After researching literature on addiction and film, I chose the films for the study and viewed each one many times, specifically looking for socioeconomic representations of characters, treatment of different races, sexes, and sexual preferences, methods of production as they relate to addicted characters and drug usage, and the depiction of treatment/ self-help groups. I then outlined the narrative of each film and compared the uses and meanings brought to addicts, addiction, and substances. I found that these movies construct a fairly unified image of treatment. In the films, 12-step- based substance abuse treatment is readily available to middle-class, non-minority addicts. The economic realities of treatment are ignored, as are alternative paths.
