could someone please explain a few things in "tommy" (1 Viewer)

[Christ Reynolds]

i get the basic idea, but i'm a bit lost on a few things. first of all, how exactly does he "cure" himself? and is it really set in a holiday camp? there are a couple other things i dont get, but i cant recall them now. anyway, i think this album is purely brilliant, i wish i doscovered this ten years ago. the who rocks.

CJ

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Here's my interpretation. Doubtless there are others.

It has been established that Tommy is not entirely blind. His mother sings "You don't answer my call with even a nod or a twitch / But you gaze at your own reflection all right." Frustrated and angry at Tommy, she smashes the mirror. Something about that action breaks the spell, possibly just the shock of seeing his image, the only thing he can perceive with his traumatized sight, destroyed.

It's interesting that a hippie would right a story in which nurturing and coddling of a child fail but violence succeeds.

 

[Ryan Spaight]

Pete Townshend is many things, but he was never a hippie. Tommy in large part was written out of disgust with the hippie scene.

You're spot on with the explanation of "Smash The Mirror," though. At least that's how I've always heard it. Tommy isn't physically deaf, dumb and blind -- his senses just sort of "shut down" after seeing his father kill his mother's lover. He "wakes up" after he's no longer able to stare at himself. (Another nice slam at the self-absorbed hippies.)

The holiday camp (basically a cheesy resort) is a fixture of British vacation culture, and the idea at the end is that Tommy has taken one over to use as a training center for his cult.

Ryan

 

[Christ Reynolds]

The holiday camp (basically a cheesy resort) is a fixture of British vacation culture, and the idea at the end is that Tommy has taken one over to use as a training center for his cult.

thats how i perceived it to be, but then i was reading this...http://www.thewho.net/discography/so...lidayCamp.html
is this just bad wording? "set the whole thing in a holiday camp" or was there something else going on here? thanks for the replies
your wicked Uncle CJ

 

[Marvin]

I read once that Townshend wrote it about himself symbolically, because he had been deaf, dumb and blind to religion and the "cure" was a spiritual awakening.

 

[Ryan Spaight]

I read once that Townshend wrote it about himself symbolically, because he had been deaf, dumb and blind to religion and the "cure" was a spiritual awakening.

That sounds reasonable, given what was going on in Pete's life at the time. (Conversion to "Babaism.")
Ryan

 

[RaulR]

(Of course, the movie has the mother and lover meeting at a holiday camp that makes a big impression on little Tommy, which is one of the few things about the movie I thought was a neat touch.)

Except that you have to listen to Oliver Reed singing.
For Christ R. and anyone else who may be new to "Tommy": Avoid the movie like the plague. It distorts the story and the message, features bad acting and bad vocals all throughout (except for Ann Margret and a few others), and is generally a hysterical, overblown, mean-spirited mess.
I hope someone restages the Broadway musical version or releases it on DVD. Even though some of the lyrics were rewritten and it doesn't always depict what Townshend originally intended with the album, it's still the closest we've ever had to a definitive dramatization.

 

[Grant B]

I hope someone restages the Broadway musical version or releases it on DVD. Even though some of the lyrics were rewritten and it doesn't always depict what Townshend originally intended with the album, it's still the closest we've ever had to a definitive dramatization.

Yes please!
Pete wrote the new lyrics cause it didn't make sence in places.
Any good Mod would spit (or laugh ) at a hippie!

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Forgive my poor choice of words. I should have said, "It's interesting that a story written in the 60s features a situation in which nurturing and coddling fail but violence succeeds."

As for the changes in the Broadway version of Tommy, they were made by Townshend to reflect his changed, more mature worldview.

 

[Ryan Spaight]

Avoid the movie like the plague.

I tend to agree, hace my phrase "one of the few things" I liked about it. If you want a sensitive, faithful film of the album, it's not good.

But, hey, it's a total blast for an MST3K party!

As far as the Broadway version being "definitive," I dunno. It's good, but the changes to the end kind of make it a different beast.

The early 70s stage version is interesting...

Ryan

 

[RaulR]

The early 70s stage version is interesting...

I know next to nothing about that. Who staged it and what was it like?

 

[Ryan Spaight]

I know next to nothing about that. Who staged it and what was it like?

Argh -- the guy's name is on the tip of my tongue. Robert Stigwood, maybe? I'll check my books tonight.

It was an "all-star" symphonic version, I guess partway between a straight concert peformance and a fully-staged production. It came out as an album first (with a big pinball on the cover), then staged a few times with somewhat different personnel. I believe most or all of the Who participated in at least one performance. More details later when I can look them up.

Ryan

 

[Christ Reynolds]

For Christ R. and anyone else who may be new to "Tommy": Avoid the movie like the plague

guess its too late for me, i already saw it. and yep, its not good. jack nicholson sucks! horrible singing, if you could call it that. i was looking forward to a good version of "go to the mirror" which is among my favorite tracks, only to be disappointed. but i have a question...my new girlfriend is a theater nut, and says that tommy is a pretty good show to see. is there anyplace that puts on a decent show, without driving hundreds of miles outside boston? (of course i still would, but i'd rather not). thanks for the info everyone

CJ