The Father, the Son and the Pineapple Express

Not sure if Mary made the exact same face when she held her dead son in her arms.

The stoner action comedy, Pineapple Express (2008), can easily be dismissed as a meaningless film that only has the sole purpose to entertain college students and stoners alike.  However, this David Gordon Green directed film hardly succumbs to the stereotypical stoner comedy. Religious imagery and symbolism is beyond prevalent throughout the entire film. Whether or not writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg purposely put this imagery in the movie is up for debate, but this film can no longer be labeled as a frivolous and vapid piece of work. Pineapple Express explores religious undertones through the use of symbolism, characterization and mise en scène.

Pineapple Express is packed with religious symbolism, particularly the reoccurrence of the number three and physical representations of the numerical figure. Three is a significant number in Christianity. It refers back to the Trinity, also known as the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The number three reappears quite frequently throughout the film. Saul Silver (James Franco), Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) and Red (Danny McBride) form an alliance in the film to fight off Ted Jones (Gary Cole), the hit man hunting these men down and his mistress, Carol (Rosie Perez), a corrupt police officer abusing her power to save her lover. Saul, Dale, and Red symbolize the Holy Trinity in human form, combining their forces to prevail in this battle of good versus evil. This isn’t the only place where the number three comes into play. In Saul’s apartment there are three television sets. One of the sets is shut off, while the other two are playing two different programs. One television set is playing an old sitcom, Good Times, while the other set seems to be playing Lord of the Rings, a modern day picture, which is a technological representation of the Trinity. The strain of marijuana that everyone is fighting over, known as Pineapple Express, is the force that brings these three men together in the film. In one scene, Saul describes the Pineapple Express to Dale as “God’s vagina”.  In the same scene, Saul and Dale smoke a “cross joint” that is in the shape of a crucifix. These instances allude to the audience that this particular strain of pot is one of a holy nature. Pineapple Express is referred to as God, or rather God’s lady parts, implying that Pineapple Express is indeed God. Following this form of logic, when this strain of ganja is inhaled these men become possessed by God. Thus, these three men are a form of God and become the Holy Trinity.

It could be inferred from this logic that this strain of weed keeps Saul, Dale, and Red from dying. Throughout the film, Red escapes death at every turn. His neck almost gets broken, he is repeatedly shot at and bleeding to death for the duration of the film. Somehow Red manages to miraculously survive a massive explosion in an isolated farm house. Red represents immortality, a trait that is only seen in one being -- God. Saul and Dale also go through the ringer quite a bit. They endure being beaten senseless with dust busters, stabbed with barbecue sauce drenched forks and being shot at repeatedly. These three characters are also seen smoking the Pineapple Express, ingesting the holiest strains of marijuana and are provided with protection from God.

Saul Silver, the forever stoned drug dealer bares a striking physical resemblance to Jesus, with his long, brown, hair and lax fashion that displays his meager living. Towards the end of the film when Saul is confronted by Carol at gunpoint, he accepts his fate that he is about to be killed and lifts his arms in the air in a pose that resembles Jesus being crucified. At the end of the film when the farm catches fire, Dale finds Saul passed out and about to be engulfed in flames. Dale picks Saul up and runs out of the burning farm, resembling the famous Pietas where Mary is holding her dead son, Jesus, after being crucified. This moment is foreshadowed in the beginning of the film when Dale goes to Saul's to buy weed. In Saul's apartment, there is a poster hanging right next to his door that has the poem, Footprints, on it. This poem describes a person walking on the beach with God. When recounting different periods of his life, there have been two sets of footprints in the sand, however there are some periods where there are only one set of footprints and that was during the person's darkest periods. The person believes that is when God abandoned him, however God states those were the times that "I carried you". Dale is often times guiding Saul throughout their adventure, providing logic and reasoning to help them escape danger, often times acting like a parent. In Pineapple Express, Dale represents both God and Mary.

Even though Saul is slow in nature and seems to always be high on something, he is regularly described in the film as being a “good guy”. Saul remains loyal to his friends, and sticks by Dale even after they engage in a huge fight over their friendship, or rather lack thereof. Saul also proves to be a very forgiving man. He still manages to forgive Red, and proclaim that he is his best friend after Red betrayed his trust many a time, embracing Jesus’ mentality for forgiveness. Red, on the other hand, represents Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. In the film, Red acts as if he is looking out for Saul and Dale’s best interest, when in fact he already told Ted’s second hand men that he sold the Pineapple Express exclusively to Saul. Red gets Saul and Dale over to his place, and after a clumsy attempt in hand-to-hand combat, Red admits that he ratted Saul out but will protect him in the future. However, Red betrays Saul once again by immediately admitting to the gangsters where Saul and Dale are hiding out.  

Many of the scenes in this film display the Holy Trinity in some way, shape or form such as the grouping of television sets in Saul’s apartment. One scene, however, depicts the art of getting high as being a religious experience. When Dale and Saul are trapped in the woods, it is decided that they need to hitch a ride to get to Red’s house. Before doing so, Dale and Saul smoke some of the Pineapple Express they have left. The mise en scène creates a feeling of serenity and happiness. This engulfing, claustrophobic forest these two men were once frightened of becomes an open space. Trees are farther apart than they were when we first see them in the wilderness, illustrating that the young men are at peace with their surroundings. The lighting becomes soft, hitting both characters from behind. It appears to be that this scene is taking place right before sunset, when the sunlight is glimmering throughout the forest. This effect gives Saul and Dale an angelic look, creating a halo effect. This halo effect symbolizes that something holy is occurring in this scene, that these two men are having a religious experience with their pot. Everything in the scene is copacetic. Saul and Dale are becoming one with nature, whilst exploring their spiritual bliss.

Pineapple Express is more than just an action-packed stoner comedy. Combining entertainment with traces of religious imagery produces a film that the viewer can escape in and think about long after the movie is over. With the use of symbolism, biblical character representations and mise en scène, Pineapple Express articulates religious motifs in a film devoted to the heavy use of marijuana. The film conveys intellectualism mixed with stupidity. To create a work that blends two contradicting statements together is no easy feat. In fact, it makes the film just that much smarter.