kills himself?
At first I thought it was obvious and stupid to post, but no one seems to think so.
But some of the final lyrics "goodbye cruel world, I'm leaving here today...", and one of the final scenes of the wall tearing down akin to a skull being blown away by a gunshot convinces me so (or at least my friend, who ended up convincing me so).
"the final cut" tells that he tried to do a suicide but couldn't do it
Sorry About My Bad English
The wall comes down at the end...and I interpret the last song, called "Outside the Wall", as an apology Roger intended for the fan whose face he spit in. I think the end is hopeful, not down beat. He recognizes what he became and so begins the process of change. He does not kill himself.
shareReally? Is there any place online where we can see this?
To the OP: actually, the tearing down of the wall can be interpreted as hopeful. It is a wall of fear, sexual insecurity, dislike of women, contempt for others and alienation (also a Marxist metaphor for the way governments keep citizens in line by forcing a wall between them and people in other nations).
It needs to be torn down.
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yes - the cyclic nature of the album from the ".. we came in" to "isn't this where..." demonstrates that this is a repeating process where all that "died" was the parts of his personality that he hadn't addressed and didn't like (the him with the megaphone)
so he does not kill himself but you could say that maybe his ego undergoes a death... and rebirth.
Is this the return to Oz?
The grass is dead, the gold is brown
and the sky has claws.
The lyrics for Outside the wall.
The last song in the film.
All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
The inspiration for "The Wall" came to Roger Waters on the "Animals" tour, where, disgusted with the hooting and hollering that was going on while he was trying to sing a quiet song, he got so fed up that he beckoned a fan to the stage and spat in his face. Afterward, he was so distraught over his actions that he dealt with them, partially, by writing "The Wall". The character of Pink is based partly on Roger, partly on Syd Barrett, and partly on groups like Led Zeppelin.
"Goodbye Cruel World" is not a suicide song...it comes about half way through, after he's completely built the wall. It is dramatizing that by that point in the narrative, he is completely cut off. He says "goodbye" to contact with the outside world, and has embraced selfishness.
The first half of the album is about building the wall. In the second half, Roger is caricaturizing himself, making fun of his fascistic behaviour on stage...the character's isolation leads to his eventual "self-judgement" in the "Trial", where he decides to accept responsibility for how he's behaved, and the final song, "outside the Wall", is an apology to the fans for getting so frustrated with "banging his heart against some mad bugger's wall" that he lost it on stage. Roger has given several interviews about the meaning of "The Wall", and even explains it on the commentary of the DVD as well.
Of course, the album ends with the words "Isn't this where..." and begins with the words "...we came in?" suggesting a loop. Roger's wall has come down, but now he is faced with the walls of others. The responsibility now falls on the listener, to grasp the full meaning of what Roger is trying to say, by demolishing his own walls and becoming more compassionate.
Truly one of the most important artistic statements in a generation, I would say.
I suppose it's like the end of the book Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky when Raskolnikov gives up on hiding from the police and willingly accepts his imprisonment. But note that he accepts his imprisonment, not his punishment. The punishment he already had, his own mental punishment, because he was already punished by all the things he did to himself. Now what he is really asking is a request for help, for rehabilitation. It's a very optimistic idea, that a life full of bad actions does not necessarily need to end in suicide, but it can be rehabilitated.
shareTo fully understand the wall it takes multiple views of the movie. You can determine that he doesn't kill himself because in the beginning of the movie it actually shows him in the most recent time chronologically. You can determine this because he is shaved and has already made his transformation that took place in the middle part of the movie. His wall has already been torn down. If you look at the lyrics of In The Flesh you will see that he is talking to concert goers saying lines like "so ya thought ya might like to go to the show. To feel the warmth of confusion that space cadet glow." and then it ends "if you want to find out whats behind these cold eyes you'll just have to blow your way through this disguise" He is telling them about the cold realities of life. In the world these kids are just becoming into the flesh. The format is similar to that of In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, where all the action has already happened and now he is just telling his story to someone that he feels needs to hear it.
shareActually that scene doesn't prove doesn't kill himself since it happens around "The Must GO On" segment. The trial segment near the end happens after that scene, after the riots from the fans and chaos happened. I think the ending is left ambiguous for viewers to determine for themselves what happens. He does break his wall down and he may either be forced to face the real world or he kills himself or he goes insane. To get more of understanding of the film I recommend anyone to google "Pink Floyd The wall a Complete Analysis". The guy gives a great explanation of the film just by clicking the lists of songs.
shareThere is a lot of visual and textual evidence to disclaim him killing himself. The whole song of in the flesh is him trying to tell youngsters about the "cold world". Also the hidden message in Empty Spaces. Which says something along the lines of "you have found the hidden message, please send your answer to pink at the funny farm. Then a different voice comes in and says roger your wife is on the phone" So that is pretty powerful evidence that Pink didn't kill himself but was rather put in an asylum. Either way the first in the flesh is chronologically the last thing that happens, but if it isn't reality it could be just as easily pink imagining himself helping others.
sharePink killing himself would negate everything Roger said the album was about.
shareI don't think Pink kills himself, rather his 'Wall' is torn down and he now has to face the people he has shunned and wronged in the past.
As 'The Trial' explicitely states
"I sentence you to be exposed before your peers!"
I think "Outside the Wall" is not an outside perspective, but the perspective of the character of Pink, who is now "Outside the Wall" and offers the final thought, in an attempt to reach someone who is behind their own wall. He finds himself on the outside looking in to the situation. It also doubles as an apology to the fan that Roger Waters spit on. That was my take on it, anyway.
share"Does anyone else think that at the end he kills himself?"
Pink's fate after The Wall is destroyed is not explained. The band did this deliberately, and when asked about what happens to Pink after The Wall comes down, the band members refuse to comment.
My own view is that he does, indeed, kill himself. In the album, the expression "going to the show" is used as a metaphor for going thru life, starting right at the beginning with "In The Flesh". Then, in the album version of "Stop" (though not the film version), Pink says he wants to "leave the show", that is, he no longer wishes to be alive.
Suicide is also the logical result of his self-destructive path. Pink becomes sicker and sicker throughout the course of the album and by the beginning of side four, he's pretty much completely out of touch with reality. It's rare to come back from a pit that deep, especially when you're not even sure you want to.
I think "tear down the wall" means pink cleaned up and stopped being a jerkoff.
Some people interpret it as him killing himself, but I hate that interpretation. I know so many people behind their "walls" (hell I was behind one for all of high school) and if Pink offed himself it's no solace to them. "The Wall" broke mine down, it should break other people's down as well.
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Fokin Prawns.
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He killed the injured (and injuring) *beep* part of his nature, and at the end is ruminating about what it was like for all those who witnessed his descent, from Outside his Wall.
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