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Naked Lunch

 Naked Lunch
type
TVTItem
 Naked Lunch
label
Naked Lunch
 Naked Lunch
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NakedLunch
 Naked Lunch
comment
"I can think of at least two things wrong with that title!"David Cronenberg released a 1991 film adaptation of Naked Lunch that used very little of the book's material, claiming a literal adaption would be not only impossible, but "banned in every country in the world".Instead, he creates a heavily fictionalized biopic about author William S. Burroughs, in which Burroughs' long time avatar, William Lee (Peter Weller), is working as an exterminator and gets high off his bug powder. He later flees to Interzone after the now-legendary shooting of his wife, Joan Vollmer, where he becomes tangled in a world of surreal espionage, through contact with several giant bug-shaped, alien typewriters who talk out of their asses. You read that right. It's a really weird movie.
 Naked Lunch
fetched
2023-11-11T02:45:53Z
 Naked Lunch
parsed
2023-11-11T02:45:53Z
 Naked Lunch
processingComment
Dropped link to TheBlackRider: Not a Feature - ITEM
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DBTropes
 Naked Lunch / int_10f35f3a
type
Creator Breakdown
 Naked Lunch / int_10f35f3a
comment
invokedCreator Breakdown: Burroughs always said that he would never have become a writer if not for Joan's death. This is portrayed in the film... sort of.
 Naked Lunch / int_10f35f3a
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1.0
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_10f35f3a
 Naked Lunch / int_1282bf4f
type
No Celebrities Were Harmed
 Naked Lunch / int_1282bf4f
comment
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lee is an obvious stand-in for Burroughs himself. Hank and Martin are pretty clearly Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, while Tom and Joan Frost are stand-ins for literary couple Paul and Jane Bowles.
 Naked Lunch / int_1282bf4f
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_1282bf4f
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Naked Lunch / int_1282bf4f
 Naked Lunch / int_14ed6ab7
type
Does This Remind You of Anything?
 Naked Lunch / int_14ed6ab7
comment
Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the movie, the Mugwumps' semen is sort of a metaphor for Burroughs' own narcotics use. It gives him brilliant creative ideas, yes, but it's also destroying him.
 Naked Lunch / int_14ed6ab7
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_14ed6ab7
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Naked Lunch / int_14ed6ab7
 Naked Lunch / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 Naked Lunch / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Naked Lunch turns out to be a novel Lee is writing throughout the film.
 Naked Lunch / int_18d15922
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_18d15922
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_18d15922
 Naked Lunch / int_1c5002bc
type
The Stoic
 Naked Lunch / int_1c5002bc
comment
The Stoic: Lee, who reacts to pretty much everything with nothing but Dull Surprise.
 Naked Lunch / int_1c5002bc
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_1c5002bc
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Naked Lunch / int_1c5002bc
 Naked Lunch / int_20c73e98
type
Creepy Cockroach
 Naked Lunch / int_20c73e98
comment
Creepy Cockroach: The cockroaches in the opening scene as well as the typewriter bug.
 Naked Lunch / int_20c73e98
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_20c73e98
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Naked Lunch / int_20c73e98
 Naked Lunch / int_2a8a7ea6
type
Bury Your Gays
 Naked Lunch / int_2a8a7ea6
comment
Bury Your Gays: Played straight in one example, averted in another: The Camp Gay Kiki is eaten by a giant centipede Julian Sands. The equally camp Allen Ginsberg stand-in makes it out alive.
 Naked Lunch / int_2a8a7ea6
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 Naked Lunch / int_2a8a7ea6
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Naked Lunch / int_2a8a7ea6
 Naked Lunch / int_2bb06191
type
Adaptational Sexuality
 Naked Lunch / int_2bb06191
comment
Adaptational Sexuality: Played with. While William Lee is shown to be bisexual, his heterosexual side is emphasized to a much greater degree than in Burroughs' fiction or in his life. Also the case for Joan Frost, a stand-in for Jane Bowles. The portrayal of Lee's sexuality also has strong But Not Too Gay trope aspects.
 Naked Lunch / int_2bb06191
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Naked Lunch / int_2bb06191
 Naked Lunch / int_33ba37ca
type
Out with a Bang
 Naked Lunch / int_33ba37ca
comment
Out with a Bang: Kiki is raped and torn to pieces by Cloquet, who during the sexual act transforms into a giant centipede.
 Naked Lunch / int_33ba37ca
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_33ba37ca
 Naked Lunch / int_37c6c0f3
type
William Telling
 Naked Lunch / int_37c6c0f3
comment
William Telling: William Lee is shown shooting a glass of whiskey off of Joan Lee's head in what they called their "William Tell act." That's...basically how it happened in real life. He does it again at the end, with similar results.
 Naked Lunch / int_37c6c0f3
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_37c6c0f3
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Naked Lunch / int_37c6c0f3
 Naked Lunch / int_39de664a
type
Mad Doctor
 Naked Lunch / int_39de664a
comment
Mad Doctor: Doctor Benway, a random general practitioner that Lee visited once in New York, turns out to be the Diabolical Mastermind behind an international drug ring operating out of Interzone. This incredulity is one of the many reasons why Lee might be insane.
 Naked Lunch / int_39de664a
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1.0
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_39de664a
 Naked Lunch / int_3aa2ac42
type
G-Rated Drug
 Naked Lunch / int_3aa2ac42
comment
G-Rated Drug: The drug-fueled, hallucination-laden madness that is Naked Lunch (the film, at least) revolves around Lee's addiction to... extermination powder? Granted, it was meant as an indirect adaptation of the original novel, in which heroin was the culprit.
 Naked Lunch / int_3aa2ac42
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_3aa2ac42
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1.0
 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_3aa2ac42
 Naked Lunch / int_47325888
type
Latex Perfection
 Naked Lunch / int_47325888
comment
Latex Perfection: Doctor Benway disguises himself as Fadela with a perfect bodysuit to remain incognito in Interzone.
 Naked Lunch / int_47325888
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_47325888
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 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_47325888
 Naked Lunch / int_4866ff50
type
Fantastic Medicinal Bodily Product
 Naked Lunch / int_4866ff50
comment
Fantastic Medicinal Bodily Product: William Lee trades a typewriter to a rival author with the following comment: "Tom, I've brought you a new typewriter (actually an alien head) which conveniently dispenses two types of intoxicating fluids when it likes what you've written."
 Naked Lunch / int_4866ff50
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_4866ff50
 Naked Lunch / int_49f6a9e4
type
Most Writers Are Writers
 Naked Lunch / int_49f6a9e4
comment
Most Writers Are Writers: William Lee becomes a writer, as is his creator Burroughs.
 Naked Lunch / int_49f6a9e4
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_49f6a9e4
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_49f6a9e4
 Naked Lunch / int_4ab9c868
type
Pretty Little Headshots
 Naked Lunch / int_4ab9c868
comment
Pretty Little Headshots: Joan's entry wound on the forehead is surprisingly small.
 Naked Lunch / int_4ab9c868
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_4ab9c868
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Naked Lunch / int_4ab9c868
 Naked Lunch / int_4afa0e25
type
Bio Punk
 Naked Lunch / int_4afa0e25
comment
Bio Punk: Via The Beat Generation, with sentient typewriters, giant bugs, and monsters who give you tremendous creativity in exchange for blowjobs.
 Naked Lunch / int_4afa0e25
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_4afa0e25
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Naked Lunch / int_4afa0e25
 Naked Lunch / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 Naked Lunch / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Some of the weirder scenes edge into this ("Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?"), but it's actually toned down from the book, where junkies deliberately allow their open wounds to fester so they can just put the heroin in with an eye-dropper.
 Naked Lunch / int_504a1991
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Naked Lunch / int_504a1991
 Naked Lunch / int_51a12a6f
type
Hong Kong Dub
 Naked Lunch / int_51a12a6f
comment
Hong Kong Dub: Enforced and lampshaded. In one scene Tom Frost notes how his lipsyncing is off because he's currently communicating with William telepathically.
 Naked Lunch / int_51a12a6f
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_51a12a6f
 Naked Lunch / int_5874eb12
type
Organic Technology
 Naked Lunch / int_5874eb12
comment
Organic Technology: Bill's contacts in Interzone are giant bug-shaped typewriters on which he writes his reports.
 Naked Lunch / int_5874eb12
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_5874eb12
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 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_5874eb12
 Naked Lunch / int_58977071
type
Creepy Jazz Music
 Naked Lunch / int_58977071
comment
Creepy Jazz Music: The jazz soundtrack creates an unsettling atmosphere.
 Naked Lunch / int_58977071
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_58977071
 Naked Lunch / int_5d5cc3fd
type
Through the Eyes of Madness
 Naked Lunch / int_5d5cc3fd
comment
Through the Eyes of Madness: It's strongly implied that Lee is fairly off his rocker. He hallucinates about giant insects compelling him to shoot his wife and traveling to Interzone, and the bizarre plot twists make no sense unless he's insane. Near the end, it's implied that the events that he visualizes are simply things he's writing down on paper. There are a couple of Cutting Back to Reality shots of the real typewriter to clue us in to the hallucinatory nature of those scenes.
 Naked Lunch / int_5d5cc3fd
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Naked Lunch / int_5d5cc3fd
 Naked Lunch / int_5ee26f31
type
Adaptation Amalgamation
 Naked Lunch / int_5ee26f31
comment
Adaptation Amalgamation: The screenplay is based not only on the novel, but also on Burroughs' other fiction (in particular, the opening scene is based on The Exterminator, some of the dialog is taken from Queer), and autobiographical accounts of his life.
 Naked Lunch / int_5ee26f31
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_5ee26f31
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Naked Lunch / int_5ee26f31
 Naked Lunch / int_5f4f15ba
type
Two-Timing with the Bestie
 Naked Lunch / int_5f4f15ba
comment
Two-Timing with the Bestie: William walks into his apartment to find his wife Joan having sex with his friend Hank. William is seemingly as non-plussed about this as he is about everything; however, he shoots Joan shortly afterwards in what appears to be an accident. It's left ambiguous if he killed her as revenge or if it truly was an accident, though William is convinced it's the latter.
 Naked Lunch / int_5f4f15ba
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_5f4f15ba
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Naked Lunch / int_5f4f15ba
 Naked Lunch / int_603f1a80
type
Pragmatic Adaptation
 Naked Lunch / int_603f1a80
comment
Pragmatic Adaptation: Bordering on In Name Only adaptation, in that few if any scenes from the novel make it into the film. Cronenberg's adaptation of the unfilmable Naked Lunch took some characters and quotes from the novel (and William Burroughs' other fiction) and melded them together with parts of the author's biography.
 Naked Lunch / int_603f1a80
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1.0
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Naked Lunch / int_603f1a80
 Naked Lunch / int_60cc14ba
type
Ruritania
 Naked Lunch / int_60cc14ba
comment
Ruritania: In the brief bit of it we see in the film, Annexia's border guards are wearing little fur hats and speak in Russian accents.
 Naked Lunch / int_60cc14ba
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_60cc14ba
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Naked Lunch / int_60cc14ba
 Naked Lunch / int_61356a74
type
Almost Dead Guy
 Naked Lunch / int_61356a74
comment
Almost Dead Guy: Towards the end, Lee's rescued typewriter utters some final clues before dying.
 Naked Lunch / int_61356a74
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_61356a74
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 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_61356a74
 Naked Lunch / int_66755d29
type
Author Avatar
 Naked Lunch / int_66755d29
comment
Author Avatar: William Lee is the Avatar of William S. Burroughs. Throughout the movie he's actually writing Naked Lunch.
 Naked Lunch / int_66755d29
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_66755d29
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Naked Lunch / int_66755d29
 Naked Lunch / int_6d089995
type
The Shrink
 Naked Lunch / int_6d089995
comment
The Shrink: William Lee tries consulting Dr. Benway about his wife's addiction to his bug spray. His method doesn't help much, and he turns out to be just as crazy as everything else in the movie.
 Naked Lunch / int_6d089995
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_6d089995
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Naked Lunch / int_6d089995
 Naked Lunch / int_722b3319
type
Camp Gay
 Naked Lunch / int_722b3319
comment
The Camp Gay Kiki is eaten by a giant centipede Julian Sands.
 Naked Lunch / int_722b3319
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_722b3319
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 Naked Lunch
hasFeature
Naked Lunch / int_722b3319
 Naked Lunch / int_72d31973
type
Surreal Horror
 Naked Lunch / int_72d31973
comment
Surreal Horror: What you get when you combine Burroughs with Cronenberg. Homosexual rape by giant centipede mutants, anyone?
 Naked Lunch / int_72d31973
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_72d31973
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Naked Lunch / int_72d31973
 Naked Lunch / int_83b44e80
type
Straight Gay
 Naked Lunch / int_83b44e80
comment
Straight Gay: William Lee.
 Naked Lunch / int_83b44e80
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_83b44e80
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Naked Lunch / int_83b44e80
 Naked Lunch / int_8485d41a
type
Interspecies Romance
 Naked Lunch / int_8485d41a
comment
Interspecies Romance: Cloquet transforms into a giant centipede during his tryst with Kiki. Cloquet looks human enough...at first. Lee and Joan almost have a threesome with their insect-like typewriter before Fadela interrupts them.
 Naked Lunch / int_8485d41a
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_8485d41a
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Naked Lunch / int_8485d41a
 Naked Lunch / int_85b1e741
type
Creepy Crossdresser
 Naked Lunch / int_85b1e741
comment
Creepy Crossdresser: Benway. He doesn't really wear women's clothing so much as wear a woman.
 Naked Lunch / int_85b1e741
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_85b1e741
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Naked Lunch / int_85b1e741
 Naked Lunch / int_8ec5beed
type
Forging Scene
 Naked Lunch / int_8ec5beed
comment
Forging Scene: Played with, as it's done with a typewriter instead of a sword. Lee's writing machine is taken back at gunpoint by the guy he borrowed it from and his old one gets smashed to pieces. Kiki then takes him to a blacksmith who uses the old pieces to forge a new one.
 Naked Lunch / int_8ec5beed
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 Naked Lunch / int_8ec5beed
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 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_8ec5beed
 Naked Lunch / int_93f27743
type
Metafictional Title
 Naked Lunch / int_93f27743
comment
Metafictional Title: Naked Lunch turns out to be a novel Lee is writing throughout the film.
 Naked Lunch / int_93f27743
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_93f27743
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 Naked Lunch
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Naked Lunch / int_93f27743
 Naked Lunch / int_9cad69bf
type
Depraved Homosexual
 Naked Lunch / int_9cad69bf
comment
Depraved Homosexual: Yves Cloquet is initially impressed by the young men William Lee manages to attract. Later, he arranges a sexual tryst with Kiki before Lee walks in on Cloquet having turned into a giant centipede and in the process of raping Kiki to death. One interpretation is that Lee is hallucinating this deranged scene because of internalized homophobia.
 Naked Lunch / int_9cad69bf
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 Naked Lunch / int_9cad69bf
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Naked Lunch / int_9cad69bf
 Naked Lunch / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Naked Lunch / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: When Lee buys the Clark Nova, the typewriter's vacant spot in the shop window is taken by a strange sculpture of a Mugwump clinging to a hanged man which foreshadows Kiki's fate later in the movie,
 Naked Lunch / int_9d12bbc1
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Naked Lunch / int_9d12bbc1
 Naked Lunch / int_a1d70162
type
I Just Shot Marvin in the Face
 Naked Lunch / int_a1d70162
comment
I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Subverted. In the film, Clark Nova explains that Lee was 'programmed' to shoot his wife, Joan. Although this is based on a tragically straight Real Life example. Burroughs went on to write the book for The Black Rider, a stage musical (with songs by Tom goddamn Waits) whose plot also revolves around a man being supernaturally manipulated into shooting his own wife. In the opera on which it's based, Der Freischütz, the bullet is deflected by the wife's wedding wreath and there's a happy ending. In the Burroughs' version... not so much.
 Naked Lunch / int_a1d70162
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 Naked Lunch / int_a1d70162
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Naked Lunch / int_a1d70162
 Naked Lunch / int_b1a20640
type
Undiscriminating Addict
 Naked Lunch / int_b1a20640
comment
Undiscriminating Addict: The film kicks off with the discovery that William Lee's drug-addicted wife has started using his bug powder as a substitute drug. Lee himself proves no slouch in this department, beginning with the bug powder, then moving on to "The Black Meat," an opioid powder derived from giant centipedes. Then, when Lee's source in the Interzone goes missing, he's forced to move onto a local Moroccan hashish resin spread just to deal with the withdrawal. Then he starts drinking the fluid that emerges from the skull-mounted penises of the alien head that has replaced his typewriter. It's worth noting that this film was loosely based on a book that was written entirely under the influence.
 Naked Lunch / int_b1a20640
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 Naked Lunch / int_b1a20640
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Naked Lunch / int_b1a20640
 Naked Lunch / int_b21ddb6b
type
Content Warnings
 Naked Lunch / int_b21ddb6b
comment
Content Warnings: One of the reasons the film was rated R by the MPAA is "bizarre eroticism".
 Naked Lunch / int_b21ddb6b
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 Naked Lunch / int_b21ddb6b
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Naked Lunch / int_b21ddb6b
 Naked Lunch / int_b53c57d5
type
Epigraph
 Naked Lunch / int_b53c57d5
comment
Epigraph: The film opens with two quotes.
 Naked Lunch / int_b53c57d5
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_b53c57d5
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Naked Lunch / int_b53c57d5
 Naked Lunch / int_b5f97c12
type
Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears
 Naked Lunch / int_b5f97c12
comment
Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: In the trailer. The film itself (which is still a Mind Screw in it own right) is more of a Pragmatic Adaptation with the most nausea-inducing content of the book left out, which Cronenberg noted to be "unfilmable".
 Naked Lunch / int_b5f97c12
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 Naked Lunch / int_b5f97c12
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Naked Lunch / int_b5f97c12
 Naked Lunch / int_b87666bb
type
Eccentric Exterminator
 Naked Lunch / int_b87666bb
comment
Eccentric Exterminator: William Lee, making this Truth in Television in the case of William S. Burroughs. He is chronically addicted to the bug powder he uses in his line of work as a poor man's drug, and even gets his wife hooked on to the stuff.
 Naked Lunch / int_b87666bb
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 Naked Lunch / int_b87666bb
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Naked Lunch / int_b87666bb
 Naked Lunch / int_b9af5ef3
type
The Film of the Book
 Naked Lunch / int_b9af5ef3
comment
The Film of the Book: The novel is un-adaptable, for a variety of reasons. (Chief among them; semi-obscene, no coherent plot.) Cronenberg's solution when doing the film adaptation was to graft a few scenes and ideas from the novels onto a Roman à Clef version of author William S. Burroughs' life.
 Naked Lunch / int_b9af5ef3
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 Naked Lunch / int_b9af5ef3
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Naked Lunch / int_b9af5ef3
 Naked Lunch / int_bef696dd
type
Mind Screw
 Naked Lunch / int_bef696dd
comment
Mind Screw: The film is a lot less disgusting than the book it's named after (it actually borrows from a large part of the works of William S. Burroughs), but only slightly less confusing.
 Naked Lunch / int_bef696dd
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1.0
 Naked Lunch / int_bef696dd
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Naked Lunch / int_bef696dd
 Naked Lunch / int_c019a6c2
type
Mockspiracy
 Naked Lunch / int_c019a6c2
comment
Mockspiracy: There's a "conspiracy" involving fantastic monsters and talking typewriters that exists only in the drugged mind of the protagonist.
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 Naked Lunch / int_c1b2c63f
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Dull Surprise
 Naked Lunch / int_c1b2c63f
comment
Dull Surprise: Bill's default reaction to much of the bizarre things that begin cropping up around him. His first encounter with a talking bug provokes a vaguely-confused expression; meeting the alien-esque Mugwump earns simply a subdued "My God" while his face remains essentially unchanged. One of the only aversions is when he comes face-to-face with Centipede-Cloquet raping and mutilating Kiki, to which he responds with dumbstruck shock and horror.
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Very Loosely Based on a True Story
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comment
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The film isn't as much based on the book, as it is based on Burroughs's own life with elements of the book incorporated. Then again, Burroughs very heavily drew on his experiences traveling abroad, and that's the scary part.
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Creepy Monotone
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Creepy Monotone: William S. Burroughs's legendary voice, imitated by more than one character in the movie (mostly the beetles and the Mugwump.)
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Creepy Housekeeper
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Creepy Housekeeper: Fadela when she finds her mistress with Lee.
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Big Creepy-Crawlies
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Big Creepy-Crawlies: Centipedes appear throughout the film - as the source of the "black meat" being peddled as Interzone's main illicit drug, infesting Lee's apartment, and of course Yves Cloquet's final transformation.
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Biography à Clef
 Naked Lunch / int_ef182bbd
comment
Biography à Clef: The film is about William S. Burroughs shooting his wife and traveling to Interzone on the orders of insects that talk out of their asses. Cronenberg didn't even attempt to faithfully translate the even more bizarre book to the screen (a virtual impossibility), instead opting to make it an amalgam of Burroughs' work and life.
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 Naked Lunch / int_f27ec906
type
Identical Stranger
 Naked Lunch / int_f27ec906
comment
Identical Stranger: These show up throughout the film with a lot of the actors portraying supposedly unrelated characters. Given the mindbending nature of the plot, it's hard to tell if they're actually the same people or not. For instance, Joan Lee (Bill's wife) and Joan Frost (Tom Frost's wife) are physically identical. The two NYC policemen near the start of the film reappear at the end as two Annexian border guards. The actor who voices the bugs (and sounds a lot like William S. Burroughs, for that matter) has a small role as an exterminator colleague whom Lee questions on the subway.
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 Naked Lunch / int_f88600be
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Higher Understanding Through Drugs
 Naked Lunch / int_f88600be
comment
Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Used heavily throughout with a wide variety of drugs: beginning with an exterminator's bug powder of all things, William Lee then moves onto powders made from the meat of giant centipedes, then a local Moroccan hash resin...and then the fluid that emerges from the skull-mounted tentacles of the alien head that has replaced his typewriter. All of these things may or may not open your mind to the fact that the world's being controlled by giant bugs that speak out of their anuses. But then again this may have something to do with it being loosely based on a book that was written almost exclusively under the influence.
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Accidental Murder
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comment
Accidental Murder: Lee accidentally kills his wife during a failed William Telling performance.
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Asian Speekee Engrish
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Asian Speekee Engrish: "No glot, C'lom Fliday" (which is the final line of the novel).
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Naked Lunch

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