I wrote this as a college essay, but ended up not sending it out because I got an acceptance letter from Penn State the day I planned to. Thought I'd post it.
"What was the question they want you to answer?"
Hunter S. Thompson asks. He's wearing
khaki pants and a
Hawaiian shirt. In his hand is a
glass of
rum with ice and in his mouth is a
cigarette in a
holder.
I tell him that they want me to think about my history. About how my past experiences have influenced who I am today and how would it shape my future at Emerson.
Me, I'm Chad _____; a seventeen year old senior, a prospective college student, I'm slim, I'm blond, I wear prescription glasses.
"If this is about you, what am I doing here? I'm dead."
I tell Thompson I've always been interested in his writing and figured he could help.
"Well I'm not going to write your paper for you, you've got to do that yourself. I never knew who you were before today. I don't know what a day in your life is like. You do." he tells me.
I assure him that it was never anything special, I grew up in a boring town where every day was the same.
"It never got weird enough for me either. Did you ever think about running away?"
Yeah.
"Why didn't you?" He goes to refill his glass.
I guess like every small town kid I dreamed of getting out, but the doctor of Gonzo brings up a good point; why didn't I? Maybe I already knew that I had all I really needed; a couple of friends, a family, a home. I was little and didn't think about things, didn't think about the future, what I would like to do. I was naïve, too. I didn't know what was going on in the world. Now I'm older and have more of a perception of who I am, who my friends are, and what I'd like to do. I'd like to be a screenwriter. I'd like to do that in a larger, more cultured environment. An open-minded, more liberal college would be a great place to study my dream. And the more I read about Emerson College, the more interested I became.
Thompson returns, stirring and sipping his newly filled glass.
Everyone remembers 9/11. I was in math lab, didn’t understand what had happened. I didn’t care at first, didn’t think I had to, but after realizing that someone wouldn‘t just commit such a violent act simply because they‘re evil. There must be a motive, and just hate wouldn’t do it for me, someone or something must’ve triggered that hate. So I looked into it.
I want to look at issues such as these with my films, subjects such as politics and religion. Ideas and situations to make the viewer think, and to laugh.
Government irritates me, but politics intrigue me. Which is why the first full-length screenplay I wrote was based around a small-time organized crime scene and about the deceit and incompetence within the system.
“Swine! They’re all swine!!” Hunter S. Thompson is standing on a cow and yelling. He was telling me about the corruption that goes on in the system. How it’s always been corrupted and what a struggle it would be to change the capitalists. “Power and greed is written in their brains. Public safety, public good, any mere thought of the people disappeared long ago. Just look at Indian reservations and Manifest Destiny. The past century has just been variations of those. It’s all about conformity to their standards. I’ll tell you, their mentality is insanity, we’ve got Napoleons running this damn country.” he looks at his watch.
“Whoa, look at the time, I’ve got to go. You’ll think of something, you’re a true writer,” the great doctor of Gonzo tells me as he puts on a pair of orange tinted aviators and a white fishing hat. He continues on to say, “Good luck kid, I’ll see you around.” as he disappears into the darkness.