A new book by Michael R. Frontani, Associate Professor in the School of Communications, examines the transformation of the Beatles from teen idols to leaders of the youth movement of the 1960s.
“The Beatles: Image and the Media” is a cultural history of the evolving image of the band in the United States in the 1960s, and explores how the Beatles’ evolving media image related to cultural and historical forces. Applying a critical theory and cultural studies perspective, the book describes the transformation from that of safe teen heartthrobs to one that had absorbed the fashion and consciousness of the burgeoning counterculture. By the end of the decade, the Beatles were using their interviews, media events, and music to comment on issues such as the Vietnam War, drug culture, and civil rights. Despite this transformation, the band’s image never strayed from its essential mantra of optimism.
Critical theorist Douglas Kellner, George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, calls the book “the best study to date of the Beatles’ reception in the United States, the creation and circulation of their media images as a young British rock sensation, and debates over their popularity and influence.”
Frontani’s book is published by the University Press of Mississippi.