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Re: The Women of Pete



This is what I get for paying attention in English class...okay, here 
we go.

>SS was a typical fan/groupie from the `60s, and in fact the song 
>was originally written about that subject and
>later incorporated into the TOMMY story. I wouldn't say that Pete
>created her so much as observed the behavior and gave it a name.

Ah yes, but there really is no such thing as objective writing!  So 
while the Sally Simpson character type (Female #1 from here on out) 
may have been "inspired by actual events", she will ineveitably be 
touched with Pete's own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, so is at 
least partially a creature of Pete's own mind.

>Rosalind was very similar, although in this case Ruth's creation 
and
>again a more-or-less stereotypical young fan.
>Also Mary-Ann with the infamous hand, although she seems to be a 
bit
>more tactile in her approach...

Your line of thinking and mine pretty much coincide here, although I 
believe Virginia would also fit nicely into the Female #1 group (for 
obvious reasons I think).  The unnamed heroine of "A Quick One, While 
He's Away" is also fairly similar.  For anyone having trouble 
following along here, I see the characters in the Female #1 group as 
being essentially young women who are all fairly naive, although not 
exactly...ah..."sexually innocent".

>I don't see a Walker/Streeting connection at all. For one thing, 
Tom's
>mom is barely in the original version. The movie has Nora as a 
tragic
>figure...the only time she's in the least selfish is the scene 
directly
>after the Captain is killed, and...well I imagine that was rather 
an
>emotional moment. In every other scene she appears more concerned 
about
>Tommy than herself (I don't think she's aware of "Uncle Frank's" 
plot),
>and the torment is shown clearly in the baked beans scene.

Well, first of all, I suspect that the film version of Mrs. Walker 
was strongly influenced by Ken Russel's vision and not really 
appropriate for a discussion of Pete's female characters.  And, for 
what it's worth, I never felt sorry for her at all...I was thinking 
more along the lines of, "What a horrible mother she is!"  I know I'm 
not totally alone in this, as I used to have little "Tommy" screening 
parties, and whenever Mrs. Walker appeared onscreen my friends would 
call her names, throw popcorn at the screen, and generally express 
their dislike for the character (and Ann-Margret's singing, but 
that's another story).

Now, for the Mrs. Walker of the album.  True, you can't tell much 
about her just by listening to "Tommy".  However, interviews and 
stage comments from Pete from around the time of the album do give 
several clues as to what he was thinking about for her character 
(Female #2, the mother group).  I remember a "Tommy" introduction 
from one show in particular, where Pete talked about Mrs. Walker 
setting herself up with a fancy man 'cause she thought her husband 
was dead, and how after this fancy man is murdered she and Captain 
Walker give little Tommy a good smack and start saying "You didn't 
hear it..." because "That's the kind of people they are".  Not to say 
that Mrs. Walker is a completely negative character, I don't believe 
she is.  But I think she's pretty obviously based off of Pete's image 
of his own mother, with many of the same flaws (either real or as 
percieved by Pete, I don't know his mother so it's impossible for me 
to judge).

>I haven't seen the play, so I can't speak to that version of Nora.

We won't talk about her then, I don't want to spoil the play for you 
if you do see it. :)

>Ruth Streeting, on the other hand, is manipulating the situation 
from
>the start. She uses Ray by using Rastas, and then dumps Rastas for 
Ray's
>new fortune (not Ray, I think!).
>So perhaps you might share how you see them as similar? Cause I 
don't
>see it.

Okay, first of all, and I think most importantly, Pete himself has 
said that Ruth Streeting is the mother figure of "Psychoderelict", 
and that the Dragon is the mother figure of "Iron Man".  The 
paralells between THESE two are quite clear.  In the notes to "Iron 
Man" it says that Hogarth sees and falls in love with the image of a 
beautiful young girl in the "star" that turns out to be the Dragon.  
(Pete made this bit up himself I know, as I have read Ted Hughes's 
"The Iron Giant" and there's nothing like that in the book.)  Ray 
High in "Psychoderelict" recieves a letter and photograph from a 
beautiful young girl who turns out to be...Ruth Streeting!  More 
simply, they're also both destructive sorts of characters that cause 
all sorts of trouble, but are somehow also quite sexy.  (Doesn't Pete 
ever think about anything else?  Dear boy needs to get his mind out 
of the gutter!)  Mrs. Walker is, despite her flaws, a much nicer 
character than these two, but I think there are enough similarities 
to put them all into the Female #2 group.  Mrs. Walker, like Ruth and 
the Dragon, is partially to blame for the troubles of the hero.  She 
shares this blame with Captain Walker, just as Ruth does with Rastus. 
 

>Other women to consider: Glow Girl, Jimmy's unnamed girlfriend in 
QUAD,
>Virginia, the girl with "eyes like gems", & Athena.