by William Skink
Today is Jim Morrison’s birthday. My impression of this man has changed dramatically since my first exposure to his music through the movie Lost Boys.
Knowing what I know now about the exploitation that occurs where power and influence resides–like Hollywood and Washington DC–the movie was the perfect vehicle of introduction to the music of The Doors.
The Lost Boys is not a horror movie about vampires. It is a metaphor for what powerful men in Hollywood do, sucking the life force from their victims. Corey Haim was one of those victims, according to the other Corey, Corey Feldman, who also acted in the movie.
And once you’re turned, you must continue to exist in the darkness.
It’s bizarre to see pedophilia being churned about now in the spin cycle of mainstream media after 4Channers and Reddit sleuths pieced together bits of data that by themselves don’t mean much–but as the data accumulates, and is added to past scandals, like the Franklin network in Nebraska, outright dismissal of something significant lurking within the spectrum of accusations is harder to maintain.
Over the summer I read everything I could on Jim Morrison, including all the biographies of the band members (except Robbie, who hasn’t written on). Jim Morrison is a character of sorts in the story I’m writing, so it was mostly research.
But it’s not all research.
Though I don’t have much to back this up, I have a hunch that Jim Morrison was abused as a child, either by his military father, or possibly someone in his family. Because I’m writing a work of fiction, I get to use my creative license to explore this hunch as it relates to the larger narrative.
That’s of course assuming a creative license is still allowed in America. In the coming witchhunts, I suspect artists are going to have to be very careful and clever to avoid the detection of the new censors.
Part of what’s happening with the debate over Pizzagate, at least in this 50+ page thread at Rigorous Intuition, is a debate over the validity of using works of art as part of the data set justifying calls for a formal investigation.
One of the artists being referenced in this debate is Kim Noble, who is allegedly a survivor and has dissociative disorder (once called multiple personality disorder) as a result of the abuse she experienced. In that context, her art is part of a therepeutic process of healing from severe trauma.
But her website is a dot com, so works can be purchased for money. The question then becomes who would want this kind of art hanging on their walls? A patron who wants to support a struggling artist, or a pedophile who is aroused by depictions of past trauma by a victim of abuse?
With some of this in mind, I offer my latest piece, Canyons of LA. I hope what I lack in vocal talent I make up with lyrical content and image arrangement. Enjoy!