The British have invaded The Athena Cinema.
The Athena, 20 S. Court St., is showing a new documentary about The Beatles titled The Beatles: Eight Days a Week. The film is directed by Ron Howard who is known for A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13.
Alexandra Kamody, the director of the Athena, said the film was first released on Hulu — a video streaming website — but the theatrical version has special footage that viewers cannot see anywhere else.
“The theatrical version has an in-theater exclusive 30 minute performance that’s not available on Hulu,” Kamody said.
The performance, Kamody said, is of The Beatles at Shea Stadium, located in New York. The vocals have been remastered and cleaned up so patrons can hear the track better.
“This is supposed to be the closest you can get to hearing The Beatles live,” Kamody said. “We can offer people an experience they can’t get anywhere else.”
Kamody added the documentary to the Athena’s programming because it attracts both local residents and students.
The legacy of The Beatles is not confined to the Athena, though. The British rock band’s songs and presence have left a lasting effect on music and culture.
The Beatles made their American debut on February 9, 1964. The band sang on The Ed Sullivan Show, which reached 73 million television viewers.
The arrival of The Beatles came at a time when the U.S. needed a boost in morale, Joseph Brown, an adjunct professor who teaches the history of rock music, said. The band performed on the show about three months after the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.
“We kind of needed something to take our minds off of all that stuff,” Brown said. “So here The Beatles (music) just show(s) up in January of 1964, perfect timing.”
After The Beatles made their first appearance in the U.S., “Beatlemania” took off.
“Beatlemania was such a phenomenon,” Brown said. “It was the 1960s version of Elvis Presley.”
The Beatles mixed different genres together to create their signature sound, blending Motown, blues and country, Brown said.
“They kind of made rock-n-roll, in my view, … more global music by taking all of these different styles and melding them into one,” he said.
People can find remnants of The Beatles’ sound in the style of music by Beck, who won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2015, Brown said.
“You can point to pretty much any artist and rewind back and eventually get to the Beatles,” Brown said. “There’s a little bit of The Beatles all over popular music.”
Music from The Beatles “says something to your soul,” Brown said.
“(Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison) all wrote great melodies, great tunes,” Brown said. “I think they’re just timeless.”
The Beatles were not just known for their melodious anthems — they were active in shaping culture. They challenged social and political norms, Chester Pach, an associate professor of history who teaches history of the 60s, said.
“What I think The Beatles were really good at doing … was beginning to question adult authority or the way (people) do things, but doing it in this friendly way that didn’t turn people off,” Pach said.
The Beatles did not sit idle during the Vietnam War, Pach said. Instead, they used the war as inspiration for their songwriting.
“They are very much involved in 60s movements about defining or redefining lifestyles, about redefining social conventions, challenging authority and taking stance on political and social issues,” Pach said. “In that sense they are almost revolutionary.”
From what Pach said he has observed, The Beatles were a joyous band and there is “something truly engaging about their music.”
“There were all sorts of reasons why (people) wanted to enter The Beatles’ world,” Pach said. “And anybody who finds out about it is probably happy there.”
