Pink Floyd THE WALL
1. The boy sees masks on the faces of the people in the train. Later he sees similar masks on the faces of the children in his fantasy. What is the meaning of that? 2. The riot scene ends and the camera returns to the boy in the classroom as the children recite the lesson. Think of a possible explanation for this. 3. What kind of education does the movie portray? Use the song “The happiest days of our lives” to help you: 4. Education is only one of the various social institutions the movie deals with. What others did you notice and how are they portrayed? 5. We, in Argentina, often rely on education to solve most of our social problems. We blame education, or the lack of it, for many of them. Consider the huge success (described in the text below) of the song “Another brick in the wall” which claims “we don’t need no education” and compare it to what you think about education. While the song is not the first example of the antieducation theme in popular music, it comes at a time when increasing numbers of students are questioning the value of their education. Thus, young people are responding to the song with uncommon — and unsettling — enthusiasm. In May [1980], the South African government banned the song — and the album — "because "Another Brick" had become the anthem of a national strike of more than 10,000 "coloured" (mixed) students and their white supporters. The students had been protesting the inequality of spending on education for the various races, as well as "intimidation" by teachers, whose authority the Pink Floyd song challenges. The government ban forbids radio stations to play the record, stores to sell it, and individuals to own it. https://mises.org/library/another-brick-wall 6. Up to what extent is education a way of “thought control”? 7. Explain the meaning of the double-hammer symbol. Use the scene “In the flesh” to answer. 8. The children falling into the meat grinder is a visual metaphor that makes a powerful point. What is the metaphor and what point does it make? 9. What is the wall? Can you say whether it is a good thing or not?
1) The usage of those masks is strongly connected, I believe, to the way in which education is portrayed. According to the given idea as regards education, we get to think that it is a completely over-controlling institution which shapes students under a strict threshold. These masks appear in two different scenes. When Pink sees a train passing by with people wearing them and when he daydreams on a riot. What I can say about this is that there is a connection between the brainwashed students that march out of the large machine and the adults inside the train. The faceless masks represent, I think, people who cannot think by themselves. As kids, they were repressed just like Pink, and the mask stayed forever. The movie shows us how the abuse of power and strictness at school shaped thoughts, controlled thoughts, and left “scars” for the rest of their lives. 2) The riot scene is accompanied by the famous song Another Brick in the Wall (pt. 2). If the whole situation was analysed, it could be understood that students are somewhat shaped under a strict and repressive educational system. If this was analysed in a larger context, it could be said that students represent people and the teacher represents authorities within society. As authorities shape people under certain "doctrine" or ideals, people are not allowed to think by themselves or even think creatively. Pink first imagines the students marching towards a large machine from where they become faceless kids (people shaped by, maybe, governments). After a while there is a strong contrast, as the boy pictures himself and his mates burning down the building and any furniture representing school. Though this could be seen as a reaction to the repressive educational system, it could also be seen as the reaction people have within society. But when this scene ends and the camera goes back to Pink's face, we realise that it was a daydream and the kids are still reciting the lesson. I believe this means that there's no true "escape" from the system. People were already shaped to believe that was to be accepted, though they may not agree. 3) Education is a clear theme within the movie The Wall. It is shown as a repressive system leaded by frustrated and also oppressed teachers who mistreat students and don't allow them to think, create, imagine. These teachers overuse their power and hide their miserable and weak selves behind a despicable mask to scare kids under their control. By comparing this idea with the song “The happiest days of our lives”, the first six lines refer to teachers establishing this distant and somewhat violent relationship with students. The following lines, however, describe what the life of these teachers was actually like. They were also oppressed by someone else, in this case their wives. Their attitude had to do with the way in which they were also treated. This had an impact on an institution which is actually supposed to build brains, thoughts and skills in a positive way. 4) The Wall deals with several social institutions. Besides education, I could recognise Family and Government. Firstly, the theme of family is approached
in several scenes. Pink’s lost his father in war and his overprotective mother raised him by herself. This family mould shown has a strong impact on Pink’s personality and future tormenting memories. Mothers are portrayed, as mentioned before, as overprotective relatives. This is particularly expressed throughout the song “Mother” Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true. Mother's gonna put all her fears into you. Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing. She won’t let you fly, but she might let you sing. The whole song gives this idea. The singer recites several lines that express in some way a man’s fear to make decisions, to choose, to live by his own due to the impositions his mother made when he was a kid. However, even though this mother is overprotective she’s at the same time an absent mother, if this makes sense. She tried to shape her kid according to what she thought was correct but the boy actually didn’t receive love and affection. His father was dead and his mother did “what she could”. Throughout the song there are many questions asked to a mother asking for her approval so as to move on. Pink’s mother is also shown as a distracted woman. She ignores her kid’s suffering due to the lost of his father. The other theme I could recognise was Government. I would say it is government as a system. And this can be connected to educational system, though in a larger scale. The movie shows how the system oppresses individuals and seeks for blank minds (which, I believe, are easier to control). There is a contrast between people wearing masks inside the train and students wearing them in Pink’s daydream. While this last makes reference to the educational system as a repressive one which does not allow students to build their opinions based on what they believe is correct or not, people in the train represent from my point of view, those kids as adults shaped within a system that forced them to think the way they do. Both institutions are shown as strict and somewhat abusive. (If I should add something else, at the very end Pink becomes a satirized version of a Nazi dictator. The movie portrays fascism, and this is another way to approach the theme of government. At the end Pink is shown as a demented leader, maybe due to a mental collapse caused by his dark memories, and he somehow becomes a restrictive authority just like the one that is criticized in general lines throughout the movie) 5) After reading the text and taking into account the impact of the song, I will state my point of view. It is true we usually blame the lack of education for many of the problems we’ve got nowadays. However, I strongly believe the song goes further than that. Though it is true that it was used so as to stand against the educational model shown in the movie (which, as described above, was extremely oppressive and somehow brainwashing), I believe it has more to do with a rebellion against extremist authorities who abuse from their
alleged superiority. This shall be compared to many situations in society. It can be compared to governments, or any hierarchical system. The famous line in the song “we don’t need no education” is followed by “we don’t need thought control”. So I believe it was strongly connected to the model shown in the movie. I do think education is necessary as long as it does not shape students’ minds and thoughts. Creativity and freedom of both speech and thought are extremely necessary so as to build personality and ideals. I disagree with the extremist system shown in the movie, which I believe does or did exist in certain institutions, but I do not disagree with education itself. Education is not what we receive from school teachers only, but what our parents and context offer us. Education does also have to do with values, I believe, and that is something we learn from our closest relatives. To conclude, if the song was banned, I see it as a case in which education was similar to the example shown by Pink Floyd. Students may have found the way, through popular music, to rebel against an oppressive reality. Anyway, I disagree with the line “we don’t need no education”, if this was extracted alone. Within the song, I’m sure it does have a larger meaning. 6) I don’t actually think education (nowadays) is a way of “thought control”. However it may have been like that decades ago. I believe it all depends on the teachers and social context. It is true that there are, or at least were, teachers like the one shown in The Wall, which didn’t allow freedom and tried to shape their class under an educational doctrine, if this makes any sense. By stating a point of view and not allowing kids to somehow think by themselves, teachers would brainwash students and control what they thought. Kids would be afraid to think in a different way and therefore accept the imposed way of thinking. Fortunately in our case teachers do allow us to control our thoughts. We are allowed to discuss, to analyse, to share different points of view so as to build our ideals. 7) The double-hammer symbol is often shown throughout the movie. So as to confirm what I understood, I called on some forums and discussions. I read hammers usually represent(ed) fascism. So if we analyse the symbol within The Wall, we see it represents fascism, or even Nazism. The crossed hammers look like the swastika. There’s actually a scene where these hammers “march” as Nazis did. It shall represent oppression. The symbol is also associated with Pink’s teacher. It may be connected to punishment of established rules are not obeyed. The scene “In the Flesh” shows Pink, I believe ironically satirizing Hitler, a fascist dictator. He shows himself as a despicable person who starts to somewhat discriminate his “audience”. Hammers shall also represent destruction. Kids use hammers, among other things, so as to destroy the school in the riot scene. 8) When Pink pictures himself and his mates marching inside that large factory, some start falling into a meat grinder. This metaphor has to do, I
believe, with what I have said before. The whole scene shows kids marching in a factory and being turned into faceless beings. I believe the meat grinder represents the way in which open-minded kids are “destroyed” and rebuilt according to what the system needs: brainwashed individuals that think what they were told to think. 9) I think this is the most interesting question. The wall may represent different things. Taking into account something I read a while ago, Waters thought about this concept album during a tour where he believed what they were doing (concerts) was done in an alienated way. During a particular show Waters felt offended by a fan that was brought on stage and he saw the situation itself as a wall between him and his audience/fans. Having said this, the wall may represent the way in which we isolate ourselves from the external world. All the things that happen to us, help us build this wall. All these things are just “bricks in the wall”. The movie shows different events that build Pink’s wall throughout his life. Despite this abstract and somewhat metaphorical meaning, there is a literal one which is show in those scenes where Pink is locked in a hotel room. He’s surrounded by walls and his mind wanders across his darkest memories or even daydreams. All in all, the wall is a psychological building that separates what’s going on within us from the world without.