4/12/2003 10:21:15 AM|||Travis|||

I just watched a very influencial movie, The Doors.

Directed by Oliver Stone with Val Kimer playing Jim Morrison. Val really wanted the part when he heard that Oliver stone was directing the movie and ended up sending him a tape with songs he had made that sounded identical to Jim. Finnally, through persistence he got the part.

"The Movie will begin in 5 moments, the mindless voice announced. All those unseatted will await the next show. We filed slowly languidly into the hall. The auditorium was vast and silent. As we seated and were darkened, The voice continued- The Program for this evening is not new, You have seen this entertainment thru & thru. You've seen your birth, life, and death. You might recall all the rest. Did you have a good world when you died??? Enough to base a movie on? "
- The Quote they start the movie with.

A couple of things really got me, the biggest was immortality. It is a reoccuring theme in the movie, and it suddenly struck me that all the greats were obbsessed with death. With Jim, it was breaking through to the otherside, through the doors into the eternal life. Similiarly with a prophet, such as Jesus who spoke of Heaven- a place again, on the other side.

It was obvious that Morrison, in the movie at least, was constantly thinking about, singing about and reminding others about their deaths. He was quoted as to saying:

"I wouldn't mind dying in a plane crash. It'd be a good way to go. I don't want to die in my sleep, or of old age, or OD... I want to feel what it's like. I want to taste it, hear it, smell it. Death is only going to happen to you once; I don't want to miss it."

An interesting way to think about it. The passage demonstrates the way he faces death in the face. This one is better-

"I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then- whoosh, and I'm gone...and they'll never see anything like it ever again... and they won't be able to forget me- ever."

And here we come to the interesting part- memory. All the greats are never forgotten, immortilize by their work, books and movies. Some even gain influence as more works are written about them. Take Jesus for example. He had little power while he was alive, and was not widely known. A couple hundred years later, after there were many Gospels, religious sects, and other idea carrying devices out in the world spreading his message- then he became powerful. It was the seed that he planted during his life, which grew into an eternal tree that still, after over two thousand years, influences peoples thoughts.

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