorizing heroin, because it almost all ends in death even in those portraits real or not, but in accidentally giving it a "cool" taboo kind of image and turning on a good portion of the 18-24 "Haven't quite entirely figured their life direction out yet" crowd.)
I agree almost totally with your last statement, there. It's not something that you can analyze through a window (though Travolta did a pretty damn good job in a role that probably did its part, along with Kurt C, Layne, heroin chic,. and all the rest, not in glamorizing heroin, because it almost all ends in death even in those portraits real or not, but in accidentally giving it a "cool" taboo kind of image and turning on a good portion of the 18-24 "Haven't quite entirely figured their life direction out yet" crowd.)
I feel, though, that this song also seems to be at some parts (It don't matter 'cause I've got no sex life, and all I want to do is inject my ex-wife, for instance) about the desire that Elliott must have felt at times after doing a huge, huge, shot for a layman (tolerance to heroin builds exponentially. Someone with no opioid tolerance could make a good Saturday night of $10 worth and maybe more if it's good and depending on what region they live in/how they administer it, yet $200-300 worth would have probably been just barely enough for a 24 hour period for Elliott or Kurt Cobain at their peak, or maybe even not enough for the former, from what I've read) Elliott felt tempted to simply give up ever trying to give up the emotional numbness/insulation and euphoria that heroin provided for him and to just keep at it till the end of the road. In this view, a line like "Seen the movie..." might well refer to Elliott knowing that this isn't sustainable in any realistic way at all, but still being tempted/wanting to go for it when the pressures in his life really added up. It's sad that his life had to end the way it did, and I'm just as against everyone interpreting all of his songs as being about heroin as anyone, but this one clearly is. King's Crossing is a walk through the pains and pleasures of the things that Elliott attempts to use to cope with his internal state, and of simply being Elliott Smith at the time and feeling very depressed. That "Because we love you..." always gets to me...
i hate to be a nitpicking bitch but it's not possible to buy $10 worth of opiates. Really. Go try. also, elliott was know to do up to $800 worth in a sitting. elliott smith died quite a while ago and i know all you english majors tend to romanticize this shit (props, i have a degree in english as well but i'm also a trailor park girl i've lost my little brother, my mother, and two of my best friends to heroin in the past 2 and a half years, and shit had become wicked different.
i hate to be a nitpicking bitch but it's not possible to buy $10 worth of opiates. Really. Go try. also, elliott was know to do up to $800 worth in a sitting. elliott smith died quite a while ago and i know all you english majors tend to romanticize this shit (props, i have a degree in english as well but i'm also a trailor park girl i've lost my little brother, my mother, and two of my best friends to heroin in the past 2 and a half years, and shit had become wicked different.
1# you don't have to shoot it anymore, you can smoke it, snort it and drink it.
2# a hit only costs about $25 (in ohio) but only lasts about 30 minutes
3# none of it's pure anymore. my friend died 2 weeks ago because the smack she bought was cut with cyanide
the reason people do heroin is because their pain is so great that being able to get rid of it for even a few hours is worth the risk.
and i must disagree with you about travolta in pulp fiction. that was some sexy-ass glamorize shit indeed. everytime i watch it it makes me want to do it. even though i know better.
i originally posted this as a response to another interpretation by "tawdryhepburnon," who, i believe, made many valid points. i'm sorry if i'm breaking the rules by re-posting it but i feel that it's important to note that addiction has it's own language.
i disagree with you on a few points.
you wrote: "Smith is a "Method actor" because he is getting inside the 'character' of Elliott Smith by relapsing on drugs because he cannot write without them."
the dictionary definition of method acting is: "a dramatic technique in which actors identify as closely as possible with the character played by correlating experiences from their personal lives to the character."
he is a "method actor" because his work is a catalog of his personal pain.
in reference to the lines:
"Open your parachute and grab your gun"
you wrote, "Smith feels at war with himself, so he extends the acting metaphor from before to imply that his 'method acting' of heroin addiction is part of his audition for a war movie."
actually, parachuting is a way to do meth. you put a little dab in a bit of tissue or piece of toilet paper and swallow it. the term "gun" refers to a syringe (i.e. happiness is a warm gun).
lastly, in reference to the lines,"
"It don't matter because I have no sex life All I want to do now is inject my ex-wife I've seen the movie And I know what happens"
you wrote: "He feels emasculated because he cannot function sexually and now he is being penetrated by the feminine heroin. The movie metaphor, a reference to living near Hollywood, his music appearing in films and the perceived 'glamor' of heroin in media, continues."
i don't believe the first two lines have anything to do with emasculation/penetration, but rather the fact that when you have a hardcore dope habit you are married to it. it's what you go to work for. it's what you center your life around.
furthermore, the last two lines are a reference to the movie "trainspotting" which doesn't glamorize heroin use in anyway. unless dead babies and dead friend with aids are glamorize.
i appreciate your attention to detail but i believe you have to have had an up close and personal relationship with smack to get a lot of the references.
I agree almost totally with your last statement, there. It's not something that you can analyze through a window (though Travolta did a pretty damn good job in a role that probably did its part, along with Kurt C, Layne, heroin chic,. and all the rest, not in glamorizing heroin, because it almost all ends in death even in those portraits real or not, but in accidentally giving it a "cool" taboo kind of image and turning on a good portion of the 18-24 "Haven't quite entirely figured their life direction out yet" crowd.)
I agree almost totally with your last statement, there. It's not something that you can analyze through a window (though Travolta did a pretty damn good job in a role that probably did its part, along with Kurt C, Layne, heroin chic,. and all the rest, not in glamorizing heroin, because it almost all ends in death even in those portraits real or not, but in accidentally giving it a "cool" taboo kind of image and turning on a good portion of the 18-24 "Haven't quite entirely figured their life direction out yet" crowd.)
I feel, though, that this song also seems to be at some parts (It don't matter 'cause I've got no sex life, and all I want to do is inject my ex-wife, for instance) about the desire that Elliott must have felt at times after doing a huge, huge, shot for a layman (tolerance to heroin builds exponentially. Someone with no opioid tolerance could make a good Saturday night of $10 worth and maybe more if it's good and depending on what region they live in/how they administer it, yet $200-300 worth would have probably been just barely enough for a 24 hour period for Elliott or Kurt Cobain at their peak, or maybe even not enough for the former, from what I've read) Elliott felt tempted to simply give up ever trying to give up the emotional numbness/insulation and euphoria that heroin provided for him and to just keep at it till the end of the road. In this view, a line like "Seen the movie..." might well refer to Elliott knowing that this isn't sustainable in any realistic way at all, but still being tempted/wanting to go for it when the pressures in his life really added up. It's sad that his life had to end the way it did, and I'm just as against everyone interpreting all of his songs as being about heroin as anyone, but this one clearly is. King's Crossing is a walk through the pains and pleasures of the things that Elliott attempts to use to cope with his internal state, and of simply being Elliott Smith at the time and feeling very depressed. That "Because we love you..." always gets to me...
i hate to be a nitpicking bitch but it's not possible to buy $10 worth of opiates. Really. Go try. also, elliott was know to do up to $800 worth in a sitting. elliott smith died quite a while ago and i know all you english majors tend to romanticize this shit (props, i have a degree in english as well but i'm also a trailor park girl i've lost my little brother, my mother, and two of my best friends to heroin in the past 2 and a half years, and shit had become wicked different.
i hate to be a nitpicking bitch but it's not possible to buy $10 worth of opiates. Really. Go try. also, elliott was know to do up to $800 worth in a sitting. elliott smith died quite a while ago and i know all you english majors tend to romanticize this shit (props, i have a degree in english as well but i'm also a trailor park girl i've lost my little brother, my mother, and two of my best friends to heroin in the past 2 and a half years, and shit had become wicked different.
1# you don't have to shoot it anymore, you can smoke it, snort it and drink it. 2# a hit only costs about $25 (in ohio) but only lasts about 30 minutes 3# none of it's pure anymore. my friend died 2 weeks ago because the smack she bought was cut with cyanide
the reason people do heroin is because their pain is so great that being able to get rid of it for even a few hours is worth the risk.
and i must disagree with you about travolta in pulp fiction. that was some sexy-ass glamorize shit indeed. everytime i watch it it makes me want to do it. even though i know better.
kisses,
nicole
also, "heroin chic" does indeed glamorize heroin use. it's the definition of the fucking term for crying out loud.
also, "heroin chic" does indeed glamorize heroin use. it's the definition of the fucking term for crying out loud.
i'm sorry. i'm being a bitch. i hope you understand. i'm just feeling really raw right now. all apologies.
i'm sorry. i'm being a bitch. i hope you understand. i'm just feeling really raw right now. all apologies.