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Boogie Nights Essay

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Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights is a film that aptly embodies the extravagant decadence of morals during the disco era, while also creating empathy for the debauched innocents who find themselves caught up in a lifestyle of hard-core sex, drugs and rock and roll. Sadly, while attempting to replace the loving family relationships they are lacking and in their search for self worth, these characters pay the highest price for fame. The film deftly takes the viewer to the seedy underside of the pornography business. But, like many of the young people who find themselves entangled in it, it is first introduced as a life of each and luxury with many good times and no consequences. The film portrays the life of a unique young man who gives himself …show more content…

Jack leaves Dirk with an open invitation to join him because as he says, "I have a feeling there's something wonderful in those jeans just waiting to get out."

Boogie Nights is wonderfully written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and succeeds in introducing in its viewer to a new perspective on a world often viewed socially with scorn. After subtly choreographing the introduction of the relationships between characters, the film then highlights a slice of each individual's life, giving the viewer a further insight into their motivations and/or regrets. Each character is searching for something that is missing in their lives, and the pornography business seems to provide them with what they are lacking. This is evidenced when Dirk's need for a loving mother figure is fulfilled by Amber, who desperately wants to be reunited with her estranged son.

Amber (Julianne Moore), a veteran in the business, quickly takes Dirk under her protective maternal wing by providing him with something he has never had, the unconditional love of a mother. Amber's maternal displays of affection are incestuously infected at best, but they still manage to portray a deep and much needed love between the two. Young Dirk is given every indulgence a 17 year old boy could dream of, including the invitation to mindlessly couple with one of the bright young porn stars, Roller

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