133 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
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w _____ ____ 1 1 4 "'Doorman:' A Modern _Crime and w
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D // | \ 11 11 44 Punishment_ or Dostoevsky as a Punk" D
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* || ____ | || | 1 1 444 by Lobo Licious *
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G || || \ / | || | 1 1 4 issue #114 of "GwD: The American Dream G
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w \\___// \/\/ |____/ 111 111 4 with a Twist -- of Lime" * rel 09/20/01 w
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There are many common themes which span the gaps between different forms
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of art. These themes resonate throughout the musical, visual (paintings,
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sculptures), literary, and cinematic worlds. One theme common to works in
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many media is the forms of human suffering. For instance, _Zapata_, a
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painting by Jose Clemente Orozco, depicts the suffering of Mexican peasants at
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the hands of others in a similar fashion to that portrayed in the works of
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Franz Kafka. Likewise, the inception of George Orwell's _Animal Farm_ is much
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like Fritz Lang's _Metropolis_, a film depicting the suffering of the working-
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class man for the "good" of society. Fyodor Dostoevsky's _Crime and
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Punishment_ and Brutal Juice's "Doorman" deal with man's suffering for his
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crimes, his final acceptance of guilt, and finally his repentance. _Crime and
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Punishment_, first published serially in Russia in 1866, tells the story of a
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young man who kills a pawnbroker and over time comes to accept his guilt and
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seek absolution. "Doorman," first released on the album _How Tasty Was My
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Little Timmy?_ in 1991 (the actual version used in this discussion is from
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_mutilation makes identification difficult_, released in 1995 by Interscope
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Records), tells the story of a man committing a rape (or another equally
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heinous crime) before finally accepting his guilt and repenting. Though they
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come from different times and cultures, _Crime and Punishment_ and "Doorman"
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convey the same message.
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The works are very similar in plot structure. Both works have seven
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distinct parts ("Parts I-VI" and "Epilogue" in _Crime and Punishment_; three
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verses and three choruses and the spoken interlude in "Doorman"). The first
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part of each work deals with the actual crime. The second through sixth parts
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of each deal with the criminals' consciences and the attempts of others to
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influence them to repent. Both men respond in the same fashion to these
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attempts: Raskolnikov asks, "'I must give myself up?'" (361), as the criminal
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in "Doorman" asks, "They offer me salvation, but do I really want it?" In the
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epilogues of both works, the men finally realize the need for repentance.
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Raskolnikov accepts his guilt early in the Epilogue but does not actually
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repent until he has an epiphany: "[A]ll at once something seemed to seize
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him...at last the moment had come..." (471). He truly feels sorrow for his
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heinous act; he becomes a new man and realizes that it is time to move on.
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The criminal in "Doorman" repents during its own epilogue; the final chorus in
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which the word "Repent" appears thirteen times (three more than in any other
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refrain). As the epilogue progresses, the word becomes more intense. At the
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end of the song, the "Silence!" the man calls for finally arrives. He
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realizes that he truly must repent. The elements relating the gradual
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acceptance of crime in both works is also very much the same.
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Both works combine varying degrees of intensity during the journey to
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repentance. Dostoevsky's novel begins with a single idea: Raskolnikov's plan
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for the pawnbroker's murder. The narrative's intensity heightens and reaches
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its peak when he actually commits the murder. The intensity of the remainder
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of the novel stays constant as friends and acquaintances attempt to persuade
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him to admit his guilt. Raskolnikov's conscience makes him ill as he
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subconsciously wishes to accept his crime for what it is. The intensity again
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flares up as Raskolnikov embraces his guilt and repents. At the close of the
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novel, the intensity tapers off and returns to its original level.
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"Doorman" begins with a pair of guitars, starting softly. The tempo and
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volume increase quickly as bass guitar and drums are added, representing the
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actual crime. The tempo remains constant throughout the song's verses. The
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criminal's conscience continually warns him to "Repent," even taking the form
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of a serpent when he is in a dream-like state. As the song ends, the bass
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guitar and drums fade away and only a single guitar remains.
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The symbolism in both works is comprised of many common elements. In the
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novel, Raskolnikov's name is taken from the Russian "raskol," meaning to split
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asunder. His name represents the schism in his mind between knowing what is
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right and actually doing it. The Doorman, spoken of in the first verse of the
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song, represents a man's allowance of a similar schism to develop in his own
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mind. The Doorman clearly has let his guard down and allowed evil into the
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criminal's world. Religious symbols abound in _Crime and Punishment_, mainly
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in the person of Sonia, the novel's Christ-figure. The prisoners in Siberia
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"...even came to her for help in their illnesses" (469). Though Dostoevsky's
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work clearly shows his firm belief in Christianity, it also shows his
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criticism of that religion. In "Doorman," a traditional Christian story, the
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Garden of Eden, is corrupted in a Kafkaesque manner: "The apple in the tree,
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it hangs for me to pick / ... / But then the serpent comes, he tells me not to
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bother / It doesn't taste the way it looks..." Each work includes both
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Christian symbols and other symbols to add to the suffering motifs. The
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crimes themselves (and the motivation behind them) are also very similar. The
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wrongdoings of the criminals of each work, though different, are similar in
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motivation.
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Raskolnikov presents the "Superman theory," which states that certain
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people are above the law and "seek...the destruction of the present for the
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sake of the better" (227), as justification for his crime. He believes
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himself to be one of these "Supermen" and he thinks that the murder of the
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pawnbroker is justifiable by his own theory: he is somehow better than
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others. The criminal in "Doorman" seems to also think of himself as better
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than others. The motivation for rape is known often to be lust for power over
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another. Before committing the murder, Raskolnikov's conscience shows itself
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as he attempts to talk himself out of the murder: "'God, how loathsome it all
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is!" (7). His conscience cannot stop him from murdering the old woman and her
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sister, but it catches him later and leads to him to repent. The criminal in
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"Doorman" also seems to have a conscience about his crime. The warnings of
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his conscience echo those voiced by Raskolnikov: "She's not just some piece
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of meat / She's a human being, for crying out loud..." Like Raskolnikov,
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this man commits his crime in spite of his conscience and eventually is forced
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to pay the consequences for his action. The criminal in "Doorman" clearly has
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much in common with Raskolnikov.
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The moral lesson of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is proven to be
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applicable to today's society in other works of art, such as Brutal Juice's
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"Doorman". Though written more than one hundred years apart, the authors of
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each work wish for their respective audiences to understand the same message:
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it is only through the acceptance of guilt and repentance that a criminal can
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truly be rehabilitated. This message brings together two very different art
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forms from different time periods and distinct cultures. Though often
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regarded as merely noise (since it was a punk rock band), Brutal Juice is as
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artistic in their medium as Dostoevsky is in his. Society's understanding of
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the lessons taught by Raskolnikov and his counterpart in "Doorman" is a
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pivotal point in the ability of man to continue existing. Dostoevsky seems to
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ask, "What is the world coming to?" and, "What can we do about it?" in _Crime
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and Punishment_. It is a sad commentary on society that Brutal Juice and
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others still ask the same question after so much "progress." It is
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notable, though, that Brutal Juice asks the question a little louder than
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Dostoevsky did. Heh.
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-Works Cited-
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Brutal Juice. "Doorman." Perf. Brutal Juice. _mutilation makes
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identification difficult_. Interscope, 1995.
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Garnett, Constance, trans. _Crime and Punishment_. By Fyodor Dostoevsky.
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1866. New York: Bantam, 1981.
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--- -- - -- --- -- - -- --- -- - -- --- -- - -- ---
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Issue#114 of "GwD: The American Dream with a Twist -- of Lime" ISSN 1523-1585
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copyright (c) MMI Lobo Licious/GwD Publications /---------------\
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copyright (c) MMI GwD, Inc. All rights reserved. :MONEY SHOTS INC:
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a production of The GREENY world DOMINATION Task Force, Inc. : GwD :
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Postal: GwD, Inc. - P.O. Box 16038 - Lubbock, Texas 79490 \---------------/
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FYM -+- http://www.GREENY.org/ - editor@GREENY.org - submit@GREENY.org -+- FYM
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