Achilles Redivivus: "Pink Floyd: The Wall" as a Modern-Day "Iliad"

This article elaborates on the structural, thematic and characterological similarities between Alan Parker’s Pink Floyd: The Wall and Homer’s Iliad, reading both works as epics that revolve around the hero’s wrath, its consequences and its resolution. The argument is organised around three central topics: loss as the cause of the heroes’ inaction and suffering inflicted by an inhumane power in the context of the war; law as the foundation of a social order that redresses the balance; love as the binding force of individual and collective harmony. After introducing the central thesis and objectives, the article redresses the balance concerning Achilles status as the example of virile might by highlighting its more human and humane dimension, the truly dominant theme of the Iliad an which comes closer to modern sensibility. Both the Iliad and Pink Floyd: The Wall feature two heroic figures that embark on a journey of self-discovery that not only entails the transformation of their subjective position inside society, but also the articulation of a set of values alternative to those that operate in their respective social formations. In developing this in the remaining sections, the article does not lose sight of the specificities of the different historical periods in which both narratives are embedded and respond to. The research carried out here takes Homer’s text more as a point of comparative reference for the film than as the object of creative reception.