Re: Quad the movie and otherwise

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

> Funny, I always saw the characters of Dave, Chalky, and Spider as
> being Jimmy's other personalities.

Kelly:

Yes, I think you're right...at least, they seem to represent Rog, Keith,
and John (and they are the stated four personalities for the album). In
that case, none of them got enough "airtime" (which should have been
equal to Jimmy's).

> But then again, I never felt that Jimmy's peculiar mental problems
> were a very important part of "Quadrophenia" to begin with.

I would disagree with you here. I believe that collectively they
represent the four most apparent aspects of adolescence. So it was a
literary device PT used to get his message across. And a very good one,
too.

> And isn't that what makes "Quadrophenia" a great album?

IMHO, what makes it great is that it captures the tramas of adolescence
so accurately, and that's what Rock music is all about, after all. Which
means I see QUAD as the greatest Rock album ever released (so far,
anyway).
The music ain't bad either...it predicted Rock music to come through
Grunge.

> In an interview some years back I remember Pete saying that in the end of the
> film we don't know if Jimmy goes over the cliff with the scooter, it is left
> to the viewer to determine Jimmy's fate.

The opening scene shows Jimmy walking away from the ocean (not a beach,
which is important to note); it's unrelated to any part of the film
UNLESS it's actually what happens after the scooter goes over.
Unfortunately, this ending was "borrowed" from another movie called
Harold And Maude (which is a great movie too). The audience is lead to
believe the "hero" goes over, but we find out that in fact he hasn't.
Having the end at the beginning is in keeping with the album version,
which opens with Jimmy on the rock looking back at what's happened to
him.
Anyway, that's how *I* see the movie. Doesn't mean anyone else must. One
additional bit of evidence comes from Townshend saying that WHITE CITY
was the sequel to QUAD.

> He was looking for a sense of identity,
> a sense of himself, in his parents, the psychiatrist, the Mods, his
> friends, his girlfriend...when he comes to the conclusion that he has to
> look INWARD, that is the entire point of the whole thing.

Well, yeah...if that's what it would take to solve the problem, then Jim
has solved it. Recognizing the problem is said to be the first step
toward solution, but perhaps James Michael Cooper had a "miracle cure."

> Yes, the film is full of familiar faces.

In Britian, perhaps. I've only seen a few of them...Daniels in several
films. Why wasn't Hugh Grant in QUAD?

> The chemist scene?  He gives the majority of the pills to Steph!

It's a typical Hollywood bottle that's never empty until the storyline
needs it to be.

> I like to take things a step further, to think that the pills are solely
> responsible for his multiple personality disorder.  Acute amphetamine
> psychosis is a very volatile condition to be 

This is true, but to keep it within Townshend's concept I'd say that the
speed only magnified an existing problem. The others did speed, in
presumably similar quanities, too.

> I know what you are saying but the way I see things Jimmy throws the
> scooter off the edge of the cliff in disgust at so much betrayal.  Everything
> he held dear, every hope he held on to is gone. 

With something one puts a lot of faith in (as Jimmy does Mod), it must
be "thrown out" or resolved before moving on (or it will still have a
hold on them). So while I agree with what you've said, I still think
that the scooter was symbolic of Mod and Jim needed to violently destroy
it in order to get on with his life. After all, if his goal was merely
to stop being a Mod he needed only to decide it. Being betrayed, he
wanted a physical item to take his anger out with, thus "clearing the
decks."
It's sort of like when a Postal worker gets angry at the Post Office,
and walks in one day shooting...

- -- 

            Cheers                ML

 "It's more than a looking back...it's a bringing up to date.
  Quadrophenia is about where we're all at today...maybe you too,
  I don't know..."
            Pete Townshend