Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Pink Floyd The Wall Part 2



The first song that I analyzed was in the Flesh? written by Roger Waters. So far, I have explained the true meaning of the song as well as the two different interpretations people had when they listened to it. Now when it comes to comparing the lyrics to the imagery found in Pink Floyd The Wall, we notice that Roger uses both interpretations in the scene, which makes the clip very fascinating. The first interpretation is that of Pink Floyd fans who are attending Rogers' concert and the second one is that of soldiers fighting in World War II which represents how you need violence and not love in order to survive in life. When the instruments are playing but the vocals have not yet started, we see teenagers how are rioting on the streets, rebelling against police officers, getting searched and taken in for drug possession and everyone is fighting and breaking whatever is in their sight. The scene then changes and soldiers are seen fighting for their lives on a field. We do not see the enemy, only the fighting, wounded or dying soldiers. People are getting hit by bullets and killed by explosions. As the lead singer of the song ‘’in the Flesh?’’ starts to sing, the scene changes. As he is singing, you see Pink, the main character of the movie, coming out on a huge balcony and he talks as if he is singing the song. He is dressed up as Hitler, his eyebrows are shaved off and he is talking to an audience, the rioting teenagers who are now silent and in awe. This was a perfect way to combine the two interpretations of the song. The rioting teenagers were now looking up to an authoritive figure that happened to be a mimic of Hitler himself, the man who caused World War II, making the children take the role of the Nazis. Flags that resembled those of the Nazis were hung up for everyone to see and torches are everywhere in the open area. The flags are vertical, black with a circle in the middle with a picture of two intertwining hammers. There are many different interpretations on the criss crossed hammers symbol but for this particular scene, I believe that it is a symbol of the Nazis. Instead of using marching soldiers in the movie, Roger used ‘’marching’’ hammers and they are best known for one thing: destruction. It is a metaphor that suggests that Nazis only did one thing, and that was to destroy whatever was on their path. You would also hear people screaming ‘’ Hammer! Hammer!’’ throughout the movie, which also suggests the symbolism of the Nazis.

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