The Wall is a live-action / animated British musical drama film directed by Alan Parker with animated sequences by political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe in 1982, and is based on the same name’s Pink Floyd album in 1979,(Star2019). The movie revolves around a depressed rocker called pink, who developed a metaphor after being pushed into madness by his father’s death and many suicidal moments during his lifetime. Sequentially, we humans are social beings; we share mirror neurons which unconsciously and instantly enable us to match each other’s emotions. We feed off of each other’s feelings because our existence as a species is social, but some individuals are unable to adjust to social standards and can not communicate comfortably with others. Therefore, by constructing walls, many people cope with their circumstances, which is the idea behind the philosophical album, The Wall (1979), by Pink Floyd. (Storyteller, 2019). So in this essay, the aim to dive deep into showing the theme(social Isolation) and what I understand as ‘new or experimental movements’ in terms of the production and why it is relevant to the central theme, in addition to some aspects of the Narrative and performance.
Isolation is the central theme of the music album and film production “The Wall”. In which the rocker (Pink) created a model of the Wall to protect himself from society. The film represents all of the circumstances that led to the construction of said (Wall)and revealed what Isolation eventually led to. With this in mind, some studies showed that, in families where the father lives at home, there are less antisocial symptoms than in families where the father is absent. Antisocial traits were lower when the father was unable to take part in the analysis. They found that , if the father was absent or non-participating, antisocial behaviour was more likely to occur by any family member (Eizirik and Bergmann, 2004) reverentially, the first scene of the film provides the backdrop for the start of pink’s self-isolation journey, which is the death of his father in the Battle of Anzio. The song also split into two different scenes in the film, separated by the scene from “Another Brick in the wall part 1.” in which we see the dad of pink in the war dressed in an army uniform. In what seems to be a trench, he starts to polish the gun barrel of his pistol. The scene then transforms into a picture of a vast field with a kid running on the horizon as the track fades out, this is a scene often replicated throughout the film in which we learn later that the kid is pink himself as a child. The second scene shows pink as a young adolescent, looking cautiously in his mother’s room through a bin, where he finds the old personal items of his father. He discovers his father’s death note with bullets, a razor blade, and an old uniform. The song ends with pink wearing the army uniform of his father while the scene was interjecting with his father wearing it. Sequentially, the lyrics are concerned with a war in which “a few ordinary lives” are lost. The war is, in fact, Anzio’s battle. So that is a statement on how the war went, but not without the speaker’s significant remarks. For example, he speaks about the loss of a “few ordinary lives” due to the inefficiency of the High Command; which is an ironic comment as there were not few “ordinary” lives lost and one of them was the father of pink. The lyrics tell us how the mother of pink discovered the death of her husband: “in the shape of a book, with a gold leaf and all” which the boy found looking at old memories. Additionally, the last stanza describes the end of the combat, saying how the High Command “took his father away from him”. which is indeed a time when the connection between the writer and character was very palpable.
Equally important, trust is essential for sensual, romantic,-centred relationships. In other words, trust is one of the most critical bases of social relationships, but in contrast, betrayal is a significant adversary of relationships. Individuals who have been manipulated by violating their trust or expectations may, therefore, be less willing to trust others. Which can be seen as a reason for individuals to Isolate themselves from others (Oing, 2017.) Which is very clear in the “Don’t Leave Me Now” scenes that create dense visual layers parallel to both the increasing weight of pink’s bricks and the vast void behind his Wall. (Thewallanalysis.com, 2016)The song starts with a close-up of the rubble in the ruined hotel room of pink, with broken glass, toppled chairs, and littering screen guitars destroyed. The chaos of the space perfectly captures the mental state of our character as he floats through the rubble of his life in his private swimming pool. Here are covered the Christological parallels mentioned in “Thin Ice,” first with a close-up of pink’s blood-soaked face, evoking the emotions of stigmata, then with a filled-screen shot of the “crucified” pink. The video is given additional weight overlapping as it is over photos of pink’s wife and her lover, the blurred picture of pink’s crucifixion stood out in sharp contrast to the copulating pair’s nearly animalistic gestures. Although it has already been argued that pink is a kind of anti-Christ-like figure, the shots indicate that he would otherwise imagine himself At least a victim who is humiliated by a loved one’s shameful acts. Last but not least, “the wall” reveals the consequences of the long-term Isolation that pink passed through. In which we see pink behaving like a dictator on stage. In fact,(Roger Waters) in a TV interview said:” the idea is that these kinds of fascist feelings develop from Isolation.” (Pink-floyd.org, 2019). In which The lyrics for “In the Flesh” set the mood for the suite: the performer tells the audiences that pink isn’t significant enough to join the show, so he sends a proxy group to figure out “where his fans really are.” And he goes on to order the murder of several people in the audience.
Experimental cinema is difficult to establish, not because its principles are so vague or even obscure, but because it is such a deep-ranging genre that describing it almost contradicts the intent of the genre itself. In another way, it relates to anything that defies the norms of conventional Narrative or documentary film. The experimental movies are aesthetic and aural artwork form. Moreover, film inherently takes some of the significant factors from other creative mediums and combines them into a surprising smorgasbord of sight and sound. Therefore, all movies have factors of images, music, painting, dance. (Rowe, 2002)The experimental movies emerged within a new international film community, organized around specialist publications, film clubs, and theaters of art-cinema. In an explosion of philosophical writings and manifestos, an extraordinary academic interest throughout film became apparent, which resulted in various types of form of experimental films (Sciencedirect.com, 2015). These different styles were used in film production (the Wall) to enhance the theme(Isolation), such as the ( abstract expressionism form), which strengthened the song (Another brick in the wall part 2) specifically, in the lyrics of (we don’t need any education), in which we see school students’ faces being transformed into a conformity mask. Furthermore, we see them moving in a mechanical way in a symmetrical line composition. However, this trains us to regularly see them interjected with other images of an actual machine, such as a meat grinder and a clock. And that allows us to recognize pink’s perception of the education system that negatively contributed to building him (Isolation) said Wall.The abstract idea appears completely random But is often organized by theme and variation. The introduction chapter reveals the primary relationships the movie will discuss, and then another segment shows similar and different types of relationships to explore. (Bordwell, Thompson and Smith, 2017) .By the same token, The Associational experimental form of film was also used in the film, specifically in the song (in the flesh), which is the beginning of the movie. In which we are introduced to the character of Pink sitting in front of A TV while the cleaner of the house tried to open the door in the room where he lived, unexpectedly we see a group of young people trying to break another door as well. At the same time, we see a scene of young people protesting in tandem with a war scene, but without understanding the connection between all of these images, because there is no any logical link between them. (Bordwell, Thompson and Smith, 2017).that seemed as a mix between images of the causes and the consequences of (Isolation) said(the Wall), which is the theme of the film.
Lastly, Not only the experimental movies reflecting the strength of speech but also the general gloomy perception of the human condition enjoys the air of the psychological logjam, the sense of loss / falling into chaos, waiting for an eventual complete disaster. In which All scenes show frustration and anger.
to enumerate, One recognizable, exciting aspect of the Narrative, is pink’s evident psychological structure, in which he remembers his childhood memories and connects it to his mental state when he is an adult. That is to say, what made us who we are was memories. We are building our worldview for ways we hardly know. Like a character made of Legos, we consist of blocks of memories that work together to shape our consciousness. (Psychology Today, 2017). For Instance, in the lyrics of the song (mother) the scene consisted of different shots of pink when he was an adult forming a relationship with a girl, then interjected with shots of him when he was a boy living with his mother.
Consequently, we know pink is comparing the girl to his mother. However, he asked If the girl he chose is the right choice — _shown in the lyrics (mom, do you think she is good enough), which tells how his mother was overprotective. Thus, she contributed in constructing his (Wall) — which is a status of Isolation.
Furthermore, An unconventional method of the experimental associational form used in a (poetic film) way. In which we listen to the lyrics of the song (mother) (oh baby) while we see Pink with his girlfriend. However, we know he talks as his mother used to call him in the past, but without directly see it. As an illustration, the Associational form gives filmmakers a wide range of choices in which filmmakers can choose very traditional or more original images and create clear and complicated associations. (Bordwell, Thompson and Smith, 2017).
Furthermore, another element of the Narrative that stood out was the concept of fascism. To be enumerated, the narrative sequence depicts Pink — in Nazi uniform — parading through the streets of the city alongside his fans. Curtains have opened as they pass, and windows are locked. The neo-nazis put pamphlets on the windshields of cars with the crossed hammer symbol and they saying “Britannia Rules” They often hold flags that are very close to those of the III Reich. The sequence ends with a short animation montage (excerpts from the “Empty Spaces” and “Goodbye Blue Sky” clips) that converts to the iconic “Marching Hammer” sequence: we see an animation of lots of crossed hammers walking while the song can be noticed in the back, with pink’s voice controlling the skinheads. This “crossed hammer” montage is compelling; the artist Gerald Scarfe stated, he came up with the sign for pink’s party by thinking of the “most violent picture” he could envision. (Scarfe, 1983). Important to realize, it is no wonder that when Roger Waters wanted to describe his internal dystopia, he did not use the imagery of an authoritarian Stalinist regime like George Orwell did or a world of utter consumerist alienation. However, the image of a Hitlerian dictatorial rule: the Second World War, as we have seen earlier, left a deep scar on his life — the death of his father. Combating Nazi Germany, was the first “brick in his Wall.
While introduced to the film’s different events, we come across, Pink’s Expressionist behavior, Which is a response to what he went through in his life. To demonstrate, in the song (one of my turns), after the quasi-theatrical ramblings of the young groupie about the vastness of pink’s hotel room and possessions , Pink lapses into a trance-like a state of personal reflection triggered by his wife’s revelation of emotional abuse and likely further exacerbated by his inability to connect with the young girl. While the later lyrics of the song discuss the frightened girl, it is generally believed that in the first half of the track, pink is emotionally addressing his wife. Consequently, pink treats the relation that might have been his redemption as just another unjustly heaped personal betrayal on him as another brick in his Wall. (Oing, 2017.)
Additionally, THE film is a visual and audible medium, demonstrating what takes several paragraphs and soundtracks to explain in instant images(Schuleplus.de, 2019. For this reason, the concept of the film cannot be seen without the lens of the medium, which means it is the main facility to convey Narrative. For example, (Animation), animation as an artistic medium is very particular about how it affects our collective subconscious. Furthermore, In addition to it being a medium, the animation is also a text that madly conveys images, but not only to create pictures. In which the physical and metaphysical expressions of a theory are concerned. (Greenberg, 2011). Expressly, that was very clear in “the wall”. In which the animation part played a significant role in conveying the meaning. The Holocaust’s atrocities and the Blitz’s brutality are manifestations of these highly advanced techniques.
For example, the film scene, including the song(goodbye blue sky) is one of the film’s most essential and memorable pieces. It is the film’s first (of several) animation sequences, created by Gerald Scarf, (a political cartoonist and illustrator. )The sequence starts with a white dove (universal peace symbol))torn apart by a large, black vulture on a black stormy sky to blood and rags. Vulture continues to develop the look of a device until it becomes a cross between a bird and an aircraft. It sails through London and deploys a robot that becomes a futuristic tower. Animation finishes with the blood flowing into the gutter from the bleeding cross. That is to say; the brutal beauty is hard to explain in words and brilliantly captures the song’s ideas.
Equally Important, Scenography is a crucial part of our lives. It includes decoration as well as architecture. Whether it’s for drama, lyrics or choreography, scenography takes up a prominent role because it embellishes the meaning of an event and enhances the text filmmakers want to convey to the viewer. Moreover,Scenography includes all factors related to the environment and atmosphere such as colour, sound decoration and clothes. (Euston96, 2019), such as the masks, The they were a remarkable reflection of the repression that the educational system applied to the pupils, to the degree that they were identical to robots, not artistic entities, that was visible in the development of the song (Another brick in the wall part 2). (Greg, 2013). For Instance, the students were walking in a symmetrical line while wearing the mask, but when they took it off, they felt free and empowered themselves, which tells how pink felt and why he was Isolated because he was forced to wear the mask of conformity.
In summation, It is difficult to understand the emotions, feelings and actions of another person. Especially when this individual does not want to be heard and build a big wall of alienation; when bricks for the Wall are depression, anger and frustration; when his inner world is a combination of flashbacks, delusions and destructive ideations; when his creativity is a trap and music does not bring relief.,The film Pink Floyd — The Wall is a complex combination of motion, animation, and music that offers an extraordinary opportunity to walk along a warped mind’s road.
References
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