Nothings gonna change my world

Myrella Raissa Focus On Fisk Final 2012.2 Teacher: Tnia Caldas

I.

Introduction
The movie Across The Universe was released in 2007 and directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It tells the history of six main characters: Jude, a young man who travelled illegally from England to the United States to search for his father; Lucy, a traditional girl from the United States who lost her boyfriend in Vietnam War; Max, Lucys brother and the typical rebel man; Sadie, a forty singer woman; Jojo, a guitar player whose younger brother was killed during a race riot; and Prudence, a bisexual teenage girl from Ohio. During the movie, the life of these six characters is interlaced; creating a story that has as background the dockyards of Liverpool, the war in Vietnam, Detroit City, Princeton University in New Jersey, and the rock and roll scene of New York. The anti-war movements, social protest, love and death and as soundtrack songs of the group The Beatles, which was successful formed at the same time as the others events of this story: the 60s, are used to show how was the life in this decade. Its a very important movie because represents an important age in the world history that was the 60s. A lot of important events happened at this time and changed forever the way people used to see life. How they represent it in the movie, a mix of all these important events where each character represents one and interlace with the other characters and consequently other events, in a musical movie, transforming it in an entertaining and educational movie. I am going to divide this project in five main points. First, I will write the begin of the movie, how the story of each character starts. Then I will write about the Vietnam War and the Hippie movement; in the forth point I will write the end of the movie, with the final considerations about the events and in the fifth I will write about the band The Beatles and their influence in the movie. Finally there will be the conclusion.

II.

Characters
a) Jude Feeny (Jim Sturgess): The movie begins with a separation of class between rich and poor. Jude represents the poor part. Working on ships in Liverpool and living with his mother, Martha, he decides to travel to America to search for his father, Wes Huber, leaving his girlfriend Molly. Their last party together before Jude leaves is in a poorly lit room, which looks like a basement with men wearing dark clothes and nobody matching colors and theres a rock band playing. Jude has a sarcastic personality. He is also friendly, but quiet, polite and pleasant. He believes that its gonna be alright. b) Lucy Carrigan (Evan Rachel Wood): Lucy represents the rich part of the movie. She is a high school student whose boyfriend, Daniel, was convened to fight in the Vietnam War. They celebrate their last party together before he goes to the war in bright golden scenery with choreographed dances wearing matching clothes like white jackets and white dresses. He ends up dying in the war. Lucy is a very strong, smart and independent young woman what is established early in the movie when she tells her friend she will never have children because its pure narcissism. c) Max (Joe Anderson): Max is Lucys brother, a student of Princeton University who dropped two courses and doesnt take school very seriously. He is very loud, outgoing and friendly. He is also very caring with his friends and family. Max is who ends with the division of classes in the movie when he meets Jude that helped him when he was escaping from a group of brothers. They first met when Jude was looking for his father at the University. They became friends and Max invited Jude for Thanksgiving with his family and thats when Jude meets Lucy. Parallel with these stories there are more three characters that are not involved yet: d) Prudence (T.V. Carpio): Prudence was a high school cheerleader in Ohio who had a crush on other female cheerleaders. She begins in the movie singing I Want To Hold Your Hand showing her feelings for that woman. She decides to leave her city and travels to New York.

e) Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy): He is a guitar player whose young brother died during a race riot and he decides to move to New York. He reflects Jimi Hendrix and has a strong personality. f) Sadie (Dana Fuchs): She is a singer living in New York and rents out her apartment. She is like a diva, sexy and very caring forty-year old woman.

In the Thanksgiving at Maxs family house he announces to his family that he decided to drop out his college and is moving to New York with Jude. Theres a little fight between his uncle and him where his uncle questions what he is doing with his future. On the following day, they move to Sadies apartment with Max paying the rent. They are all living in Sadies apartment when Prudence, who was living across the street from the apartment, was abused by her boyfriend and climbed in through the bathroom window from Sadies apartment in the rain. Jude gave her a tower and Sadie accepts Prudence in her apartment. Lucy decides to come up with them in NY to ride out the death of her boyfriend a few days later and fell in love with Jude. Sadie used to sing in a bar in very alternative part of New York and her roommates used to come to see her singing. She needed a guitar player and Jojo auditioned to play in her band. He got the job and grew closer to Sadie starting a relationship and becoming one more person in her apartment.

III. Vietnam War

Indochina, first colonized by France, was occupied by Japan during the Second War. The popular resistance against Japan turned into a fight for national emancipation after the end of the War. With the pressure of the guerillas, the French were forced to get out of the country. The Geneva Conference divided the Vietnam in North Vietnam (communist) and South Vietnam (capitalist) until the elections, but in the last one was organized a strong popular movement (Vietcong) fighting for unification of the country. When the United States didnt allow the elections, the operation of the guerrillas increased and the USA started a military intervention, starting the Vietnam War. The first reference to the war in the movie is when Lucys boyfriend is convened. He was one of the first, so in the movie it shows up as a proud for him. But when she receives the news of his death and in his burial the movie shows that is not a proud anymore and reveals the dissatisfaction of the population. The whole movie has scenes as background how the population of the United States was during the war. One day Lucy receives a letter calling her brother to the war. When she gives the letter to him,

theyre all in a restaurant and everyone starts to suggest ways of avoid going to the war that was famous among the young men then. But he realizes there are none and in the scene that he shows up to the military office was one of most striking scenes with strong impact in whom else is watching. He is tested and accepted to go. Lucy is worried about him, but Jude stays to assure she will be ok. There is a scene where Max and other soldiers are holding the Statue of Liberty and singing I Want You (Shes So Heavy) which represents exactly what the war was for the population of the United States. While Max is in the war, Lucy and Jude moved out for a house that is covering by Judes draws of Lucy and others stuff and Lucy starts to work with a man, Paco, who leads one of the thousands anti-war groups in the USA. The movie shows in these part scenes of protests antiwar with thousands of people in the streets and speeches of liberty. Lucy became more and more involved with her voluntary work and it cause troubles in her relationship with Jude who believes that Paco is trying to seduce her and thinks she is spending so much time at her work. For Lucy, he doesnt understand how important is combat that war that is killing numberless people. Max fights in the war until he is completely hurt, is back in America and hospitalized showing in the movie a scene of total delirious.

IV. Hippie Movement

The hippie movement started in the United States and was a part of the counterculture during the early 60s. It was directly related with the Vietnam War. Even though there were others groups protesting against the war, many of the protesters were associated with aspects of the hippie movement in the popular view; they are highly active in the protests traveling across the country. Its a main point of the movie with the majority of the scenes representing it, with psychedelics images and people dressed as hippies. Dr Robert (Bono), which I believe is a reference to Ken Kesey, a member of the group Merry Franksters, considered one of the most prominent figures in the hippie movement, is the representative in this part of the movie of the movement. He appears as an influent acid guru in a launch party of his book where Sadie, Jojo, Jude, Max and Lucy are and invited everyone in the party to travel in his psychedelic painted bus as Kesey made. This party is a reference to the moviee Magical Mystery Tour of The Beatles too and also it is related with Kesey. The characters embark with the Dr Robert on his Beyond bus in a delirious travel through a rainbow-colored countryside. The delirious thing is caused by LSD, also a

reference of Kesey and others representatives like Timothy Leary, represented in the movie as Dr. Geary, a psychonaut who doesnt receive Dr. Robert even though they have been exchanging letters. The six characters abandon the bus and find a strange circus led by Mr. Kite who presents a psychedelic spectacle Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite. Its also a very delirious scene of the movie with blue people, dance and giants. This scene happens before Max goes to war and after Prudence left Sadies apartment because she had a crush on Sadie. Thats when they meet Prudence again and at the end of the scene they are all laying in circle in the land. When they are back in New York Sadie agrees with her manager to drop her band which causes the end of her relationship with Jojo. Lucy and Jude broke up after all the discussions, but when the police start to arrested the protesters, he tries to help her and end up arrested and being illegally In the USA he is deported to England returning to his old job. Lucy finally realizes the hypocrisy behind the movement of Paco discovering he was organizing an attack with homemade bombs leaving the movement. One of these bombs exploded killing Paco and his lads. Jude, in England, thinks Lucy died, but Max says to him that she is alive. The last scene is a rooftop concert of Sadies band with Jojo , who has reconciled with her, and Prudence in the band where Jude is back in the USA legally to do a surprise for Lucy with a help of Max. This scene is also another reference to The Beatles when theyre stopped by police while playing a rooftop concert while filming Let It Be. The movie also points out quickly other events of the 60s like the murder of Martin Luther King and the president of the USA John Kennedy.

V.

The Beatles
The whole movie was inspired by the band The Beatles. The band was formed in 1960 in Liverpool and became famous worldwide. Each character and scene was inspired by some song or event related to the band. Lucy was inspired by Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Jude by Hey Jude, Max by Maxwells Silver Hammer, Sadie by Sexy Sadie, Jojo by Get Back and Prudence by Dear Prudence. The movie would be described only by the 34 songs of Beatles that composes the soundtrack. Girl tells the story of Jude in the begging of the movie, Helter Skelter starts the story of Sadie, and Hold Me Tight

represents the last party with Lucy and Mollys boyfriends, All My Loving represents what Jude have to say for Molly before leaves. I Want To Hold Your Hand is sung by Prudence while she thinks about her crush on the cheerleader, With a Little Help from My Friends represents the friendship between Max and Jude, It wont Be Long is sang by Lucy while she waits for her boyfriend to come back from the war, Ive Just Seen a Face is sung by Jude when he first saw Lucy. Let It Be represents the death of Jojos brother, Come Together and Why Dont We Do it in the Road represents Sadies life, If I Fell is sung by Lucy when she was thinking about falling in love with Jude, I Want You (Shes so Heavy) represents Max convened to Vietnam War, Dear Prudence is sung by Sadie, Jude, Lucy and Max when Prudence locked herself in the room because she was sad for not being matched by Sadie. I Am the Walrus, a song without meaning represents lunacy of Dr. Robert, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite is playing in the spectacle of Mr. Kite, Because is sung while theyre all laying down in a circle after the spectacle, Something is played to represent the love between Jude and Lucy and Oh! Darling to represent the love between Sadie and Jojo. Strawberry Fields Forever is played to represent Max in the war and the Judes art when he discussed with Lucy, While My Guitar Gently Weeps is played to represent the broke up of Sadie and Jojo and the discussion between Lucy and Jude. Across The Universe/Helter Skelter is played when Lucy and Jude were arrested and Jude is reported while is showed Max fighting, Happines is a Warm Gun represents the return of Max from the war, A Day in the Life/BlackBird is played when Max is in the hospital and Lucy discover what is behind Pacos movement, Hey Jude is like a letter to Jude from Max. Dont Let Me Down and All You Need Is Love are played by Sadies band in the rooftop concert when Jude and Lucy met again and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is played at the end of the movie. The place where the scene of the last party of Jude and Molly was recorded is the place where The Beatles used to play in the 60s. The studio owned by The Beatles, Apple Records, is referenced in the movie when Jude tried to draw a green apple, sliced it in half forming the two logos of the company. Jojo is a reference to Jimi Hendrix and Sadie a reference to Janis Joplin. These are only a few references that is could be finding in the movie.

VI. Conclusion
To sum up, this is a well produced movie with very impactful scenes and a really good story. The meaning behind the lyrics of all the songs, the actors chosen to represent these characters and how they put everything so emotional make this one of my favorite movies. Its a movie about politics, society but primarily about love, music and love of music. Its my favorite movie because awakens in me the feeling Epiphany (enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective). It represents a decade of total revolution and freedom and it kinda represents my perspective of life, the way they say to us that all we need is love. I cant even remember if I my thoughts were the way they are today before watch this movie and its like Im in a relationship with the relationship of Jude and Lucy. Also the soundtrack makes the movie brighten even more, I cant say that Beatles is my favorite band, but I love the songs in the movie and the deep meaning behind the lyrics. I love Across The Universe because there isnt one time that I watched it and my heart didnt beat faster. And I had chosen it to present because I wanted to tell to more than one person the benefits of to see this movie and because to talk about it is to talk about what I am and what I think about life.

VII. Reference
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445922/trivia http://acrossuniversemovie.wikia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Across_the_Universe_(film)#Musical_numbers http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hippie_movement#Ken_Kesey_and_t he_Merry_Pranksters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hippie_movement#Anti-war_protests Histria Geral e do Brasil - Vol. nico. Dorigo, Gianpaolo; Vicentino, Claudio / SCIPIONE