All Together Now: Yellow Submarine (1968), The Beatles, and Children’s Film

• Authors: Brown Noel

Title variants

PL

All Together Now. Żółta łódź podwodna (1968), The Beatles i film dla dzieci

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article examines The Beatles’ classic animated film, Yellow Submarine (dir. George Dunning, 1968) in terms of its appeal to multi-demographic audiences. While it has become de rigueur to argue in favour of Yellow Submarine as an artefact of the late-1960s counter-culture, its status as a children’s film has largely been overlooked. This article will argue that Yellow Submarine invites, and is able to sustain, a range of interpretations, particularly regarding its dual status as a quintessential film for children and family audiences, and as a much more adult-oriented production that captures the revolutionary spirit of the period. While Yellow Submarine embodies aspects of late-1960s British and North American culture, the author argues that the narrative transcends national cultural specificities and attempts to appeal to universal human desires and emotional states through its balancing of utopian consensus and cultural diversity, and through the galvanizing presence of The Beatles.

PL

W artykule przeanalizowano film animowany Żółta łódź podwodna (reż. George Dunning, 1968) pod kątem atrakcyjności dla widowni międzypokoleniowej. Film ten jest zwykle pozycjonowany jako artefakt kontrkultury późnych lat 60., jego status filmu dla dzieci pozostaje w dużej mierze przeoczony. Autor dowodzi, że film ten zachęca i daje podstawy do wielu różnych interpretacji. Tyczy się to zwłaszcza jego podwójnego statusu jako zarazem filmu dla dzieci i widzów kina familijnego, jak i produkcji zorientowanej na dorosłych, oddającej rewolucyjnego ducha tego okresu. Autor wykazuje, że choć Żółta łódź podwodna ucieleśnia konkretne aspekty brytyjskiej i północnoamerykańskiej kultury późnych lat 60., to zawarta w tej animacji narracja wykracza poza narodową specyfikę kulturową i przemawia do uniwersalnych ludzkich pragnień oraz emocji, tak przez wizje utopijnego konsensusu i różnorodności kulturowej, jak i dzięki elektryzującej obecności The Beatles.

Keywords

EN

children’s film; family film; The Beatles; animation; British cinema

PL

film dla dzieci; film familijny; The Beatles; animacja; kino brytyjskie

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2023
• Issue: 121 Kino i młoda widownia
• Pages: 6-33

Contributors

author

Brown Noel

• Liverpool Hope University

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2172-8821

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