I did a class paper on Pink Floyd's "The Wall"...

[SmileyBoy]

...and I'm wondering if you agree with this theory.

Many people have argued over the actual message of the 1982 movie, and after watching it for the first time in 6 or 7 years, I have a theory as to what Roger Waters et al. were trying to say.

This is an excerpt from my paper:

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"Here’s my take on the overall message: The film goes through three or four main metaphorical themes and messages throughout the movie, even though there are far more actual scenes going on. The first one is of an anti-war angle, dramatizing the stress of war to a young boy whose father has gone to fight in World War II. The second is an anti-conformist angle portraying the things that children go through in school, and how the educational system works to try to make children conformists (hence “the wall” that is portrayed after the scene, which I believe represents conformity.) The third is that of a representation of a psychologically detached state from other people, portrayed by the rock star figure of Robert Geldof, and how this actually ties in to the childhood of the young boy in World War II, whose father has left him. Geldof in one scene is portrayed as an insane mental patient, whose young boy self sees him from behind, gets scared out of his wits, and runs away.

Another main metaphorical theme seems to be the glorification of the relationships between boys/men and their mothers, (which could be portrayed as an anti-matrimonial theme) as illustrated by the elaborate animations in a few scenes of the movie, one of which shows flowers morphing into representations of the female sexual organ. The last main metaphorical theme seems to be the rise of a fascist society, a clearly anti-fascist theme, illustrated by the end scenes of Geldof (who has no character name) shaving his head and eyebrows and all of a sudden becoming a fascist dictator, leading pillages and raids of businesses, and wooing a crowd of people in a rally like Hitler would have done. After that, a lot of commotion happens (including the elaborate animations), and the wall explodes and crumbles. In the end, little children are picking up the pieces of the wall and rebuilding.

I believe all these themes come together in a significant way. My theory is that the band was trying to explain how a lot of times parents can raise their children the wrong way, with unhealthy relationships with their mothers, and conformist policy in school, and this can lead to psychological detachment in adult life, leading to a disconnection with other people, sexual abnormalities (also portrayed to an extent by the film) and a mental state of a preference towards fascism, ultimately leading some to mental disrepair. This is my take on what I thought the message of the film was."

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Do you agree??

[SmileyBoy]

1. Kick before I go.

:kick:

[Dancing_Dave]

2. Great job, man!

I remember doing similar things when I was in highschool...well, at least when I could get away with it! :yourock:

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. I think only Roger Waters knows what the 'message' is

And since he's god, he ain't tellin'.

:hippie:

[NMMNG]

4. Good analysis

Being that Pink Floyd is my favorite band, I've always enjoyed that movie. I've seen it numerous times and believe your analysis is well thought out.

I happened to find this review online that you may find interesting, just to compare notes with your own observations. Some of the author's ideas are very similar to yours.

[Neil Lisst]

5. I believe much of it is autobiographic for Waters.

It's his life.

[hfojvt]

6. the wall is not conformity

It is the psychological wall put up to protect the self, or ego, from the cruelties of the world. It is like "I am a rock. I am an island. I touch no one and no one touches me." Nobody is allowed to get past the wall.

It is not just about parents, although mother helps to build the wall, and "mother did it need to be so high?" There are also "certain teachers who would hurt the children anyway they could, by pouring their derision upon anything we did." There is the damage of war "the planes are all long gone, the pain lingers on". There are dysfunctional relationships - "what shall we use, to fill the empty spaces where we used to talk."

Perhaps then, it is the anomie - the detachment from society and the lack of empathy, that leads to the fascist hammer (being comfortably numb and also have a "turn" coming on). In the end, there is a somewhat Nuremburg trial where the judge declares - "tear down the wall!" (Which will leave him exposed among his peers.)

But I am surprised that the wall gets destroyed in the movie, because I remember the album sounding like people give their all, and some stagger and fall, because it's not easy, banging your head against some mad buggers wall.

I have not seen the movie for 20 years, nor listened to the album for ten years. It is really pretty depressing stuff.

[carpetbagger]

7. My take on The Wall...

It should be viewed as pornographic autobiography. By that I mean it is a look inside Waters' mind (or some composite mind that seems to draw largely on Waters), warts and all, where his neuroses are given amplication and echo, and where we see the distorted themes. You're right, it's a unitary theme, but I see the theme as a progressively psychotic dissociation from interpersonal interactions as seen through the life cycle, or at least up until the age of the band members in 1980. The paradox is that we never really, really get an answer as to whether Geldorf is intrinsically crazy or if he just gets too many hard knocks. I say he's nuts, and that the whole thing is about the nightmares of Roger Waters.

The Final Cut serves in many ways as a reader's guide to The Wall. Here the anguish about the world, about isolation, it's all made overt and quite poetic. The root of the Wall character's "issues" is treated in extended detail, and the title track, probably my favorite song next to "The Long and Winding Road", reveals Waters in true and human form, and is probably the most naked a rock musician has ever been in a song.

Obviously, there are other influences in this. Gilmour's artistic work, if not biography (and I don't remember much of his bio offhand), can be seen pretty clearly in the two "Pink Gilmour" studio albums, The Division Bell. It's a picture of isolation, but a more mature isolation consistant with either a less troubled soul or a burned-out fire of conflict through the passage of time.