Tommy

Cult / Religion Take

Okay so I'm obsessive so I recently re-watched this movie and I made a new connection and I don't know if this is actually intended by the film makers or The Who.

So I think parts of the movie foreshadow the fact that Tommy is against organized religion or anything traditional. I don't know if this has to do with the fact that he is, to some extent, mentally disabled and therefore unable to process it, or if this is subliminal cult messaging. I also believe that the foreshadowing is means of comparing Tommy to a religious leader.

First scene as proof: When Tommy is young and at a Christmas party, he is gifted a nativity scene. He ends up breaking it by throwing a figurine of the mother Mary at it, causing it to fall and shatter. 

Second scene: Tommy is now older and his mother has taken him to a 'healer' who is really just a statue of Marilyn Monroe. There appears to be a whole organized religion that specifically worships this statue, claiming that she can heal the ill. At the end of the unusual ceremony, Mrs. Walker leads Tommy over to the statue so he can touch it. However, Tommy resists getting his head pushed to the ground and because of the struggle, ends up knocking over the statue and breaking it, which parallels the breaking of the nativity scene.

Third scene: Tommy is brought to the 'acid queen' who hopes to cure Tommy by giving him LSD and shocking him out of his daze. We are shown a very confusing scene where Tommy is put inside of a metal sarcophagus with syringes to inject the 'medicine' straight into his bloodstream. Tommy does hallucinate, and seems somewhat happy at some points, but he is not fully cured and in the end, his step-father breaks down the door to take him out of the room after realizing that it will not cure Tommy. This shows that he is 'incurable' by traditional methods.

Fourth scene, which directly parallels the acid scene: Tommy is taken to a real doctor, who shows his parents that his medical screenings show that all of his organs and sense are fully functional, and his illness is strictly emotional. Tommy is advised to stand in front of the mirror, which seems to be the only time he is receptive to anything when he is in his daze. It seems to be the only moment in which Tommy is self aware, and this confuses his parents, who endlessly try to make contact with him. This once again shows he is incurable by traditional methods. It also symbolizes a form of egotism which Tommy may experience, since technically, the only things he cares about is himself. This in itself is a foreshadow for when Tommy becomes a leader of his own cult/religion after his 'miracle cure.' 

I also think that Mrs. Walker undergoes a change where she begins to drift from organized religion. Tommy has never shown any interest or understanding of it, whereas Mrs. Walker is very concerned about saving him 'from the eternal grave' when Tommy is younger. However, she is the one who ended up taking him to the Marilyn Monroe church, showing that she has drifted from traditional Christianity. Even later, she becomes a follower and heavy supporter for when Tommy becomes a leader of almost religious status himself.

It's no doubt that Tommy gathers a strong following after being 'cured'. He has been, quite literally, a follower his whole life, since he is literally unable to do anything without his mother or another person guiding him step by step. But he has always shown some sort of resistance to any organized set of rules or religion. Essentially, Tommy is unable to understand religion unless he is leading it, which sets up a plot to describe Tommy as a cult leader in the film and album. Tommy goes from a very intense follower to a very intense leader.

There is an undeniable similarity to the cross that symbolize Tommy's 'religion' and the crucifix used to symbolize Christianity. He also gains a following and even has workers to organize the house/palace in which his followers worship. He walks around barefoot and his long, though not entirely unkempt hair has some parallels to Jesus. Everywhere he goes, he spreads a message of peace, breaking up a fight between a bike gang when he flies above them, in an angelic gesture, on a hang glider. 

His followers have certain rituals they follow. One of the most prominent ones is wearing earplugs, sound proof headphones and a cork in their mouth to imitate the conditions that Tommy was seemingly under when he was mentally unstable. They practice playing pinball and try to achieve the same skill as the pinball wizard, believing perhaps they will be better at the game if they are 'deaf, dumb, and blind', as Tommy was. 

This need to live life as a prophet makes the story have undeniable connections to Christianity or any old religion. They reject their basic needs (Many traditional religions value Asceticism, Tommy's following values being deaf, dumb, and blind) and also hope for miracles (Jesus' miracles of curing illnesses, Tommy's cure that he experiences) 

However Tommy's fortune comes to an end when the seemingly loyal followers revolt against him, calling him out as a fraud and eventually killing his parents in the riot. Tommy feels a sense of guilt when this happens, and takes the cross out of dead step-father's hand and throws it, realizing that his death was his fault. Perhaps he realizes in this scene how egotistical he has been. Everything from when he was staring into a mirror to when he claims himself to be a messiah is a manifestation of a deeper and self-centered nature he displays. Whether it is from illness or from his inherent personality is unknown. In a sense, his parents become martyrs, having died protecting Tommy. The people who rebelled against him are parallels to people who doubted Jesus and Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus to death. The story also seems to call out the fact that many organized religions are often corrupted by using religion as means of profit, as did Tommy, when his merchandise became expensive and hard to afford, meaning that following him would soon become a luxury few could afford rather than a lifestyle meant for everyone. 

This story may show the inherent need for humanity to believe in something greater than itself. People seem to instantly cling to Tommy's miracle cure story, not even for a second doubting the legitimacy of it. In a sense, humanity has been doing this since the earliest recorded history, which shows that this rock opera is really just written to show off a human need to believe in the supernatural as means of comfort and as means to explain the greatest mysteries of existence. 

It may also be reflective of cult society, showing how humanity can unite through a common belief and even sacrifice many privileges they have in hopes of achieving something greater, as Tommy's followers do when they reject their voice, hearing and eyesight. 

I'm not entirely sure where I am going with this. I think there is a lot of symbolism in this story but  that might just be my hyperactive brain picking up every detail from the story, even the ones that are irrelevant and somehow making them relevant. Nonetheless, these things are fun to think about.