marilyn monroe
Hopefully im not the only person that doesn't get this, but what was with the church of mayilyn monroe?
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I think you are totally onbase, bradster! It was a commentary on how pop icons have become the new messiahs. And, of course, her fate was a bit of a foreshadowing of what would await Tommy as he developed a following.
shareYes, bradster nailed it.
It may also be worth noting that the falling statue foreshadows and represents what happens to Tommy at the end of the film: he becomes a fallen idol himself, just like the Marilyn statue crashing to the ground. Such a brilliant film.
Absolutely. The music, costumes and direction of "Tommy" are excellent, but the film also provides a biting commentary about the dangers of idol worship that are relevant today -- perhaps even more so, in fact. I love this film.
shareToo bad they had to smash the statue. It would make a great novelty memorbillia to a Monroe fan (albeit very expensive).
The communion is a spoof (a bad one and an insult to this Catholic) to the way communion used to be done with the rail and all. But then again, The Who had to be paying attention on how it was properly done in the first place.
The Marilyn Monroe statue certainly would have been worth a lot had it not been smashed, but on the other hand, had it not been smashed, that scene wouldn't have been as memorable.
I know Catholics take offense to things like the Communion scene, but in this case -- as with the whole film -- the point was that we live in a culture that worships false idols, in this case a pop star. So it's taking a precious symbol -- the Eucharist -- but substituting fame for Jesus. I know the Vatican would call the use of the Communion wafer blasphemous, but it seems like the Vatican would also agree with the sentiment, if not the approach.
Don't take it as an insult..I loved that scene....The communion part fit in perfect..
You Have a Hard Lip, Herbert..
Better Living Thru Chemistry
I must say I only somewhat agree. I thought it more of a commentary on how Jesus and other so-called prophets are the new pop-icons. In today's society true prophets and pop icons are no different except you can't argue about prophets. It seems to me though that religion has become very commercial, aand that was the point of the movie. That's why it had all these stars around Tommy giving it a commercial feeling.
shareHOPE not! yeah that was a Crazy scene probably not in the original musical. Ken Russell did weird stuff. I remember they put it on in my JHS in 1973 and I just saw the movie DVD last night. Tina Turner was GREAT as The Acid Queen! Maybe a bit racial that she was a stripper/pusher and virtually chemically Crucified Tommy.
shareI may be totally offbase, but that's what I always thought The Preacher/Clapton and Monroe sequence meant in correlation to Tommy, and idolatry, which I think is the primary theme of the film. - bradster67
Agree with the consensus: You are onbase. That is how I interpreted the imagery from the first time I saw the film.
The film's version of "Eyesight to the Blind" (which on the original album is the only song not written by someone in the band) is the only song whose film version I prefer to the one on the original album. And as a teenager, seeing Clapton and Entwistle clutching their respective axes as they flanked Arthur Brown looked really cool. Maybe not so much now, but at the time I thought, "rock and roll!"
Of course, now my standard summation of Tommy in any form is: It's Helen Keller meets Hermann Hesse in Jimmy Swaggart's Disneyland.
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"Man becomes the food of the divinity he worships." - Chris Stevens share