ABSTRACT
The summative conclusion, showing how The Beatles and their films re-present the development of British youth culture throughout the 1960s, begins with an exploration of their final film, Let It Be (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970), its record of the group’s bitter dissolution reflecting the fragmentation of pop/youth culture at the end of the decade. The film culminates in one last meaningful live performance, a link back to the group’s film origins in A Hard Day’s Night. With this volume’s focus on ‘The Beatles growing up’, several factors – including fanbase pressure – contributed to their fractious demise, but one can be highlighted here: best friends being split up by marriage (confirmed adulthood) – notably by Yoko Ono and Lennon’s marriage. A brief survey of later solo Beatles’ projects shows further mining of their origins, in what can be seen a move to an alternative or ‘youth heritage’.
