Fear and Loathing in Real Journalism: a Tribute to Hunter S. Thompson
My first exposure to the work of Hunter S. Thompson was when I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when I was in high school. While visually striking with some memorable performances, it did not do a lot with explaining Thompson's huge impact on journalism as we know it. Thompson was known for inventing "gonzo" journalism. He would be heavily involved with the subject he was writing about. This gave audiences a firsthand encounter, something that did not exist in journalism at the time. His most famous example of this was when he spent a year living with the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Readers felt as if they were getting an "authentic" experience unlike anything else since Thompson was an active participant in the group.
Nowadays we are used to journalists spending time with their subjects in order to get a better palpable story. Thompson's name is not thrown around nearly as much as it used to be. Today he really only lives on thanks to Johnny Depp's unforgettable portrayal of him in Fear and Loathing. Hunter S. Thompson was a successful journalist and trendsetter, not just a "wacky character". On that note, I think I'll end this post with a classic clip from Fear and Loathing (check it out if you can!)
Thompson is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and influential people in modern media and I honestly love what he stood for. Media nowadays is so biased and I think the charm in Thompson's reporting is that he was open and upfront about his bias which helped in letting the people know not to inherently trust what he says word for word.
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