Final Project Proposal: How “Tommy” by the Who both falls into and challenges the common “disability narrative”

My final project will focus on how the Who’s rock opera “Tommy” treats disability, specifically the protagonist Tommy whose mental disability is the focal point of the album. “Tommy” is widely considered the standard that all other rock operas are compared to, and takes the theme of disability in a unique direction beyond the “disability as a challenge to overcome” narrative commonly found in literature. Tommy’s disability turns out to be a gift in terms of his pinball skills, but the album lacks the expected arc of the disabled character, as the end of the album finds Tommy defeated as he regresses back into a detached state. Also, I will analyze how Tommy’s successful “treatment” is not much of a treatment at all; he escapes the trance-like state when his mother breaks the mirror in frustration, a more realistic picture of how a parent struggling with a mentally disabled child would react. I will close by arguing that the end of Tommy paints a more accurate image of the life of someone with disabilities as Tommy is rejected by his followers and retreats into this inner psyche, alone, highlighting the rejection that disabled people commonly deal with. I will use the songs of the rock opera to support my overall argument that Tommy has many elements that are in line with the common disability narrative, but also challenges other aspects usually integral to the common character arc of a disabled person.