“REAL ESTATE IS THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF THE CURRENTS OF POWER IN A CITY, AND IN THE NOVEL, PYNCHON PAYS ATTENTION TO THE WAY THOSE CURRENTS HAVE SHIFTED AROUND THE YEAR OF HIS STORY. “LONG, SAD HISTORY OF L.A. LAND USE,” DOC THINKS. “MEXICAN FAMILIES BOUNCED OUT OF CHAVEZ RAVINE TO BUILD DODGER STADIUM, AMERICAN INDIANS SWEPT OUT OF BUNKER HILL FOR THE MUSIC CENTER, TARIQ’S NEIGHBORHOOD BULLDOZED ASIDE FOR CHANNEL VIEW ESTATES.” TARIQ IS TARIQ KHALIL, THE ONLY BLACK CHARACTER IN BOTH VERSIONS OF VICE. IN THE NOVEL, THE SHADOW OF THE RIOTS HANGS HEAVIER THAN IT DOES OVER THE FILM, AND KHALIL APPEARS INTERMITTENTLY AS PART OF A SUBPLOT INVOLVING A POST-PRISON SETTLING OF SCORES. ANDERSON, FOR HIS PART, GIVES THE GUY ONE LONGER SCENE. KHALIL HAS JUST GOTTEN OUT OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE PRISON AT CHINO AND HE DULY APPEARS AT DOC’S OFFICE, WHICH IS SHARED WITH AN ACTUAL DOCTOR WHO GIVES AMPHETAMINE SHOTS FOR CASH. IN PRISON, KHALIL EXPLAINS, HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE BLACK GUERRILLA FAMILY AND CONDUCTED BUSINESS WITH THE ARYAN BROTHERHOOD (ONE OF WHICH BROTHERS IS NOW WOLFMANN’S BODYGUARD). “RACIAL HARMONY, I CAN DIG IT,” SAYS DOC. NOW, KHALIL WANTS TO RECONNECT WITH HIS FORMER GANG. THE PROBLEM IS THAT ALL OF THEIR HOUSES ARE GONE. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, GONE?” SAYS DOC. “NOT THERE,” KHALIL SAYS. AS IN, WOLFMANN LEVELED TO DEVELOP THE TERRITORY. DOC WRITES IN HIS NOTEBOOK, “NOT HALLUCINATING.” Q1 IT’S A LUCID NOTE. IN VICE‘S WORLD—OURS, TOO—AUTHORITY PERPETUATES ITSELF BY CASTING DOUBT ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE WEAK. SOMEONE SAYS, “YOU’RE RUINING MY NEIGHBORHOOD” AND YOU TURN TO YOUR PARTNER AND GO, “THIS MAN IS HALLUCINATING.”

Jesse on Inherent Vice.