American Popular Culture

Vera González
s4175476

English Language and Culture
LET-AMB2105
American Popular Culture

ACROSS THE NATION
“The decade that changed America” is the sentence used by Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot in their book The Liberal Hour to refer to the 1960s in the United States, since a lot of changing – in politics, culture and minds – occurred. President Kennedy was elected on 1960,which already meant actual change for the country because he promoted social reforms like the civil rights for African Americans and healthcare for the elderly and those with limited economic resources. When he took office the Vietnam War was raging, and he sent the first soldiers on 1961 and he was killed on 1963.
The country lost one of the most loved Presidents ever and in 1965 the war was atthe worst point. Also, some years later and with the war still on, another loved American leader was killed in 1968 (Martin Luther king Jr.). It was in that second half of the decade in which people started protesting about Vietnam, since the previous years it had not been considered literally a war (it was never officially declared). Bearing this in mind, it is easy to imagine that it was a timein which society (because of politics or independently) was going through a lot of change, which at the same time led to the creation of organizations and new urban culture groups and trends, in order to deal with the “new” reality.
In order to understand why America is today how it is, is really important to actually understand what happenned during The Sixties. On the one hand, it is importantto understand how politics changed, because is the only way to understand how the United States politically works nowadays. On the other hand, the social movements and revolution that took place on those years gave America an image of Humanity, freedom and revolution that still remains on our days (even if we may perceive it as false and utopic sometimes, we love to think it was beautiful and whatis more important: real).
In the following paper by developing the American 1960s and part of the 1970s (politically and socially speaking) through the analysis of Across the Universe I will state the key facts that led to the America of Revolution to see if the ideals that were born then really made a difference and are still alive in some aspects of the American society. To do so, the paperis divided into three main parts (excluding the introduction and the conclusion) which briefly examine the Vietnam war, the counterculture originated and the fight for the civil rights. Each part is composed of other subsections that closely analyze given aspects of their correspondant main part and also are related to one or more songs in the movie (since it is a musical movie). All the songsare by The Beatles , which gives the film something special and unique and as has been defined by the creators themselves ”within the lyrics of the world’s most famous songs, lives a story that has never been told… until now”. For a better understanding of the events and how they take place I will briefly summarize what the story is about.
The story of the movie is based on two lovers (Jude andLucy). Jude, from Liverpool, movess to the States looking for a different/better life and his dad. There he runs into Max by chance and they soon become friends. Lucy is Max’s sister. They all end up living in New York with other people (that arrive there from different places and complicated situations) where they are swept into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements. Through whathappens to them we are told a part of American History, a rough period, The Sixties.

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When troops where being sent to Vietnam (when the war caught fire around 1965) many of the soldiers sent to the killing fields were volunteer, but also a lot were people who were simply drafted. This is the case of Max in the movie. He is a young guy who has just left college to go live in New York since his...