PROJECT #4, ENGLISH 212
CHLOE STEFFKE
PARTICIPATORY
ELEMENTS
Whether it be a band or a football team, nothing can gain much fame without participation. It is the participation, the fans, the groupies, the cheerleaders, that give these things their credibility. The Beatles would be little more than a garage band in Liverpool without the 73 million viewers of The Ed Sullivan show, and the Beal City football team would just be another sports team if it weren't for the support of an entire community. Without the help of the common person, the popular person does not exist, and without participation, the majority of the internet and media ceases to exist as well.
TELEVISION
PARTICIPATION
PERSONAL
It wasn't until I was in the 7th grade that I became infatuated with The Beatles, which was caused by one single thing: The Beatles "One" album. I found this CD amongst others while rummaging through cabinets in the kitchen, and I wanted to listen to it right away. I had little knowledge of The Beatles and their music at this point in time, but I knew that my parents had always liked them, so that is what sparked my original interest in the band. With the first listen of the entirity of the CD, I had already fallen in love. I listened to the songs constantly, and they ran through my mind between every thought. Not only did playing the CD all around the house at all times create an obsession for me, but it was also a thing of nostalgia for my parents, who had grown up listening to The Beatles and could sing along to just about every song on the album.
Later that same year, my godmother has heard of my new love of The Beatles, and being a fan herself, she fueled my obsession with The Beatles Anthology, a book about the personal experiences of the Fab Four throughout the years, as well as The Red Album and The Blue Album. I listened to the CD's as soon as I possibly could and loved them even more than "One", which I didn't think was even possible. To this day, I still listen to both of the albums religiously. I started The Beatles Anthology, which was unbelievably thick, and got about a fourth of the way through the book, and that is still the place that I am currently at.
Aside from what I did in my personal free time, music by The Beatles came into my life in another way. During my senior year of high school, I joined the marching band out of spontaneity, without even knowing that the theme of the year's performances was The Beatles. All season long, the band played to the tune of" Magical Mystery Tour", "Eleanor Rigby," "Day Tripper," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "Here, There and Everywhere," "Hey Jude," "Yesterday," and "The Long and Winding Road." Because I had previously known the lyrics to just about all of the songs in the performance set, it became a way to memorizes my marching steps and flag choreography.
When I began to listen to the music of the 60's, my dad started telling me stories of how particular songs by The Beatles resonated with his childhood. Born in 1966, my dad was not old enough to experience The Beatles and their song while they were still being written and performed, but he liked the music later into the 70's when the members were still performing individually. His older sisters had a record player and some Beatles records, and I can remember my dad telling me that he became particularly fascinated with a song called "A Day in the Life", mostly because it had such a unique sound, that was so different from any other song. The song was originally two separate song ideas by Lennon and McCartney that were taken and combined by Hunter Davies. Lennon speaks writing "A Day in the Life" with "the Daily Mail propped in front of me at the piano," telling that the song came from news headlines. Lennon and Paul also recollect the ideas that Lennon's part of the song gave a dreamlike feeling, while McCartney's portion brings the tune back down to Earth. The song also stands out from the rest due to being "longer than anything The Beatles had previously released" (Beatles).
In 1965, The Beatles became an animated TV series based on the Fab Four, their music, and their adventures. Each episode was titled with the name of a Beatles song and the show depicted The Beatles in their young, classic mop-top hairstyle and suit combination. At first, the band members did not like the idea of the cartoon, but later approved of it as the series went on, although they were not involved in it in any way. The program ran on many different channels over the years, and my mom can remember watching reruns of it as a child. My mom has also told me that she and her neighboorhood friend would get together and pretend that they were The Beatles themselves performing for an audience.
INTERNET PARTICIPATION
Even though The Beatles had their time of fame long before the internet came along, internet users within the past decade who are also Beatles fans have created their own memes about the group. A meme is a picture paired with text that is usually funny or ironic. Some Beatles memes relate the band to the 2004 movie Mean Girls, but many others stand on their own.
Lyrical Creations
Memes
Aside from memes, Beatles-loving internet users have participated over the years by making their own lyrical creations, which consist of Beatles song lyrics paired with related art. These tend to be much more sophisticated than memes, and some are even worthy to be hung up in homes as works of art.
