Cameron Lee- Beatlemanai; A Sexually Defiant Consumer Subculture
This article attempts to analyze every part of the Beatles' impact on the American culture and economics. Aside from that she tries to break down what state the sexuality of the young women were in who adored the Beatles so much. It would give rise to a possible explanation of why they were so crazed with the Beatles in the first place.
In the beginning we look at the actual impact the Beatles had on America during their tours. Although it started small in Europe, once it reached the U.S. there were hundreds and thousands of girls waiting to just yell at the Beatles. This as we know, lead to them being barred from tour in some cities and in the ones they were able to perform in, being drown out by their own fans. They were the first to have that happen. After that it abruptly changes to looking at the sexuality of the young American woman and their position in society. This finally leads into the mass consumer power now in the hands of those screaming girls and they used it as much as they could. We see that the actual spending power each girl possesses is much greater to that of consumers now days and the producers were taking advantage of this new revenue source. The last section leads to the explanation of why the Beatles were so popular in the first place and that the young girls needed an outlet for their unknown and unperceived sexual tendencies. This growth leads them to a life of domesticity and care.
The article at hand does not seem to argue as much for the sexuality of the young girls, but that they were lacking any at all or they had none to express. The fact they were so young leads to the simple idolization of the Beatles and that they were more of a symbol of a changing culture. This would be the precursor of the feminist movement a few years later. Comparing this article to the film we saw in class, it seemed to mirror exactly what happened, just in a different order. Since the masses of young women were treating their sexuality as a commodity, it really detracted from their learning of the proper way to express themselves. It would seem that the Beatles would lead the young women to a mass catching up of what they needed to know.