History Film / NakedLunch

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: This is referenced [[InvokedTrope in the movie]], where Lee has no memory of writing his manuscript, and suspects that it may not have even been him. Reportedly, Burroughs himself had no memory of writing the book.

* AdaptationAmalgamation: The screenplay is based not only on the novel, but also on Burroughs' other fiction (in particular, first half of the movie is mostly based on ''The Exterminator''), and autobiographical accounts of his life.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Bordering on InNameOnly adaptation, in that few if any scenes from the novel make it into the film. Cronenberg's adaptation of the unfilmable ''Literature/NakedLunch'' took some characters and quotes from the novel and William Burroughs' other fiction) and melded them together with parts of the author's biography.

* DeathBySex: Kiki is raped and torn to pieces by Cloquet, who during the sexual act transforms into a giant centipede.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Bordering on InNameOnly adaptation, in that few if any scenes from the novel make it into the film. Cronenberg's adaptation of the unfilmable ''Literature/NakedLunch'' took some characters and quotes from the novel (and Burroughs' other fiction) and melded them together with parts of William S. Burroughs' biography.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Bordering on InNameOnly, in that few if any scenes from the novel make it into the film. Cronenberg's adaptation of the unfilmable ''Literature/NakedLunch'' took some characters and quotes from the novel (and Burroughs' other fiction) and melded them together with parts of William S. Burroughs' biography.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Cronenberg's adaptation of the unfilmable ''Literature/NakedLunch'' took story elements from the book and melded them together with parts of William S. Burroughs' biography.

* TheStoic: Lee, who reacts to pretty much everything with nothing but DullSuprise.

* DepravedHomosexual: Yves Cloquet is initially impressed by the young men William Lee manages to attract. Later, he arranges a sexual thryst with Kiki before Lee walks in on Cloquet having turned into a giant centipede and in the process of raping Kiki to death. One interpretation is that Lee is [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness hallucinating this deranged scene]] because of internalized homophobia.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Subverted. In the film, Clark Nova explains that Lee was 'programmed' to shoot his wife, Joan. Although this is based on a tragically straight RealLife example.\\
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Burroughs went on to write the book for ''Music/TheBlackRider'', a stage musical (with songs by [[Music/TomWaits Tom goddamn Waits]]) whose plot also revolves around a man being supernaturally manipulated into shooting his own wife. In the opera on which it's based, ''Theatre/DerFreischuetz'', the bullet is deflected by the wife's wedding wreath and there's a happy ending. In the Burroughs' version... not so much.

Creator/DavidCronenberg released a 1991 film adaptation of ''Literature/NakedLunch'' [[PragmaticAdaptation that used very little of the book's material]], claiming a literal adaption would be not only impossible, but "[[BannedInChina banned]] [[UpToEleven in every country in the world]]".

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: It's strongly implied that Lee is fairly off his rocker. He hallucinates about giant insects compelling him to shoot his wife and traveling to Interzone, and the bizarre plot twists make no sense unless he's insane. Near the end, it's implied that the events that he visualizes are simply things he's writing down on paper.
** There are a couple of CuttingBackToReality shots of the real typewriter to clue us in to the hallucinatory nature of those scenes.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Lee is an obvious stand-in for Burroughs himself. Hank and Martin are pretty clearly Creator/JackKerouac and Creator/AllenGinsberg, while Tom and Joan Frost are stand-ins for literary couple Creator/PaulBowles and Creator/JaneBowles.