Name: ______________________________________________ Group_______

Across the Universe

Workshop
Pre-watching
1. Read the following information about the 60s. What else do you know about the things that happened during this
decade?
The Vietnam War
 It was a military conflict that occurred in Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975.
 The war was fought between the communist North
Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the
government of South Vietnam, supported by the
United States and other nations.
 The United States entered the war to prevent a
communist takeover of South Vietnam.
 U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s and
combat units entered the country in 1965.
The Beatles
 A rock band formed in 1960.
 They became the most commercially successful and
critically acclaimed act in the history of music.
 Their lyrics are filled with artistic sensitivity, love
messages and youthful sensuality.
Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll …and drugs
 The abuse of drugs was one of the main concerns of
life at that time.
 The most popular of the recreational drugs was
marijuana. Though used by some as a culinary
surprise, marijuana was ingested by most in the form
of smoke.
The hippie subculture
 It was a youth movement that began in the United
States during the early 1960sand spread around the
world.
 These people created their own communities, listened
to psychedelic rock ,embraced the sexual revolution,
and used drugs to explore alternative states of
consciousness-

2. Listen to your teacher reading the following passage and fill in the blanks using the verbs in the box.

decided met was affected called(x2)

fell went were

'Across the Universe' is a musical set in the 60s in which 34 songs by The Beatles _____ featured. The story is about a
young man ______ Jude who _______ to America to look for his father. There he ______ a girl _______ Lucy, who
_________ to go to New York after her boyfriend ______ killed in the Vietnam war.

Jude and Lucy _____ in love while living with several bohemian artists and activists in N.Y.C. and protesting against the
many social and political problems that _______ the country during this decade.
While watching

As mentioned before, many songs by The Beatles were used to portray the situations recreated in the movie.
You will watch some scenes and then answer some questions based on them.

2.1 In this scene Max, Lucy's brother, is draft to the Vietnam War. Watch it and answer the following questions.
 In the scene, the song I Want You reflects:
___ a). The Army´s desire to recruit as many people as possible.
___ b). Loving a person and not being loved back.
___ c). Max's desire to join the Army and fight for his country.
___ d). Lucy's feelings towards Jude.

 What do you think the soldiers referred to when they sang She's so Heavy?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.

2.2 In this scene, Jude listens to the news saying that more American troops have been recruited to go to Vietnam
and many Americans died there. Watch it and pay attention to the song. Answer the following questions.

 What did the name of the song (Strawberry Fields Forever) symbolize in this scene?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
 We can relate the verse "...living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding what you see..." with which of
the following statement:
___ a). Max didn't know what he was getting into when he went to the Vietnam War.
___ b). It was easy for Jude to live in the U.S. because he didn't live the difficulties soldiers in Vietnam were
going through.
___ c). Many people in the U.S. ignored the true reasons why they had troops in Vietnam.
___ d). News reporters didn't know how the situation in Vietnam was.

After watching

Now that we saw how the lyrics of these songs could be related to historical events, you are going to choose any song
you want and relate its lyrics to a historical event of your choice. You will write a paragraph (80-100 words) in which
you show the relation between the two during class on Friday.