Re: Quad the Film and Jimmy's 4 Faces!

[THRH79B@prodigy.com (MS KELLY D GILES I)]

>>But never have I gotten any hint that Jimmy has four personalities 
from
>>the movie (except his Dad's line: "Bloody split personality!").

>The most relevant references are made by his friends.  They clearly 
think
>his behaviour is out of the ordinary.  Jimmy always takes things too 
far,
>gets too involved and too serious about things even by their 
standards.

Funny, I always saw the characters of Dave, Chalky, and Spider as 
being Jimmy's other personalities.  It seemed really obvious to me 
from the first time I ever watched "Quadrophenia", but since no one 
else mentioned it, maybe it's not so obvious after all!  Ah well, 
we're all allowed our own interpretations, right?  Mine is that in 
the film, Jimmy's three friends fulfill whatever dramatic role his 
three extra personalities may have had in the album.  I think this 
was really quite a clever move on the part of the film makers.  If 
they'd had to try to show Jimmy as being <ahem> quadrophenic, 
"Quadrophenia" probably would have ended up as a pretty lame flick.
But then again, I never felt that Jimmy's peculiar mental problems 
were a very important part of "Quadrophenia" to begin with.  I'd 
owned the album (my very first Who album, by the way) for some time 
before I knew the protagonist was supposed to have more than the 
usual number of personalities.  And I never would have figured it out 
at all if it hadn't been explained to me by rock critics, other Who 
fans, and Pete himself in various interviews.  But I understood 
"Quadrophenia" well enough from the first time I listened to it.  It 
took me a good two years to work out the actual storyline, but the 
important bits came through right away.  And isn't that what makes 
"Quadrophenia" a great album?

- -Yellow "Although I am rather fond of 'Four Faces'" Ledbetter