Coffee contains caffeine, a psychoactive drug, yet it is usually treated as an ordinary part of everyday life. Coffee machines across the hotel, drums in the pantry, and coffee within the Torrance living space make that normalization visible.
Alongside cigarettes and Jack’s alcoholism, coffee supports an observation about American culture: some drugs are familiar and accepted while others attract strong judgment. The contrast does not mean that everyone needs drugs to function.
See Normalization and Drugs + Alcohol.
In this image · No.5
The coffee mugs.