The Celebration of the Lizard Essay -- Analysis, Jim Morris

It was 1968's album Waiting for the Sun that marked the appearance of a new aspect of Morrison's image, the Lizard King. A poem entitled â€Å"The Celebration of the Lizard,† in which he pronounced â€Å"I am the Lizard King,† was printed on the album jacket. Morrison later claimed that this poem was meant to be partly in jest, but it took on a life of its own and would play an important role in Morrison mythology. In a 1970 interview, Morrison respond to a question about being called a Lizard King: Stevenson: How do you feel about some of the magazine articles that used to come out calling you the Lizard King and things like that? Morrison: Oh, I liked it! I enjoyed it! I thought it was, you know, I always liked reptiles, I always had a fondness for them . . . We did evolve from reptiles . . . I used to see the universe as a mammoth peristaltic snake and I used to see all the people, objects and landscapes as pictures on the facets of their skin, their scales. I think the peristaltic motion is the basic life movement: swallowing, digestion, the rhythms of sexual intercourse. Even your basic unicellular structures have this same . . . Stevenson: Fluidity and motion? Morrison: Yeah!14 Morrison used the attribution of Lizard King to expand on his image, as seen in this interview, by molding it to his ideals of proximity to the earth, suggesting that the motion of a reptile mimics the basic motion of all life. He further used the Lizard King image in the theatricality of his on-stage performances and, whether consciously or sub-consciously, to contribute to his own, as well as the band's, image. At best, it is possible to distinguish between Morrison as shaman and Morrison as the Lizard King,... ... difficult to confirm the cause of his death. Was it suicide? Murder? This uncertainty may have contributed to a Morrison-like image and myth. Now, that his physician has been convicted of negligence, the uncertainty is reduced. We will have to wait and see what develops. It is the public discourse, after the death of a celebrity, which results in the emergence of an icon. In books, films, and other media content about the celebrity, various narratives and central values become associated with the celebrity. After several years of continued public interest in the dead celebrity, the image and values associated with the celebrity become more significant than, and transcend, the factual details about the historical existence of the individual. The following section will outline elements contributing to the construction of the image of a celebrity, after their death.