The Doors Essay, Research Paper

“Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new games. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.” The 1960’s marked a new generation in music. There were many new groups earnestly touting a fusion of music, drugs, and idealism that they hoped would reform and redeem a troubled age. One of these groups was The Doors led by front man James Douglas Morrison. The Doors were very a very important part of the legacy of the 1960’s. The Doors’ music had great influence on the young generation of the 1960’s and the young generations of today. Their music was a meaningful favorite among young Americans fighting in Vietnam; a war in which children had been sent to kill or die for an older generation’s frightened ideals(Rolling Stone, 4/4/91). Now in this generation, a time when the society is stressing anti-drug and anti-obscenity ideas the Doors music is once again a favorite among young Americans looking to rebel(Rolling Stone 4/4/91). Jim Morrison professed an interest in anything about revolt, disorder, or chaos. His public misbehavior would eventually prove ruinous to him, his band, his friends, and his family(Rolling Stone 4/4/91). His misbehavior was something far more dark then artistic and political ambition(Rolling Stone 4/4/91). On the day of his twenty-fourth birthday, Morrison was maced by a cop in a shower stall backstage before a concert in New Haven, Connecticut. During his set, Morrison told the audience graphically what happened in the shower stall before the show. This aggravated the cops and Jim was arrested for indecent and immoral exhibition, breach of the peace, and resisting arrest(Dalton, David p. 101). The incident at New Haven marked a turning point for Jim. Soon after he became increasingly alcoholic and violent(Dalton, David p. 101). Maybe the nail in the coffin for Jim was on March 1, 1969 at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida. There, Morrison was charged with indecent exposure, open profanity, and public drunkenness. If convicted of all charges he faced up to seven years in prison but he got away with a $50,000 fine(Dalton, David p. 127). Jim Morrison was a great poet. His poetry is strange, elliptical, and excessive. It’s surrealism often passes over the heads of it’s young fans, who are not aware of it’s Freudian and Oedipal themes(Gunton, Sharon R. p. 285). The Lords and the New Creatures, A Volume of Poetry and An American Prayer, an album of Morrison reciting his poetry, are full his excesses, especially his sexual infatuations and mystical brilliance’s(Gunton, Sharon R. p. 285).

Morrison had a lot of symbolism in his works. He used water symbolism in songs such as “Moonlight Drive” and “Wishful Sinful.” In the song “Horse Latitudes” he used a kind of symbolism to represent dreams and mystery. The most important of all was his lizard symbolism(Gunton, Sharon R. p. 285). He dressed in tight, leather pants and reptilian clothes and apparently thought that, like the Lizard King of the song, he really could do anything(Gunton, Sharon R. p. 285). Jim Morrison has been remembered since his death. The song “The End” was the main song in the movie “Apocalypse Now” which was about the horrors of the Vietnam War(Lewis, Jon E. p. 44). In 1991 Oliver Stone directed a film called “The Doors” in which he depicted the whole history of the famous rock band. On the night of June 3, 1971 Morrison complained of chest pains and went in to the bathroom of his Paris home. Later that night he was found dead in the bathtub from an apparent heart attack. He was buried at Le Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France(Dalton, David p. 156). The Doors were a very important part of the legacy of the 1960’s. Their music was very influential to the young generation of the 1960’s and also to the young generations today. Part of Morrison’s popularity was due in part to his ideas on revolt, disorder, and chaos. Morrison was also a very talented poet who used great symbolism in his works. The legacy of Jim Morrison has been alive since his death with his song “The End” being the basis of the move “Apocalypse Now” and with “The Doors Movie” a biography of the band done by Oliver Stone. Even though Morrison is dead he is still alive in our hearts. Whenever the radio is turned on you can bet that you will hear one of his classics. “I think people resist freedom because they’re afraid of the unknown. But it’s ironic that unknown was once very well known. Its where are souls belong the only solution is to confront them–confront yourself–with the greatest fear imaginable. Expose yourself to your deepest fear. After that, fear has no power, and fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison