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Edited on Tue Dec-06-05 10:04 PM by 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??
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