Music and Violence – the wall from Pink Floyd

Music and Violence – the wall from Pink Floyd. Initially, the wall was an intriguing and imaginative musical album that was developed into a movie after three years upon its first release: double album. The Wall is a trilogy of tracks that tell of three pertinent facets of the character’s life which contribute to building the wall: the movie presents the lyrics of the album. The storyline of The Wall is about a rock star with a troubled childhood which he compensates as an adult through sex, drugs, and Rocking and Rolling. After losing his father while he was just a child, Floyd was raised up by an overprotective mother that helped build the wall that confined him to a falsified state of Nazism, which in turn compelled him to lead a miserable life as he remained a rag doll. The wall is of a psychological nature, and the climax results in its crumbling down after a self-evaluation that made Floyd realize that he needed to be an autonomous person. The film, The Wall, takes on a unique style of execution, making it a great masterpiece due to its blend of animation, surrealism, and action. Animation is used to epitomize symbolism and metaphorical allusion. Roger Waters, the band’s leader, wrote the album while its composer, Alan Parker, was the director. Despite the fact that the album’s protagonist is Pink Floyd, he is an incarnation of Roger Waters, who went through similar experiences that resulted in the creation of a wall that acted as a shield from the surrounding world and associated harsh experiences.

The wall is meant protect Floyd from undergoing ordeals of oppression and violence similar to those he had endured since his childhood. The wall is an excellent illustration of symbolism, and the wall is used to denote all the individuals that have played a role in Floyd’s development of insanity. Another view of the wall deems it as consisting of individuals who merely conform as denoted by the uniformity of the bricks, which is the case given the fascist-kind of rule. The alienation depicted in the wall is due to the systematic violence that Floyd goes through during his lifetime; hence, this paper is a review that seeks to discuss these acts of violence as they are responsible for his insanity and understand the reasons why he builds a protective psychological wall.
History
The wall is used symbolically to represent the boundary between Pink, the fictional surrogate of Roger Waters, and the public after a confrontation with a fan during the Pink Floyd’s 1977 Animal tour. A loud-mouthed fan drove Waters into a maddening frenzy due to his deafening noise that diluted the value of Waters’ music at that concert in Montreal, Canada (Romero & Cabo, 2006). Waters realized that the fans were not interested in their concert as they were only interested in partying, and thismade him very angry. Waters’ anger compelled him to confront the fan by summoning him to the stage and spitting in his face. Afterwards, Waters began to reflect on this incidence that created a distance, which grew over time, between himself and his fans as well as various events in day-to-day life that drive individuals toward self-isolation and the creation of The Wall. The wall is based on the realities that engulfed the Pink band where some of the band members went through the ordeals depicted in this video: Roger Waters and Syd Barrett. The wall is a documentation of the life of the fictitious character of Pink, which starts from childhood and continues to the time of his self-evaluation and judgment. It includes the relationships he develops and the experiences that he goes through, which form the basis of the title “The Wall.” These encounters compel Pink to build a wall of bricks around himself to shun away from more negativity considering that he grew up in the hands of an absent father and a mother who did not give him the chance to be himself. His teachers were unforgiving and his childhood was characterized by a series of rejection, humiliation, and isolation. These acts of violence left scars that never healed but instead created mental instability that became worse over time. The wall may not be monumental as per the views of most artists and scholars, but it is an intriguing and creative masterpiece in defining human behavior in relation to the society in which one lives.
Identity of Generation after WW2
The generation after the Second World War is made up of the Baby Boomers because it was during this time that birth rate peaked. The period after WW2 was one characterized by a lot of problems and the children born during this time struggled to find their identity. This search was due to the loss of societal values that had collapsed as a result of the war. Prior to WW2, Britain was the greatest imperial power, but WW2 left a mark that enfeebled the state after the loss of the country’s hegemonic position. As a result, the postwar period was a time when Britain struggled to restore its national identity and continue in attempts to revive its sovereignty to its initial glory (Romero & Cabo, 2006). Pink and many like him represented the many orphans without people they could look up to and guide them because the WW2 had taken their parents and guardians.
The WW2 led to the loss of old Britain’s economic and military positions, and there was the resolve to adopt unparalleled moral principles by promoting egalitarianism. However, the adoption of egalitarianism in a country that was initially defined by capitalism and totalitarian regimes became a far-fetched reality based on Waters’ illustration of pertinent individuals making up the British post-war society (Romero & Cabo, 2006). Attaining an egalitarian society remains a fantasy because the adults in the Neo-Nazi are painted the picture of fascists and dictators; thereby, the children at this time tend to be lonely because they do not know where they belong, as well as their capacities. Floyd has been an object of manipulation throughout his life from all those that he interacts with apart from the groupie. The baby boomers were idealistic and trustworthy, but due to the prevailing totalitarianism, they adopted irresponsible behavior. Assuming that they were like Floyd, they could not handle social pressure, and instead, turned to substance abuse to escape the harsh reality (Wallop, 2014).
The unattainable egalitarian society is illustrated by the dove that tries to land peacefully, and possibly give the earth a new meaning. However, this dove is killed by a black flying bird that soars up into the sky. The black color is known to symbolize darkness, and this could indicate that the bird is a symbol of the previous evil in the rule of Nazism (dictatorship and fascism) that the war sought to eliminate, but it is evident from this movie that it failed in achieving this cause. Thereby, fascism remains, and the efforts to establish an egalitarian society remain an illusion.
On a different note, in an effort to revive the state, various reforms were implemented during this time, and they are deemed to have been a reason for the comfortable life during this time that led to the high birth rate. Wallop (2014) states that even though this population seems to have it all, it displayed atypical behavior characterized by high truancy rates, tuning in, getting high, becoming the hippies of the 1970s, and dodging the draft. In agreement with Wallop’s (2014) views, the baby boomers traveled a lot with the goal of having fun and not to engage in war as their parents had done. This kind of lifestyle can be used to explain Pink’s travel due to the unresolved conflict in his childhood that left him yearning for answers that he never sought; instead, he adopted destructive behavior due to the continued conflict within him.
The wall highlights the loss encountered during WW2 and the generation that emerged after the war. Pink, as an example, is not able to find his own identity as everything he reaches out for does not concur with his mother’s beliefs. Even in school and in his marriage, he is not able to be himself until when that moment while trying to revive him from a drug overdose that he gets a reality check. He orders the crowd to be hostile towards the minority group and reveals his true self-a fascist, just like those who he has associated with all along since his childhood (Martin, 1997). He wonders about the building of the wall all along; whether he was actually building it out of guilt or to shield him from the world because he has adopted the character of the very same people he loathed. It is during this time that he realizes the wall did not protect him in any way, and thereby, decides to tear it down.
As a symbol of post-war generation, it is apparent that there is conflict in the identity of those that existed after WW2. Prior to the war, Britain was a society characterized by highly defined class divisions and privatization of resources. Thereby, the British society was led by the fascists, but after the war, there was conflict in the establishment of identity as exploration of the self was suppressed. The result was the production of a generation with mixed identities as some learned from their elders while others became just like those before them like Floyd after the wall crumbled.
Violence Music
Violence in The Wall has been portrayed in the various forms that have resulted in Floyd’s tortured soul. Other than physical violence, the movie also indicates instances of emotional and psychological violence. These acts of violence occurred in bits over a long time since his childhood resulting in his fatal snap in the long run (Young, 2008). Violence in The Wall is sequential and can be classified into three parts, each with a sub-themes related to violence. First, Floyd experiences the loss of a father that he is not able to deal with until he is an adult. Secondly, his domineering mother does not give him the chance to be a man and act out of his own free will. Lastly, Floyd and his wife hold similar thoughts about each other as the uncaring types.
War and Peace
One of the scenes that flashback in Floyd’s head are the events leading to his father’s death who was killed in action as the enemy’s planes dropped bombs on wounded soldiers seeking shelter. Whereas the war was intended to put an end to evil, this objective was never attained as the war continues; the dominating evil capitalist system is venomously destructive and dehumanizing. This capitalist system is seen in subsequent sections in the form of fascist individuals who have control over those they are meant to guide like in the case of the teachers and Floyd’s mother.
The war is used to symbolize violence because it leaves many children fatherless and destroys the hope of having a better world. It only results in unresolved conflicts as shown by Oink’s behavior; he wears a Mickey Mouse watch and the music he listens to, tells it all. In the same way that Santa Claus had failed to bring a simple present is the way that his father flown and never came back. It is evident that war had resulted in the mental torture of this young boy. Reality in itself is harsh in view that Floyd had an unresolved childhood conflict where he yearned for a father figure and his overprotective mother did allow to be himself in fear that she would lose him too. Floyd’s father was one of the puppets released from an educational system that molded them into blind and submissive bricks that could not pay attention to their objective in life.
War and peace occur concurrently and war precedes so that peace can prevail as is the case with Floyd, whose inner self has been fighting with itself until the climax ended with the collapse of the wall. The collapse of the wall occurs when he realizes he has been putting a mask over to head; hence, the war continued and would continue even after the crumbling of the wall. Thereby, putting an end to all the guilt, trials, and tribulations that had been harbored within Floyd’s inner self that disappeared when the wall crumbled, giving way to a liberated soul. Floyd’s father and others like him who were lost in the WW2 were sacrificed so that a better world would be attained: peace would prevail. However, the wall shows how peace in reference to war prevailed, but not within a person as is the case with his son.
Unfortunately, in reference to the movie, there is no hope of putting an end to the war just based on the illustration of the dove and the black flying bird. Despite the fact that fascism remains, the fight to attain an egalitarian society still lingers on even in the contemporary society as seen in conflicts between the rich and the poor. In the wall, even after Floyd has been suppressed, and his efforts at attaining individuality met with scorn and punishment, this does not mean that the fight is over. In the movie, this is illustrated by the hammers that march over the land, signifying the dictatorial rule that has taken over control while the naked Pink in an open wall remains timid. Pink represents similar children who put their guard down, waiting for a time when they would be reborn and work on their creativity as it happened to Pink, who became a rock star. Unfortunately, all his experiences shape him into a neo-Nazi without realizing it; hence, he is not able to relate well with everyone around. As a result, he seeks to steal the moment without paying attention to the wishes or needs of everyone else, including his wife.
Sex and Anti-feminism
Sex in The Wall is used as a means of getting solace after being a victim of a failed relationship. In this case, the relationship between Floyd and his wife has turned gray; hence, he gets himself a groupie while his wife cheats on him. Floyd does not find excitement in casual sex, which is the reason that his wife leaves him for another man. As a coping strategy, Floyd gets a groupie but his alienation power has built up so much over the years to the extent that he snaps (Ebert, 2010). Floyd’s delusion has led him to his fear of sex; thus, even though the women is depicted as a sexual object, Floyd shuns away. He goes to the extent of inviting a groupie to help him overcome his fears, but he overdoes on drugs, gets into a fit of violence and finally breaks down (Sarkies, 2014; Walsh, 2016).
The woman in The Wall is used symbolically to represent anti-feminism/misogyny as she is indicated as the reason for Floyd’s self-destructive behavior. First, there is Floyd’s mother who keeps him away from the world and is deemed the pioneer of Floyd’s alienation. Later on, his wife cheats on him and this further aggravates his alienation. The woman in Floyd’s life is shown to be domineering, selfish, and punitive matriarchs. His schoolteacher uses a ruler to rap Floyd’s knuckles while his wife, in an animation, is shown to spank him as if keeping him on a short leash is not enough. Floyd’s wife is painted as a woman who is interested more in sex than in her husband’s wellbeing, and she is the reason why Floyd alienates himself further from love and associated intimate relationships. The woman is deemed to be the root cause of all evil and she uses her appealing sexual treachery to gain social control. Even after he realizes that his wife is leaving him for another man, Floyd begs her to stay, showing how strong of social control she has over him (Gonthier & O’Brien, 2015).
The use of women in the wall reveals the fantastical Floyd’s neo-Nazi character, by delineating women as domineering and the cause of his violence. The school teacher that beats him for writing poems faces oppression from his wife back at home, and instead, creates the cycle of oppression by taking out his anger on those under his control: the students. The overemphasis on women as the cause of his unending psychological problems overshadows the final scenes of sexual violence when a woman from the minority population (black) is raped. Such an act can be used to signify Floyd’s resolved attempts at getting his sexual control back where he will gain control of his sexuality and gain sexual control over the woman.
Oppression and Resistance
Oppression in the movie prevails in various forms. Oppression begins with the loss of Floyd’s father as he is not able to be himself. The loss of his father was the beginning of frustrations as his mother was domineering and thwarted his ambitions of exploring wide and large when he was young. Instead, he complied with his mother’s directives, including being put up in a harsh educational system where more oppression was witnessed. According to Floyd, oppression from his mother prevails because she does not give him the chance to express himself and always imposes her believes on him even if they might not work for him or align with his beliefs about the world. The result was a suffocating environment that formed the first bricks of the wall that Floyd built.
Then, there is the teacher who victimizes the students and fails to provide them with the needed guidance and support (Rose, 2009). Such an attitude towards these students is based on the cultural and historical views that are generally held about children; onerous. These mistrustful misconceptions have a negative effect on the relationships between the two parties. The result is that the students/children develop feelings of alienation due to lack of love and appreciation as teachers and other adults treat these young ones with contempt. The perception of compliance by the teachers is not in alignment with that of the students; hence, the irony regarding Floyd’s subjection to oppression while in school. Floyd is creative and writes poems, but his creativity is suppressed by the criticism and punishment from his teachers, who would have done better by supporting and encouraging him (Chaliha, 2016). The violent education system is shown to produce puppets that cannot think for themselves due to the dictatorship of the teachers and associated administrators.
On a different note, the students are seen as been rebellious not because they defy what others expect of them. Yet, this rebellion prevails based on wrong assumptions about the children’s role of a rebel against the laws that govern the system. Rebel is deemed to occur even in instances when it does not prevail like in the instance of Floyd’s creativity. He is beaten and emotionally tortured just because he is wrongly labeled a rebel when he composes a poem. In reference to The Wall, Floyd’s individuality was seen as an act of resisting the norm of the British educational system. This resistance is the message that Floyd is trying to pass on; not celebrating the uniqueness of a student harbors feelings of resentment and anger that aggravates isolation and adoption of destructive behavior. Therefore, it is necessary that an individual gets the chance to relate to his or her beliefs because suppression like in the case of Floyd culminates into some psychological disorder and an inability to identify his or her position and role in the society, and the world at large (Mroz, 2007).
Rebelling against the dictatorial and harsh educational system only happens in Floyd’s mind where he imagines the students destroying their classrooms as they escape the bonds of oppression. This act helps the students to break the school’s walls that have confined them and finally, they burn the school (Rawles, 2017). Even though it is imagined, this is a voice and call against any such kind of oppression within the educational system. Waters’ work can be considered as one that advocates for autonomy and overcoming all odds to enable an individual become him/her true self with all the creativity and freedom of expression.
The youth suffer under a legal system that does not pay attention to their needs. This movie shows a high number of youths being incarcerated as a way of reinforcing conformity. This high incarceration rate can be linked to the high rates of abuse among children because an unfavorable environment increases their risk of developing psychological issues. On a different note, these youths are seen resisting the brute force of the state by breaking through the chained doors. Subsequently, their vulnerability to mental instability, which is a pertinent theme in the movie, increases. Mental instability issues are seen over time, and these could be linked to the behavior of the baby boomers.
Mental Instability
The mind is a powerful tool that controls the entire body based on what one feeds it. Mental instability is largely pegged on what one feeds his or her brain. In the case of Floyd, he fills his brain with negativity involving various incidents of torture all through until the video climaxes with a reality check; he has been a puppet. It is the disgust associated with being such a puppet that led him to develop negative feelings to such related acts like those involving meat grinder that produced rag dolls which could not express individuality (Griffith, 2017). Even though the children complied with their teachers’ demands, the harbored negative feelings could have gotten to their heads resulting in a state of mental instability like that of Floyd. His mother, his teachers, his wife, and band managers have all treated him as an object to fulfill their desires and none of them seemed to care about him, genuinely. Such existence was unbearable and was the reason he broke down mentally though he did not get irrational and chaotic.
The movie starts by displaying the state of Floyd in a corner of a hotel room, motionless. The events that have shaped his life since childhood are the reason for his disturbed mental state. In an effort to help him come out of his disturbed state at the moment, the medics who come to Pink’s aid inject him with more drugs to enable him to perform on stage. Even after becoming a rock star and living large, Floyd is not able to fit in society because the wall of alienation is already too high. He fails to acknowledge his present life and remains fixated on his horrid past that turns him into a zombie who fails to realize the needs and troubles of others. Using drugs as the catalyst, Floyd begins to hallucinate and only sees the horrid events that shape society. Floyd’s instability goes to the extent where he shaves his body hair and ends up in a pool of blood.
The theme of insanity depicted in the wall is an allusion to Syd Barrett, who was one of the band’s (Pink) founding members. Mental instability results in self-destructive behavior and the withdrawal from people due to the hallucinations that make one believe that everyone is out there to inflict a kind of harm on them. Mental instability can be viewed violence in the sense that it has a negative control over a person’s actions like not believing in oneself. Hence, it is a call to individuals to prevent the fixation on negative thoughts because they fill one with negative ideas that lead him or her to negative behavior that further aggravates his insanity. The result is a creation of an unending cycle of insanity and antisocial behavior, where drug use and abuse is part.
Drugs
The use of drugs in the wall is meant to help Floyd to be himself; throughout his life he has lived as a shadow of others. Such existence resulted in his passiveness and lack of confidence in himself; thereby, relying on drugs to gain confidence and let loose his neo-Nazist self. The circumstances revolving around Floyd’s life have made him angrier over time resulting in increased drug use until his attempts to escape from reality backfired on him, and he went into a drug coma (Havis, 201 6; Walsh, 2016). The use of drugs has only alleviated his objectification by others because he cannot make his own decisions, even the decision to die. Thereby, the wall has been a mere illusion that does not shield him from violence, and he ends up being treated like a rag doll by those around (Havis, 2016).
Drugs are another expression of negative energy, and they are used to suppress violence that exists as negative emotional conflict within himself. Drugs in “The Wall” are the cause of more problems because they counteract the positive effects derived from being a rock star. Pink seems to have used drugs to escape the harsh reality of his life as he is not able to handle the alienation pressure he experiences. He is constantly put under pressure by his managers who are only interested in the benefit they derive from his performances; hence, even after his drug coma, they call medics to revive Floyd by using more drugs so that he is able to perform at a concert, and not because they care about his health. Otherwise, they would have canceled the concert and given him time to recuperate. Instead, they pay the medical professionals; thereby, further threatening his health status. However, in an episode of a drug overdose that drove him into a coma, he gets a reality check that forces him to tear down the wall. Drugs help Floyd to build the wall as they constantly separate him from the social sphere of life because they are the salient contributors of his insanity.
Floyd turns delirious over time, and he cannot function without the drugs. As a result, his managers use the very same drugs that deprive him of his autonomy to enable him to perform on stage. He is, therefore, a disguise, and the drugs further aggravate his insanity and intensify the alienation from the fans and his managers. The use of drugs is an act of violence to himself because other than contributing to his insanity and robbing him of his autonomy, Floyd becomes comfortably numb (Elicker, 2002; Detmer, 2007).
Violent music and its Function
Music is pertinent to the socialization process of children and teenagers, but when violence is involved, parents get overprotective though a limited amount of violence can help them embrace change from an early stage. It is important to understand that violence in music has more negative than positive effects on the audience, and especially children. Therefore, for a layman who just views music as an entertainment tool, he or she may not see beyond the violence, which is meant to incite feelings of disgust and seek change. In such a case, the reaction to watching violence in music is largely dependent on various personal attributes that may result in the adoption of either rational or irrational behavior. Thereby, the kind of music that one listens to helps to understand his or her persona (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). A child who takes pleasure in witnessing violent acts will portray antisocial behavior that should be overcome in time to preclude its worsening. Individuals give personal encounters of how delayed intervention can culminate into a worse condition that is more difficult to cure. It follows that in as much as parents want to be protective of their children’s behavior, it is important to allow them a certain level of violence while providing guidance so that to enable them to adopt healthy socialization behaviors.
It is not certain that violent music has a positive effect on society because most of the available literature only provides the adverse effects of violence in any piece of art, especially on children. However, it seems there could be positive effects derived from such violent music. The Wall depicts violence in less salient forms, and this creates a need for a good definition of the term because it does not only include the physical acts of violence, but also the more systematic ones, which have been the main focus in this review. Violent music acts like a mirror through which individuals understand the effects of violent, and gives an individual the chance of releasing the inner negative impulses without inflicting harm on anyone. Unfortunately, it is typical of parents to reveal their conservative and moralistic nature by discarding any object that tends to denote a violent act without realizing the role that violent music can play in ensuring that youngsters do not develop negative emotions. When guiding these youngsters on how to express negative emotions in healthy ways, music acts as one of the references. Mroz (2007) gave an instance of herself when the wall helped her in self-discovery; discovering the dark, lonely, and infinite part of her being. Just like Mroz, violent music can help various individuals relate to the violence highlighted in the music to enable them to seek help and replace these beings with livelier and healthier ones.
Topping (2010) shows the use of violent music to talk about national violence to the international world. Two Iranian boys with a hidden identity used the lyrics of the wall to showcase what was happening in their county; it was used as a protest song. In reference to the use of the wall, the two boys interject the band’s performance with scenes from Iran to indicate the turmoil in the war-torn country. Violent music, therefore, can be used as a means to express citizens’ views about the politics in their country. The use of violent music in this light helps the world to realize the bad things that are going on and call for action.
Just like the Iranian boys, the wall is a reference to use when rebuking the evil going on with the educational system that produces individuals who are products of an education system that molds them to puppets and not puppeteers (DiSalvo, 2012). Works like that of Waters helps the world to see the evil that is going on and seek for change. The current education system has evolved to promote innovation and creativity and it is through such art that issues are raised. People are able to compare the world they live in, to the violence depicted in the movie; hence, they see the need to develop measures to address social issues in time.
Violence in music helps schools to develop rules that help to censure the level of violence to which children should be subjected. The level of violence which an individual might be subjected to is dependent on the age of the individual; hence, the amount of violence that children should be exposed to should be aligned with their age. This way, it can help them acknowledge the negativity of the world and devise ways of bringing about change. The wall, for example, contains too much violence that cannot be handled by a mere student but the same film can be watched by an adult, who is able to see it in a different light in reference to the society in which he or she lives: adult-theme.
Conclusion
The wall is noted as a masterpiece in showcasing the theme of alienation. However, it is also a call for change, a concept that has not been given attention by most scholars. The wall is a voice for the voiceless under the authority of people pertinent to a person’s life: mother, teacher, and wife. It is a call for these individuals to show love and guidance in a better way without thwarting or disregarding the other person’s efforts. Thereby, it is an artwork that can be linked to the current day society as the events leading to an individual’s alienation have been opposed over time to create a holistic society that includes children in decision-making processes. The wall is relevant in the present day society as it prompts activists and similar individuals with the capability of instilling change to act immediately because the effects of delay are detrimental as is the case with Floyd. However, like in the case of Floyd, without realizing it, individuals think they are shielding themselves from a harsh reality, but in the true sense is that they are also running away from themselves because they have already become products of the very same society they loathe. Its blend of style makes it a unique film in its use of fiction that is animated and surrealism. The wall calls the viewer to reflect on the day-to-day society because the wall in Waters’ movie is built based on the experiences of an individual since childhood as those around seek some of personal gain, leaving one feeling alienated. However, without realizing it, the visions that torture him have played a significant role in shaping him based on his discriminatory derogatory after he crumbles the wall down. The movie’s ending shows that an individual is the product of his or her society as long as he does not do anything to instigate change.

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