The music video for Pink Floyd’s The Wall accurately expresses the artist’s frustration over the idea that conformity is all too common in today’s society and that uniqueness and creativity are not allowed. Certain symbols throughout the video play an important role in conveying the theme of the song. The lyrics “another brick in the wall” are represented by an actual brick wall in the video, and this line portrays the conformity of all students and the similarity between them all. Another aspect that represents conformity is when the teacher says “Repeat after me.” Not only does this show the teaching style that was commonly used at the time, but it resembles the example that every student was expected to follow. The teacher does not allow the students to be creative, as is evident when he reads a poem from a student and criticizes it for being different from the others. The students walk as if their feet are shackled, and this shows that they are trapped in the school and required to do all the same things. They walk through what looks like a maze, which shows how inescapable the school is to them. The students are represented almost as lab mice, and their authority controls every aspect of their lives. They walk in a circle that will always continue, never doing anything new. The artist wanted to convey these ideas through the song itself, and the music video gives the audience a concrete expression of these ideas and better gets the point of the song across.
