ABSTRACT
My chapter recounts a decade-long narrative involving an evolving, multidisciplinary Beatles course in English that draws from Literary Studies, Communication, Gender Studies, and Philosophy, among others. The class employs bi-weekly film screenings accompanied by assigned readings consisting of memoir, criticism (across a range of disciplines), poetry, and occasional song lyrics to explore a group of Beatles-related myths, some of which emerged during the band’s brief recording career, and others which arrived in the decades since the group’s break-up in 1970. Such myths derive from the volatile Lennon family dynamics during John’s childhood, Hamburg-era struggles for artistic control of the band, and overly simplified explanations for the eruption of Beatlemania in 1963–1964. In the pages that follow, I have two goals: 1) to provide a representative sampling of the reading assignments, film screenings, and writing requirements at the heart of ‘Reading and Writing the Beatles’ Mythology on Film’; and 2) to discuss some of the consequences of adapting the course for approval in a revised general education curriculum that included a shift toward ‘student-centred’ learning.
