The Trial

No, it survived in one piece. When Pink is making crossed hammers out of chicken bones, the strat is laying there in all it's glory. I think 2 acoustics were the casualties.

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Taking away from you for the greater good. (The Audacity of Socialism).

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant" - Omar Ahmad (founder, C.A.I.R.)

Good to know the Strat made it through.

And I never realized that connection - he IS making crossed hammers. Pretty cool.

And, if you think about it, acoustics are probably easier to destroy than electrics. The neck joint on an acoustic is glued in the joint - it took Pinky one good hit on the edge of a chair to get the first acoustic into two pieces. I would think an electric would hold up better, being that the neck is nicely BOLTED into a hefty piece of wood.

That's true. I remember seeing a filmclip where Pete Townsend wore himself out trying to bust a strat. It took about 15 blows on the floor before it busted. I, of course, was rooting for the guitar, hoping Pete would collapse in exhaustion.

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Taking away from you for the greater good. (The Audacity of Socialism).

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery." -Winston Churchill

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant" - Omar Ahmad (founder, C.A.I.R.)

I thought i was the only one...
I have just like it, and it tears me to peices seeing that baby torn up broken. tsk tsk and tut tut.

On the last Kiss tour, the necks on Ace Frehley's Les Pauls were hammered out of socket a bit and loosened. Why? So when the first blow came to the guitar, it would break in half right then, as opposed to maybe 20 more blows with a totally tight neck.

Poor Ace was pretty old on the last tour. It would have worn him out to bash an un-loosened 'Paul, which is kinda odd, considering that the neck in glued in.

yummy.

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stchrissie is not me.

Personally, I think all the "Nazi" stuff happens only within Pink's imagination. Take the line from In The Flesh - "Pink isn't well, he's back in the hotel". I think this points towards the whole event being merely imagined while Pink genuinely is "back in the hotel" hanging on in a barely concious state.

All the "Nazi" stuff is referring to man's need for power. Pink finds himself practically powerless - he can't even keep a wife - so he grips onto what little power he does have - power over an audience - and squeezes as much out of it as he can in order to over-compensate for his lack of power in other areas.

But then when we hit Stop we find Pink in the bathroom. When Pink screams "Stop!" the entire Waiting For The Worms line-of-thought is abandoned entirely - for that is all it was, a line of thought. In The Flesh/Run Like Hell/Waiting For The Worms... all a line of thought of possibilities running through Pink's head as he was dragged to the venue of the rock concert - and never getting further than the bathroom.

The Trial follows, and is simply Pink mentally persecuting himself for his deeds in life. "The way you made them suffer, your exqusite wife and mother". I know most people who've ever had serious mental problems beat themselves up over it long after it's past, for having made those closest to them suffer. For further proof that In The Flesh/Run Like Hell/Waiting For The Worms was all in Pink's imagination, note the fact that amidst all the self-persecution of The Trial none of the 'beat on a black with a baseball bat'-esque antics (surely the most despicable of his actions, were they to be real) get so much as a mention. Surely amidst his self-loathing in The Trial his abuse of power, mass-manipulation and bigotry would get a look in, were they supposed to have been real?

As for what happens to Pink at the end of the film, as I believe someone asked - it's all there in one of Pink Floyd's single most depressing songs - Outside The Wall.

All alone, or in twos
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall
Some hand in hand
Some gathering together in bands
The bleeding hearts and the artists
Make their stand
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall after all it's not easy
banging your heart against some mad buggers
Wall

Loose translation - anyone that really loves Pink - be they already in his life, or not yet to meet him for a long time - may well try their best to stand by him, waiting for him to "snap out of it" and be able to communicate with them. Sadly, Pink is too far gone by this point to ever "snap out of it" - and no matter how much anyone may love him they'll find the whole ordeal too painful and eventually need to move on. "After all, it's not easy banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall".

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I could be a genius if I just put my mind to it.

That was a good dissertation, Twister.

The only part where I disagree is where the roadies drag Pink to the limo. He's on the way to the show - and pulls his skin off - and there's a hammer suit on him. Obviously, he left the hotel. So did he imagine all this on the way to the show?

that smashing scene was the only good part of the movie. i like smashing scenes

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The way I see the last half of The Wall is this:

Comfortably Numb--Pink is in his hotel room, in a trance and then his manager and the roadies bust through the door. They have him injected with a drug which brings him out of the trance. As they drag him to the car, he is hallucinating and it's causing him pain, that's why he has all of that...stuff on him. He tears off his new skin and it reveals his Hammer uniform.

In the Flesh--At the show he is still delusional, and in effect, he is telling his manager "F*** you, if you are going to keep me from being 'comfortably numb' then I'll make you regret it." Still in his delusional state, he imagines his show becoming a fascist rally all the while he is ordering his new minions to put undesirables up against the wall. He then tells everybody that if he had his way he'd have all of them (the audience) shot. And the audience likes being told that (Roger's point about rock shows).

Run Like Hell--As the show progresses, he becomes more delusional. And the audience becomes more fascist, hence "Pink Floyd! Pink Floyd!" fading and "Hammer! Hammer!" growing. The lyrics are an innocent account of the Krystalnacht but become orders to his fascist horde (thanks Botley). Afte he is done somebody high up decides that it is time to drop the curtain, after all, no record company exec wants a top-selling artist to offend too many people. After the song and after the show is prematurely over, Pink somehow wanders towards the bathroom.

Waiting For the Worms--As he becomes more delusional, Pink envisions himself running his army of fascist henchmen through a town, they go on a rampage. This occurs in his mind. The movie--at least in the real world--is supposed to occur in LA. Meanwhile, in his ranting he refers to "Brixton Town Hall" (thanks to the Echoes FAQ), which I think is in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong). All this while he was walking (probably goosestepping) to the bathroom, still in his delusional state.

Stop--The drugs start to wear off. He cries stop to get rid of the nightmarish vision of the Hammers (fascism) marching through the street. He realizes that he has seen just how terrible he can become by suppressing his emotions. In effect, he has just witnessed himself become the advocate of the same type of thinking that his father fought against--and was killed by. He then puts himself on trial within his mind.

The Trial--However, the drugs still have their effect and he envisions the stall as a cell. The worms (the negative emotions he's been experiencing) become all of the people he feels had some negative impact on his life, yet he somehow never expressed his rage toward any of them. He never lashed out at the teacher whenever the teacher tried to embarass him. He tried to get back at his wife for cheating on him, but he never did. And he never got back at his Mother for making him not keep the rat that eventually died and gave him an illness. Eventually the judge (probably himself) decides that Pink should tear down his wall. The destruction of the wall is accompanied by a scream of pain, because he didn't allow himself to feel any pain when various events and persons conspired to act against him.

Outside The Wall--Roger parts with a message to the listener to not become like Pink i.e.-if you are starting to build or are building one, stop right now, or else you'll become like Pink: hurt and loved by no one (probably except your Mother, but I don't want to know where that leads ). 'Nuff said.

hmm, maybe I am something different, cause I think the whole movie is metaphors. Nothing "really" happens.

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stchrissie is not me.

I don't like dissecting things too literally, I was just sharing a few thoughts, I don't claim to have any "absolute understanding" over every last frame, nor would I want to. But for this question my answer would have to be - yeah, sure, maybe. Two possible thoughts come to mind - a) "back in the hotel" in In The Flesh refers to the last time Pink was actually aware of his surroundings - even if he is on the way to the show whilst imagining this number he isn't aware he's left the hotel - or my personal take, b) things aren't shown in strict chronological order. Pink could be envisioning In The Flesh whilst being oblibious to everyone else during Comfortably Numb, and be envisioning Run Like Hell whilst in the taxi then going to the bathroom before he intended to head on stage and envisioning Waiting For The Worms in there before having his final break-down...

I don't buy any take claiming "the drugs wore off" for Stop, that just seems a little "too easy" for lack of a better expression. But then I attribute his fascist fantasy to the basic human need for power, rather than claiming it's all one funky trip. Each to their own.

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I could be a genius if I just put my mind to it.

This is my two cents for the nazi scene:
PInks father fought the Nazis and all the stood for during WW2. Therefor Pink is probably born and raised beliveing that the nazis is the worst kind of evil, especially since his father fought it and died.
When Pink later is stuck in his life as a Rock star, feeling abused and unable to find a way out, he does the most easy thing to do, he turns to the evil and embraces it. When he does this he knows it will change his life, he just dont understand the consequens of his action. After the show he realises what he has done and regrets it instantly.
As I see it, its his cry for help.


I hope you can see my point, since I´m really not that good at explaining stuff

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- and any fool knows the dog needs a home,
a shelter from pigs on the wing