Pink Floyd's The Wall Explained

Muhlenberg College school project analyzing Pink Floyd's The Wall (Movie). Enjoy

[ajb__Music]

What I’ve got out of it was Pink was a musician who couldn’t handle it so he hid his emotions behind the metaphorical wall and was caught himself showing emotions during the song the trial and found himself being guilty so he tore the wall, again metaphorical, down and revealed his emotions.

[bill]

This album and film concept are a timeless masterpiece. Considering the era it was made in, the artistry and animation are jaw-dropping. I have watched it probably 20 times and find something new and mind boggling each time. Roger Waters is a musical genius and those who were involved in the production of the movie deserve to be Knighted.

[ericshank]

In addition to my other comment: I remember listening to The Wall when I was 12, and the album was first released. At the time, I was attending a very strict, traditional English prep school, similar to the one attended by Pink. The refrain "We don´t need no education, we don´t need no thought control" struck me as being very profound at the time, and probably helped to set me on the path to juvenile delinquency. However, when I was 24, and somehow found myself teaching in a public high school (ironically, while also playing in a rock band, and going through a nervous breakdown), it occurred to me that I had been completely wrong about that, and that kids desperately need a quality education--and great teachers to lead the way. Unfortunately, I wasn´t up to that challenge at the time, and chose to pursue my music instead. Wearing two contradictory hats at the same time was just too much psychological pressure, and I had to leave the arena for a while. I can´t help but wonder how many high school teachers find themselves in the same position...Sting, I believe, was also a teacher; that´s what inspired his great song, "Don´t Stand So Close to Me".

[josephst.georgerockandroll]

A lot of people don’t understand why the fascism element is in there but to me it’s always made a lot of sense considering where the character is emotionally, plus I feel like it makes the character more of an anti-hero. He’s not a role model, he’s not a hero, he’s a prime example of what not to become. I think it’s meant to show the depths of what the wall can do to you

[jamesmoyner]

Thank you for the explanation because I was so confused watching this film and I am 24!

[loudrimshot]

Roger Waters' father died in 1944. In the movie and on the album the protagonist's father dies at the battle of Anzio in Italy which also happened in 1944. There is a dedication to Roger Waters father at the bottom of the album, the final cut.

There are definitely some autobiographical elements to the wall for Roger Waters as well as depictions of Syd Barrett. I believe that the fate of Syd Barrett haunts Roger Waters to this day.

By the way, this was a great background to the movie. Thank you for posting. The historical observations you made are fantastic.

[janadupisani]

watching this to impress an indie music boy, thank you sir, i appreciate your hard work

[TiercedePicardie]

In a more general sense, everything he has ever loved has left him.

[professorsponge]

I feel like attempting to paint this as an album about antisemitism is a big stretch. A more accurate conenction would be Pink believing he's no better than the forces that took his father from him and caused him so much pain and sorrow, as well as showing the vileness and hate that's building in him as he lives in a world of sex drugs and rock n roll. Its more psychodrama than an attempt at showing that london was """racist""".
I'm sure that got you an A, tho.

[WonHakWoon]

I watched this a few years ago and I didn't understand the storyline, this makes it so much more clear

[roguesheep]

One of the most important albums ever at the right time with the right messages .groundbreaking stuff i seen them in the Dam during the early 90s .. Nice Post well presented..

[skyforn]

It could be viewed as what this guy explains it as but truly its about isolation.

[brax]

Upon my first time listening to this album (today) I take it as someone who is clearly unhappy with the society they live in, and The Trial is them getting cast out of the society and Outside The Wall is the person coming to the idea “Man, who really wants to be apart of that society anyways?”. But I didn’t really pick up on anything besides that.

[fanda_]

My Music teacher played this in our music lesson And i was So confused watching this film. Thank you for explaining this. 👍

[MFHyde_Garcia]

Saw the movie stoned and on mushies back when i was 17, fuckin Amazing

[nemesiomercado]

The memories-When your love ones died during the war
The madness-When the crisis strikes during postwar
The music-When the rock is more popular during 50s and 60s
The movie-When the sci Fi movie is popular during 70s
The wall-when the Berlin wall is built in 1961

[johnkeller]

You missed a lot in this review and also forgot about history. Britain stood alone in 1940 against the Germans in painful defense of her island (as Churchill would famously say) until the Americans and later the Russians came to fight the Germans later to defeat Germany by 1945. That said, the Wall (the part you blatantly missed) came down both between Communism and Western democracies as well as the continuing Cold War which arguably exhibited even more violence in the 20th Century after WWII (especially in Russia and China). Recall that Europe felt the tension of the Cold War and the risk of nuclear war. The use of the hammer was a definite reference to Russian Communism using the same methods as Nazi Germany. The endless symbols of materialism, sex, and drugs in modern life represents the endless existential isolation not just within Pink but society at large. Individuals are crushed to conform even more from every angle State) with kids turned to sausage and a plethora of scary and violent imagery. Baby Boomers, especially in Europe, were scarred from this post war experience despite the sex, drugs, and rock diversions symbolic throughout the Wall. The psychosis of Pink is a greater reference to the violence and insanity of the 20th Century in the entire world. Roger Waters wrote this partially of his experience but extrapolated the thoughts into modern existential sadness all the way to the climax trial where feelings and humanity are ignored in the final verdict of Pink (both imagery in his head but also existing in the world, highlighted by "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb"; the show is a metaphor for one's life in society, not just a concert). That said, it is Roger's sad indictment of modern life (in his view).

[RowdyMajor]

I never thought of it this way before, but it all makes sense. To me, I always thought (after watching another video about this movie and album), that it was about a wall that many of people throughout the world have mentally due to past trauma and bad experiences in life. Regardless, whatever the true meaning is, that movie beautifully depressing. What I mean is, it’s so dark and depressing (because all of us have past trauma in our lives at some point, some more than others), but at the same time, it’s so beautiful, original, and creative that someone could come up with this concept. The only other band that could remotely come close to Pink Floyd (in regards to using metaphors to describe something or illustrate a bigger picture), would be Tool. However, there will never be another concept album or movie like this ever again….. unless bands and writers start using psychedelics again.

[remixandkaraoke]

This is a very poor and incorrect explanation of The Wall story. Believe me... I know because I lived it in my own life.

[sandytrosper]

You wanna get the full explination look up Roger he did it and he explains part for part