Unknown vs Naked Lunch (Spoilers)
I know what you’re thinking. What connection or thematic similarity can the film Unkown (2011) have with the book Naked Lunch (1959). They fill wildly different genres and were created for entirely different reasons. One is a polished, Hollywood money spinner the other a beat generation novel described by JG Ballard (Crash, author) as “A rollercoaster ride through hell, a safari to the strangest people on the strangest planet”. However there is a paragraph a few pages into Naked Lunch’s chapter ‘Belway’ that reads:
“The case of a female agent who forgot her real identity and merged with her cover story … An agent is trained to deny his agent identity by asserting his cover story. So why not use psychic jiujitsu and go along with him? Suggest that his cover story is his identity and that he has no other. His agent identity becomes unconscious, that is, out of his control”.
After watching the film recently, the plot twist rang bells. Admittedly the above quote is only a flash amongst a much broader, meandering, drug addled dialogue but there’s definitely a similarity here. So what do you think? Is it inspiration or coincidence?
Related Posts
