This photograph of Jim Morrison was taken on July 3, 1981 by photographer Joel Brodsky. Since then it has been pixilated into a JPG sized 2.8 mb and can be found via google.com and is published on the Doors website:

https://www.thedoors.com/gallery/1981

In the article associated with this picture, Brodsky explains that he “always thought it was sort of funny that the pictures of Morrison from that session were the most used. Jim was totally plastered.” While this picture represents “Jim…[as] the sex symbol and an important visual focus for the band ”; in an era where counter culture America was taking over, these pictures personified the counter culture’s sexuality and free spirit.
This picture was selected to illustrate a shift in American history. As much as mass media and the Vietnam War or mass media and presidential elections played a part in changing the nation’s culture; the counter culture played off the media to extend their popularity.
With a generation rejecting 50s norms and values, expressing ones sexuality became much more acceptable. I like this picture because it glorifies Jim Morrison as a male sex symbol. Previously sexuality was much more subdued. This picture targets the counter culture generation and mainstream America by putting Jim in your face. I like to think that Morrison had no intent on becoming so idolized. After all, Brodsky said “Morrison never really looked that way again, and those pictures have become a big part of The Doors’ legend. I think I got him at his peak”. Before the technology to capture such clear and detailed photos, along with ability to mass distribute records and the convenience of being able to play these records in ones home, people were forced to make their decisions on a different criteria Today parallels can be seen in mainstream media. Sex sells; and many new up and coming, as well as well known artists play off their good looks to sell records. However, those not picked up, for one reason or another, by companies who can further market them, struggle to make a name for them. This highlights the argument that cultures will change with changes in technology.

JAH

Earth day was started in the 70s as a part of the environmental movement. This movement, along with other movements, grew out of the civil rights movement. One of these movements was the feminist movement. From these two movements, environmental and feminist, grew a new movement. Eco-feminism holds that in order to end female oppression and environmental degradation humans must reject traditional patriarchal values. Rather than gender defined identities, Eco-feminism asserts that we are all a combination of masculinity and femininity. Life can only exist in harmony with a balance between the two. Eco-feminism argues that humans and nature are not separate but actually one in the same. In order to sustain humans on earth we must learn to live with nature, not dominate it, and we must learn to embrace both our masculine and feminine sides.

JAH

As we continue to talk about the cold war in large lecture the tv show the Americans came to mind when the Professor talked about how calling communist spies out in court backfired.During the 70s and 80s most of the American public shared a common paranoia. It’s taken decades for the topic of the cold war and spies to become okay. The show the Americans portrays a soviet spy couple living in D.C.

As side note, I find this is similar to the paranoia that terrorists from the middle east are in (or have infiltrated) the United States.

It could be argued that, in both cases, the government has invested interests in ensuring the public shares a common fear. It makes it easier for the government to achieve their goals when backed by the public.

JAH

chlorine changed the world.

via chlorine changed the world.

For my hack I hacked my philosophy lecture by using hermeneutics. As a sustainability major I tend to look at history through a environmentally minded lens. These pictures demonstrate how westward expansion and the seemingly endless supply of resources that are for our use are in fact ethically ingrained into the American way of thinking. In my philosophy class Professor Atterton called to our attention the fact that when the dustbowl hit people just figured they could continue to move west and use the resources available there. This mentality posses a problem in modern day society, we must rethink the anthropocentric ethics we hold if we hope to sustain human life on earth.  Jeff Hoyos