The Lizard King

861 Words2 Pages

The Lizard King

Some may see The Doors front man and offbeat poet extraordinaire Jim Morrison as the epitome of American culture, while countless others may see him as the complete antithesis. Rising to fame as American involvement in the Vietnam War reached a pinnacle, Morrison’s acclaim grew in a time of great American turmoil. The war in Vietnam was held as an issue of high controversy amongst many Americans. Many saw our involvement as utter ludicrousness and did not comprehend the need to send U.S. troops overseas to fight a war they had nothing to do with. As a result, certain Americans began both directly and indirectly rebelling against the beliefs and norms of the time, and thus, the counterculture movement was born. Jim Morrison became an icon of this rebellious revolution against a confused American government.

James Douglas Morrison was born on December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, on Florida’s east coast. He was the eldest child of George Stephen and Clara Clark Morrison whose latter two children were Anne and Andrew respectively. By order of his father, a career Navy man, Jim attended naval academy for his elementary and high school years. He later attended St. Petersburg Junior College and Florida State University before finally graduating from UCLA in 1965 as a film major with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

The symbol that was Jim Morrison had been bred completely by the society that he grew up in. Fueled by an era of governmental protest and an emerging counterculture movement, Jim Morrison lashed out in his own way against the injustice he saw in America. The entire concept of being able to speak one’s own mind is a thoroughly American ideal in itself, obviously dating all the way back to the Bill of Rights. H...

... middle of paper ...

...see as wrong. Jim Morrison personifies this ideal.

Over the years since his tragic death, Morrison has become somewhat of an American Legend, a myth. His tale seems to exist amongst those of other American legends like Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, and Paul Bunyan. The Jim Morrison story, however, is as real as they come. Many Americans of today look to him as a symbol of rebellion and as a constant reminder that we as a nation and as individuals are free to follow and shape our own destiny. Molded by a culture that often questions authority, Morrison left behind him a legacy of maintaining that ideal. Jim Morrison was and always will be a true American.

WORKS CITED

Lang, Joe (2001). JimMorrisonBiography. "http://www.hotshotdigital.com/ WellAlwaysRemember/JimMorrisonBio.html"

Mr. Mojo Risin’ – Jim Morrison. (2000) "http://www.mojorisin.net/jima1.html"

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