Tommy: Difference between revisions
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A [[Rock Opera]] by [[The Who]]. [[Magnum Opus|Their best-known and most influential album]], its 1969 release [[Trope Codifier|introduced the world to the concept]] of [[Rock Opera]], made the Who into a household name in Britain and the US, and propelled what had previously been a little-known Mod band into the annals of rock history.
Born at the end of WWI (WWII in the movie and Broadway versions) to a war widow, Tommy Walker is an ordinary child growing up in postwar Britain until his father, [[Back From the Dead]], comes home, finds his wife with her new lover, and kills him in self-defense before Tommy's eyes (
As Tommy grows from a boy to a young man, his disability leaves him [[All of the Other Reindeer|despised by his peers,]] and even his own family turns against him -- he's beaten and tortured by his cousin, molested by his uncle, and his parents consider institutionalizing him. The only things keeping Tommy sane are his memories and his "visions" -- a sensation of a spirit guide showing him the true nature of the universe, which eventually manifests itself, as far as Tommy is concerned, in the most mundane of leisure activities -- [[Pinball]]. He becomes a "Pinball Wizard"; even though he cannot see the machine nor hear it, he can ''feel'' the vibrations of the table under his hands, which enables him to outplay and outscore anyone. He develops a [[Fandom]] because of this; his celebrity making his family rich and famous.
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* A 1975 [[The Movie|film]] directed by [[Ken Russell]], which manages to be even more trippy and incoherent than the original album. Like the LSO recording, a number of guest musicians were featured, including [[Elton John]] (whose recording of ''Pinball Wizard'' became a radio hit), Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother Nora, [[Eric Clapton]] and Arthur Brown as the [[Preacher Man|high priests of the church of Marilyn Monroe]], [[Oliver Reed]] as Tommy's "Uncle Frank" Hobbs (who in this version kills Tommy's father rather than the other way around), and [[Jack Nicholson]], in his only singing role, as Tommy's doctor. [[Lighter and Softer]] than the album, with gratuitous quantities of synthesized instrumentals and lots of [[Large Ham]] moments.
* A 1993 Broadway musical, composed by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff. The musical changes the song order from both the album and the movie versions and takes a completely different tack in the finale -- here, it's Tommy's fans who want him to lead them to enlightenment, while Tommy believes they ''shouldn't'' put themselves through what he had to suffer, and believes that normality is the greatest gift one can have.
* No idea when it came out (somewhere in the 70s) but the salsa record company Fania made this a Salsa Opera called Omi (
See also [[Quadrophenia]], [[The Who]]'s second [[Rock Opera]].
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* [[Author Appeal]]: The plot and theme of the opera was heavily influenced by Townshend's conversion to the teachings of Meher Baba and his simultaneous rejection of psychedelic drugs.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]/[[Downer Ending]]: "Sally Simpson", and the album as a whole. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Your mileage WILL vary.]]
** In the film version of "Sally Simpson", this is averted by giving Sally an obviously fake scar, making her husband a [[Frankenstein's Monster]] lookalike, and at the end, having her shrug the whole thing off while dressed in expensive furs and jewels.
* [[Blind Seer]]
* [[Breather Episode]]: "Pinball Wizard". Perhaps this is part of how it became a [[Black Sheep Hit]].
* [[Brick Joke]]: The seemingly unrelated "Pinball Wizard" later becomes important as a path to enlightenment.
* [[BSOD Song]]: This is what "See Me, Feel Me" becomes when
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: "I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie..." And let's not forget:
{{quote|I'm the school bully
The classroom cheat
The nastiest playfriend
You ever could meet
* [[Concept Album]]: One of the early ones.
* [[Confusing Multiple Negatives]]: In "1921": "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life."
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To find me it would take you a week
But tied to that chair you won't go anywhere
There's a lot I can do to a freak
** And after that the song turns into him listing all the assorted things he could do ([[Your Mileage May Vary|is doing?]]) to Tommy (burning his arm with a cigarette and dunking his head underwater (and spraying him with a fire hose outside from upstairs in the film version), among others).
*** Songwriter John Entwistle was inspired by his childhood experiences with a bullying neighbor kid, with whom his parents inexplicably left him on a regular basis (John eventually beat up the bully when he realized he'd grown tall enough to look the other kid in the eye).
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* [[No Ending]]: The movie, though a case can be made for [[What Now? Ending]].
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: [[Elton John]]'s appearance as the Champion/Local Lad in [[The Movie]] is one of the most talked-about parts of the film (he even got third billing after Daltrey and Ann-Margret), and he barely even gets five minutes of screen-time. It probably didn't help that it was released in the UK the day after his twenty-ninth birthday.
* [[Only Sane Man]]: The doctor in "Go To The Mirror!". He's the one person who finally deduces that Tommy's condition is psychosomatic, and he (briefly) considers the sort of isolation shock that recovering his senses will cause.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Captain Walker in the 1993 musical. And he's not very happy when he discovers his wife and son with her new [[Jerkass]] lover on her 21st birthday!
* [[Parental Obliviousness]]: Tommy's parents, who only offer token concern at leaving him alone with his [[Complete Monster|cousin Kevin or uncle Ernie]].
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Fiddling about, fiddling about, fiddle about
Down with your bed clothes, up with your nightshirt
Fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about...
* [[Shout-Out]]: In the film version of "Eyesight to the Blind", a religious cult led by [[Preacher Man]] [[Eric Clapton]] brings out a statue of [[Marilyn Monroe]] in her pose from ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'' hoping that her touch can cure Tommy. This whole scene is pure, unadulterated [[Faux Symbolism]].
** In the 1993 musical, Captain Walker is the [[Papa Wolf]] killing [[Asshole Victim|his wife's lover]] in self-defense, which is an ironic shout-out to the 1975 film in which the lover does the same to Tommy's dad in self-defense.
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* [[Summon Backup Dancers]]: [[Averted Trope]].
* [[Sympathetic POV]]: [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] during "Pinball Wizard" where the POV switches to a pinball champion that Tommy defeats. The character himself isn't very important to the plot, but when comparing his character to all of the people singing the [[Villain Song|Villain Songs]], it makes the villains singing them seem far, far worse. [[Misaimed Fandom|Though for some reason]], [[Alternative Character Interpretation|some of the fandom]] seems to interpret it as if said pinball champ is merely a [[Sissy Villain]].
** Also "Sally Simpson
* [[Taking the Bullet]]: Tommy's mother Nora takes a knife slash directed at Tommy near the end of the movie.
* [[Teen Pregnancy]]: Mrs. Walker at the beginning of the 1993 musical, who is pregnant at age 16 during [[World War II]].
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** [[Fanon|Some might interpret it]] as a criticism of the anti-psychiatry movement of [[The Sixties]].
* [[Unnamed Parent]]: Both of Tommy's parents are unnamed in both the album and the 1993 musical, though in the film version his mother has a name: Nora Walker.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: "Fiddle About
* [[Villain Song]]: "Fiddle About", "The Acid Queen", and "Cousin Kevin".
** Note that Kevin and Uncle Ernie's songs were written by John Entwistle -- Pete Townshend gave John the responsibility because he felt he himself didn't have the guts to be sufficiently sadistic.
* [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]: Tommy himself in the movie, after he gets his senses back. Though, granted, it's more like running shirtless ''underwater and on the lava from an active volcano
{{reflist}}
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