To put it bluntly, The Athena Cinema will have an unusual film screening for 4/20.
Students and Athens residents can watch Reefer Madness at the Athena at 9 p.m. on Thursday to celebrate 4/20. Admission is $5.
Reefer Madness is a 1936 propaganda film and cult classic that exaggerates the use of marijuana. Three drug dealers lead teenagers to try the reefer cigarettes and get them hooked on it while playing jazz music.
The Athena will show the movie on 4/20, the “holiday for cannabis culture,” according to Time.
There are many origin stories for 4/20, but Time reported that the most credible source comes from a California high school in 1971. A group of students would get together at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed and would use “420” as a code for the drug.
The Grateful Dead are said to have helped popularize the term because one of the students knew its bassist. On Dec. 28, 1990, fans of the Grateful Dead reportedly handed out flyers at a concert inviting people to smoke “420” on Apr. 20 at 4:20 p.m., thus giving importance to the date.
The screening will be the first time the Athena has shown Reefer Madness, Alexandra Kamody, the director of the Athena, said. She likes to show cult classics and said it will be fun to play the “old relic” in the theater. Kamody hopes the film will bring a mix of students and Athens residents to the theater and spark curiosity in people.
“People have differing views on the topic,” Kamody said. “We just like to look at ways conversations have changed over the years and I think it’ll just be a really fun event.”
Jordan Moore, a junior studying English pre-law, said marijuana is something college students are familiar with and the legalization of the substance is a topic students would feel more strongly about. Moore is not interested in the event though.
“I feel like there’s so much banter back and forth on the legalization of marijuana that it’s a little bit exhausted,” she said.
Sydney Borowsky, a junior studying marketing, is interested in the event and said it would be cool.
“It’s a relevant topic in today’s society, especially if it’s portrayed in the ‘30s and see how things have changed,” Borowsky said.
