Customer Reviews

Meth

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Meth is a frightening look at the impact of the drug on the gay community. Twelve gay men tell their stories. The viewer learns about the attractions and horrors of meth. The men also elicit sympathy from the viewer, as most have paid a high price for their involvement with drugs. Many of the men are HIV positive and several live in marginal circumstances. One man has been in a maximum-security prison. This film makes it clear that those who enjoy meth must ultimately pay a high price.

My only warning about Meth is that many of the men give graphic details about their sexual experiences while under the influence. Meth is not a film for kids.

I recommend Meth - the movie :)

The interviewees here had much geographic diversity (California, Illinois, Texas, Florida, etc.). I assumed the interviewees were from their 20s to their early 50s, so there was age diversity. Perhaps some of the men were Latinos of European phenotype. Perhaps some were multiracial in ancestry, but not in looks. Still, this program about "gay men" seemed to only be about "gay, white men." The racial homogeneity of the work is never brought up. This work is not representative of the entire American, gay male population in any manner.
Clearly, drugs know nothing about melanin. A person of any background could become addicted. HOWEVER, by only showing gay, white men, the documentary implies that meth is a problem for gay white men and not gay men of color. I'm quite shocked that the documentary makers never bothered to say to themselves, "What will viewers think about the absence of men of color here?"
If gay men of color do face meth addiction, then this work lets those men down. By not seeing themselves, they may assume there is no help for them. They may assume that "My struggles with meth must be unimportant since this piece only shows white, gay men." The work never addresses whether gay men of color confronting meth may have different issues or concerns compared to white counterparts. It's problematic, and possibly oppressive, when any person or work suggests that all American gay men are white and this work must be upbraided for that.
There is another side, however. Afrocentric comedian Paul Mooney once joked, "Titanic was the first and only movie where I thought, 'I'm sho' glad wern't no Black folk in this film!'" (Chicago newspapers, on the contrary, said there was a mixed-race family on the actual Titanic.) The opposite of my previous concern is that maybe meth is not a huge problem among gay men of color. There are studies that say African-American youth do not smoke tobacco as much as their white counterparts. If gay men of color are not struggling with meth, then how did they successfully avoid it? Further, how can gay, white men duplicate that avoidance? Again, based upon the thoughtless whitewashing in this documentary, viewers may never know.