“The mind is a universe and can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

― John Milton

Notions of Heaven and Hell are often explored in Western films, particularly (and perhaps most obviously) through the Utopian and/or Dystopian genres.  The concept of a utopia is often interchangeable with the general notions of heaven; conversely, the concept of a dystopia is also often interchangeable with the general notions of hell. A utopia is an imagined version of society that exemplifies the ideal - “imagined ideal” being the key phrase in this definition as the ideal represents what is perfect or most desirable, but unachievable or unrealistic. While a utopia may look (slightly) different in the eyes of each individual, imagined utopias in literature and film tend to come from one of three grounds: speculation, practicality, or satire (“Utopia”).  On the other hand, a dystopia exists as the polar opposite of a utopia, or an imagined version of society that exemplifies what is most flawed and undesirable (“Dystopia”). Given the lack of realism in utopian and dystopian concepts, these films often take the form of science fiction or fantasy narratives. Though most science fiction/fantasy narratives may direct focus to only one of the two concepts or to the strict dichotomy between the two, some films stray into a realm that blurs the line between utopia and dystopia. The film Yesterday (2019) utilizes pop songs to question this dichotomy between utopia and dystopia, or heaven and hell, by exploring points of intersection between the heavenly and the hellish.

The film follows protagonist Jack Malik, an English man in his late 20s of South Asian descent who aspires to be a musician. Jack lives with his parents in his childhood home in Suffolk, England and works at the local discount-store after giving up his full-time job as a schoolteacher in order to pursue his dream of singing and songwriting. After years of persistence with less than commendable success, however, Jack is nearly ready to give up on his dream when suddenly he gets hit by a bus while riding his bike home from another unsuccessful gig. Jack wakes up in the hospital to a seemingly normal life, until he realizes that he has woken up in a world without his favorite band, the Beatles.  Armed with all the Beatlemania knowledge he can remember, however, Jack soon finds himself on a path to success. The juxtaposition between Jack waking up in an alternate reality where a lot of things that were once grounded in normalcy no longer exist and Jack eventually finally finding massive success in a musical career places him in a state of confusion - Is he in hell or is he in heaven? Has he landed in a utopia or a dystopia? While Jack’s perception of this alternate reality may sway between hell and heaven from time to time, there is a case to be made for the idea that the pop songs used in Yesterday actually function to establish a musical dystopia with the potential for a utopian outcome (as opposed to the inverse statement found in the prompt).  It is the subtlety of the way in which the pop songs are woven into the sound design and larger narrative, however, that help to establish this utopia/dystopia dynamic within the storyline.

 Though it may seem as if music, especially non-diegetic music, is the most unrealistic, or ‘non-realist’, component of most films, in the case of the film Yesterday, the music is actually the most important film technique used (Finch 83). The reason for this is that the pop music in Yesterday embodies the theory of emotional reality, or the idea that “music can convey and clarify the emotional significance of a scene, and the true, ‘real’ feelings” Jack (Frith 83). The pop music, especially the music by The Beatles, sung by Jack speaks for him and reveals emotional truths about his character. The biggest example of a pop song functioning under the notion of emotional reality is the song “Yesterday”, which actually foreshadows the trajectory of emotions that Jack will encounter and grapple with until the resolution of the film.  The fact that the title of this song also functions as the title of the movie already suggests its importance, but what we can interpret from the song that Jack sings is:

Yesterday

all [his] troubles seemed so far away

now it looks as though they’re here to stay

Suddenly [he’s] not half the man [he] used to be

there’s a shadow hanging over [him]

Oh, yesterday came suddenly

Yesterday

Love was such an easy game to play

Now [he] need[s] a place to hide away

Oh, [he] believe[s] in yesterday

Why she had to go, [he doesn’t] know, she wouldn’t say

[He] said something wrong, now [he] long[s] for yesterday

Yesterday

Love was such an easy game to play

Now [he] need[s] a place to hide away

Oh, [he] believe[s] in yesterday

This song speaks of one man’s sadness, sorrow, distress, and regret; within the context of this film, that one man is Jack. Jack feels sadness because he is “here to stay” in an alternate reality that he didn’t choose and one that he does not know how to escape from. He feels sorrow because “he said something wrong” and messed up his chances with Ellie, the love of his life.  He feels distressed as if there’s a “shadow hanging over” him because he feels as if his success in this alternate reality is based on a lie (which in many ways it is).  He feels regret for how he is leading his life in this alternate reality, and at his lowest point only “believes in [the] yesterday” of his previous reality. 

The truth that music can reveal under the notion emotional reality is “a different sort of reality than that described by visual images… as it signals what is underneath a film’s observable gestures” (Frith 83-84).  As much as the film could have attempted to convey Jack’s emotions via the images on screen - most likely via mise-en-scene and acting - this song is able to relay that emotional information to the audience in a way that the image never could because this song has an existing connection with the audience that the image never will. Everyone can relate to feelings of confusion about where one stands in the present while yearning for a better time from the past, but to be able to relate to those themes through an established and comfortable medium like a famous song is incomparable. Thus, one could say that the utilization of pop songs, especially widely known and beloved songs, under the notion of emotional reality functions as a very subtle yet effective action meant to establish a deeper emotional connection with the audience - something that the image could not do. 

In addition to functioning under the notion of emotional reality, the song “Yesterday” functions as a potential counterargument to the idea that the pop songs in the film function to establish a kind of musical utopia with the potential for a dystopian outcome.  Jack’s initial realization that he may be in an alternate reality immediately places Jack in a potentially dystopian state - his own personal hell - as he is the only one who seems to remember who The Beatles are. Similar to how The Graduate combined rock and roll and film proper, Yesterday combines pop music and film by allowing “diegetic sounds to overlap a recording, interfering with the audience’s perception of the song” (Knobloch 62). As he spirals into a rabbit hole of google searches on the internet, a comically hellish non-diegetic score plays in the background periodically overlapping with Jack’s diegetic expressions of exasperation and disbelief. If Jack’s initial experience with this alternate reality is hellish, or flawed, and if Jack’s emotional journey function as a reflection of the larger mood of the world around him, then it may appropriate to argue that the pop songs in the film function to establish a musical dystopia of Jack’s own making. Furthermore, if the song “Yesterday” foreshadows Jack’s emotional journey until the resolution of the film, then it may not be so far-fetched then to suggest that the massive lie that Jack was hiding behind in terms of passing the music of The Beatles as his own is the source of the dystopian hell that Jack is living through.  It is only once Jack decides to share his truth with the world and release all The Beatles music for free that he is able to find happiness in his own identity as an artist and as an individual. The use of Ed Sheeran’s song, “One Life”, as non-diegetic music while Jack gets his happy ending, functions to solidify this idea of release from his lies and interdependence on the music of the Beatles to feel successful in life. 

Yesterday shows that, ultimately, the utopia/dystopia dynamic is a matter of choice as much as it is a matter of circumstances. The pop music in this film, particularly the songs of The Beatles, function to establish this choice as a musical dystopia of Jack’s own making with the potential for utopian outcome. Though circumstances beyond his control led Jack this alternate reality, it was his own choices that led to the cataclysmic dystopia that made him feel as if “Now [he] need[s] a place to hide away… [because he] believe[s] in yesterday.”  However, it was also Jack’s choice to break away from the hellish circumstances and create a heavenly space (or a space that he felt free) amongst the chaos. 

Bibliography

“Dystopia.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/literature-english/english-literature-20th-cent-present/dystopia.

Frith, Simon. “Mood Music: An Inquiry into Narrative Film Music.” Screen: Incorporating Screen Education, vol. 25, no. 3, June 1984, pp. 78–88, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/25.3.78

Knobloch, Susan. “THE GRADUATE AS ROCK’N’ROLL FILM.” Spectator (Los Angeles, Calif.), vol. 17, no. 2, University of Southern California, Division of Critical Studies, Spectator, Apr. 1997, p. 61–73.

Yesterday, Directed by Danny Boyle, performances by Himesh Patel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran, Kate McKinnon, Joel Fry, Sophia Di Martino, Harry Michell, Sanjeev Bhaskar, and Meera Syal, Universal Pictures, 2019. 

“Utopia.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/utopia/Satirical-and-dystopian-works.