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