A SCANNER DARKLY

Essay on the book “A Scanner Darkly” by Philip K. Dick

Essay on the book “A Scanner Darkly” by Philip K. Dick

Introduction

The conflict on drugs has been lost, and when a reluctant undercover cop is organized to spy on those he is nearest to, the toll that the mission takes on his sanity is too large to comprehend in controller Richard Linklater's rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick's classic novel. With stratospheric anxiety over national security prompting paranoid government agents to start spying on people, believe is a luxury and every individual is a supposed lawless individual until verified otherwise. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is a narcotics agent who is handed out an alignment to spy on his associates and report back to headquarters. In addition to being a cop, though, Arctor is furthermore an addict. His drug of alternative is a ubiquitous road drug called Substance D, a drug renowned well for producing divide personalities in its users. (Dick 2006)

 

Discussion

A Scanner Darkly just about stands solely in PKD's career-none of his other publications are in writing rather like this-which is a odd thing granted that he composed well over 40 novels, and most of them run simultaneously into one 'meta novel.' Scanner is distinct, at times very different. And it's very successful. The topic is drug misuse, the subject a thinly veiled description of PKD's own experiences of the late sixties. This is as close to an overtly political novel as PKD ever composed (Radio Free Albemuth, in writing directly after this, furthermore springs to mind). (Dick 2006)

The characters in A Scanner Darkly are fascinating. We start with Jerry Fabin, a drug addled man who accepts as factual that aphids are crawling all over his dwelling, on his skin, and in his lungs. He buys can after can of bug squirt, wash rooms constantly, and expends his time collecting the make believe aphids in diverse containers. It's not long before he's carted off to one of the feared government clinics. Charles Freck is another stoner, and ultimately a character peripheral to the major happenings boasted here (although he does have one amazing cameo concerning a botched suicide attempt). But our major three characters, the inhabitants of a specific dwelling in Southern California, are the schizophrenic Bob Arctor, the sinister Jim Barris and decrepit Ernie Luckman (Dick 2006). Donna Hawthorne is the fourth foremost character in the novel; she takes ...