Tommy: Difference between revisions

Line 7:

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 (in the Broadway version; the movie version has the new lover kill the husband in self-defense, and the album itself leaves the nature of the event deliberately ambiguous) while Tommy witnesses it all in a mirror. Traumatized by the experience, and his parents' exhortation that "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, [[Confusing Multiple Negatives|you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life]]", Tommy is struck deaf, dumb (i.e. mute), and blind.

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 (in the Broadway version; the movie version has the new lover kill the husband in self-defense, and the album itself leaves the nature of the event deliberately ambiguous) while Tommy witnesses it all in a mirror. Traumatized by the experience, and his parents' exhortation that "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, [[Confusing Multiple Negatives|you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life]]", Tommy is struck deaf, dumb (i.e. mute), and blind.

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.

Line 50:

* [[Death by Adaptation]]: Captain Walker in the 1975 film adaptation. Also Nora Walker (Tommy's mother) at the end of the film.

* [[Disability Superpower]]: One interpretation is that Tommy can feel things as music, hence the [[Rock Opera]] part.

* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]: Most of the movie, especially the Acid Queen's scene. [[Nightmare Fuel|And it]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cKCGgmaSIEit isn't a good trip...]

* [[Disposable Fiance]]/[[Asshole Victim]]: In the 1993 musical, the boyfriend talks about getting married with Tommy's mother. However, when her husband comes back home from the war, the mother feels surprised and relieved that he's alive after all, and the boyfriend soon becomes a [[Jerkass]] by acting hostile toward Tommy's parents and attempting to kill the father. Fortunately, the father disposes of him by shooting him dead in the struggle.

* [[Dysfunction Junction]]

Line 81:

* [[Movie Bonus Song]]: A few of them: "Bernie's Holiday Camp", "Extra Extra" (set to the tune of "Miracle Cure"), "Champagne", "Mother and Son", and "TV Studio".

** Although not Movie Bonuses, a few new songs are included in the musical: "We've Won", "I Believe My Own Eyes", and "Sally's Question".

* [[Mundane Made Awesome]]/[[Serious Business]]: [[Pinball]]. In the film, he doesn't wear a blindfold/earplugs, so it appears his massive following is simply based on being the pinball champ regardless of disability.

* [[No Ending]]: The movie, though a case can be made for [[What Now? Ending]].

* [[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.

Line 90:

* [[Recurring Riff]]: And all of them appear in the first track - "[[Foreshadowing|Overture]]"

* [[Recycled Soundtrack]]: "Sally Simpson" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" started out as unrelated pop ballads that Townshend re-worked to fit into the story - the former was originally a story about a groupie at a rock concert featuring a [[The Doors|Jim Morrison]] [[Expy]], while the latter was a [[Protest Song]] about fascism. The group wanted to put a cover of Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" in but couldn't find a place to make it fit.

* [[Rock Opera]]: [[Trope ~~Makers~~|The first one to become popular, in fact.]]

* [[Rock Opera]]: [[Trope Maker|The first one to become popular, in fact.]]

* [[Rock Opera Plot]]: Though with more [[Nightmare Fuel]] than usual...

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: The film version at least. It turns very cruel very quickly in the last ten minutes.

Line 121:

[[Category:The Sixties]]

[[Category:Films of the 1970s]]

⚫

[[Category:~~Tommy~~]]

[[Category:Music]]

[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]

⚫

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]