Dan and Linda are partners and are day-to-day scavengers set in Parkdale, in search of antiques throughout various platforms; stretching from dumpsters to yard sales, anything for a profit. The two are in need of money in hopes of paying off their rent every month, and funding their desire for marijuana, but come into trouble as Dan’s usual supplier ends up being forced out of business. The dismissal of Dan’s supplier means that he’ll need to be needing a new supplier, her being Susan.
Susan is among the very bottom of a weed supply chain, and seems to be able to provide a strand of weed that really appeals to Dan. Linda is becoming aware of who Susan is to Dan, begins to feel threatened by her presence. Them as a trio, being potheads, are somewhat looked down upon in society for their preferences, but within the group they shift around power throughout the movie. Due to their inability to be accepted into society, Dan, Linda and Susan are forced to form their own society where we see the owner of the means of production switch between the characters.
The state that Dan seemed to be going about his life in, he seemed to be quite the substance user. Dan’s supplier was eliminated fairly early into the movie, displaying the real importance of Susan’s character to Dan. She was able to move the means of production from Dan & Linda and their search of antiques for profit, to the means of production being herself and her product, British Columbia weed. Dan and Linda scavenged like they did for simple reasons, to pay their bills and to get high; Dan was unable to get the product and Susan was able to provide.
Very early on in the movie, it seems to become somewhat obvious that Dan is developing feelings towards Susan and eventually ending up having sexual interactions with her. Susan literally went from providing Dan with product to physical love fairly quickly, controlling various versions of means of production, as feelings are quite important throughout the entire screening. Susan is also gaining a negative attention from Linda as she poses as a potential threat in Linda’s eyes, meaning she has a somewhat advantage over Linda if she really needed to take that type of action.
Susan, at the time really was the sole proletariat for the most part, she supplied Dan, provided love, and even had an emotional leverage over Linda in terms of Dan. Although Susan seems to present the most power at the moment amongst the trio, that does not necessarily mean that she has the superiority or any power at all in the real world. In a numerous amount of ways, it is easily distinguishable that the main characters only have each other, forming their own secluded society within society.
The three members of this private society are potheads, potheads a lot of the time are frowned upon in society. Dan & Linda are also scavengers that dumpster dive, it is fair to say that their lives are based on chance; if they do not get lucky finding a rare antique on one of their various rummages then they do provide no profit for themselves. Not many people live on chance like those two, and dumpster diving/yard sale roaming is definitely not an acclaimed career in the eyes of modern society.
Susan is also seemingly among the lower ranks in her chain of weed suppliers from British Columbia, which could symbolize her own personal barrier amongst her colleagues of weed dealing. Dealing drugs as a form of income, definitely another career that isn’t quite praised among society. Seemingly, the three are all one in the same with each other through a bit of analyzation, which is likely why they stick with one another for as long as they do. Gradually, it was definitely noticed that the characters actually never interacted with characters besides them, providing a more vivid depiction of how real their secluded society really is.
The characters really come into contact with types people that are somewhat inevitable of going through life avoiding, such as their landlord and the police; characters such as other friends out of the three don’t seem to actually exist for them—avoidable people in their lives. The barrier amongst the three eventually starts to fade between members, soon enough, time seems to repeat itself and Dan & Linda seem to slowly start pushing Linda out of the equation. Susan was for the most part, in the lives of Dan & Linda as their supplier; once Dan started neglecting marijuana, soon enough Susan would have to depart from their lives as well.
Nearing the end of the movie, it was becoming quite clear that the means of production were making the big shift from Dan & Linda to Susan and then back to Dan & Linda. Eventually, Linda and Dan went from their fix being marijuana, to just each other, and inevitably pushing out Susan’s role from their lives. It is fair to say that Dan has never actually lost the means of production ever in the duration of the entire movie. While Dan was in the market for a new marijuana supplier and Susan was capable of being that supplier, Dan also had abilities that appealed to Susan.
Take for instance Dan’s skills when it came to bicycles, Susan had far less knowledge than Dan on bicycles and his knowledge was certainly something of interest for her as she was facing difficulties with her own bicycle. This slightly showed that Dan never had the lower hand when it came to dealing with her. Linda was also on higher leverage as Susan was only rekindling the old flame that Dan & Linda used to have for each other. Susan needed to be excluded permanently, and by that, the house fire arises.
Susan underwent crucial damages as a result of a house fire, she recklessly decided to initiate, while unfortunately ending up caught in the combustion.. This exact moment can possibly be represented as an image of absolute elimination, the elimination of Susan and marijuana as a whole; a symbol of the past being that should be left in the past. Their past being their previous lifestyles of substance abuse and what it may lead to through the example of Susan. The whole sequence throughout the movie seems to bring forth a cycle of losing power and regaining the power for Dan specifically.
With the similar struggles all three main characters face, their boundaries amongst one another cause a lot of gain and loss for each of them. Linda & Dan are scavengers living life on luck; Susan’s a drug dealer ranked at the bottom of her supply chain, both are inevitably looked down upon in modern society. All three seem to have no one in their direct lives except for each other, building a visionary border for the three of them that they all stay within grounds of. Dan, at first, needed to feed his addiction of marijuana and Susan was feeding him.
Her aid was also complemented by his abilities relating to her overcoming her own obstacles. Linda’s drugs were the love of her dearest partner Dan, that Susan was able to ignite in them. The three members completed each other to a certain extent in one way or another, creating a cycle that seemed to be solid. This film presented a relatable life lesson that is important for people to be aware of as they go through life. That life lesson being that you should always attempt to avoid unnecessary obstacles.
Dan started off as a thieving dumpster diver that used money from his findings to fund his weed addiction. Susan eventually became his dealer which was an avoidable decision that slowly started to go against his lifestyle. He ends up basically quitting marijuana at the end, but in the duration of his dealings with Susan many preventable problems developed: Linda loses trust for Dan, Dan ended up cheating on his partner with Susan, his book ended up being ruined and even Susan’s burning of herself can be considered a result of his decision.
