As for its surface structure – I think that with the ‘Yellow Submarine’ we are seeing the essence of how the Monty Python team presented their ideas to the world! As Monty Python sketches are available all over the internet and streaming services – most people are better acquainted with this form of communication than they are with that seen in the ‘Yellow Submarine’! This tends to give the inverted notion that the Monty Python methodology came before the ‘Yellow Submarine’ – but we all know that this is not true! Just a quick perusal will demonstrate to the average viewer that Terry Gillian must have been inspired and motivated by The Beatles output and philosophical intent (which seems ‘Anarchic’ at this point and definitely ‘Existential’). The working-class norms that all four Beatles were brought up within are there – but so is the ‘freedom’ from this conditioning – and that’s all the ‘Yellow Submarine’ represents! The problem was the difficulty of psychologically conveying this ‘freedom’ whilst still being physically ‘stuck’ in exactly the material conditions assumed to have been thrown-off due to some type of superior insight! This is the ‘idealism’ of The Beatles! It was their millions of pounds which gave them an enhanced sense of ‘choice’ whilst living within a capitalist society. Immense wealth and success constituted the foundry within which the superstructure of the ‘Yellow Submarine’ was hammered out – whilst the imbibing of LSD was the bottle of Champaign (or non-descript ‘infrastructure’) that was smashed against its side – and which launched it into the stream of human consciousness! Do with it as you will.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 