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

Summary/Abstract: 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 sus- tain, 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 at- tempts to appeal to universal human desires and emotion- al states through its balancing of utopian consensus and cultural diversity, and through the galvanizing presence of The Beatles.

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