In Yellow Submarine, Young Fred starts out in his ordinary world of Pepperland.
There is the call to adventure in the attack on Pepperland.
The refusal of the call when Young Fred objects to the Lord Mayor's assignment to captain the submarine. ("I can't even make me soap float.")
There is the meeting of the mentor in the form of Ringo and the other Beatles (who become the Heroes after they return to Pepperland).
They cross the threshold by leaving Liverpool and diving into the Thames at the London Bridge.
They face a series of tests, allies, and enemies in the various Seas of Illusion.
They approach the inmost cave, in this case, a Nowhere Land of Nothingness.
They face a huge ordeal in the battle with the Blue Meanies.
They experience a transformation when they turn into Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Ringo Starr: Pre-production concept drawing by Heinz Edelmann
(Image by Dr. Robert R. Hieronimus, Ph.D. & Laura E. Cortner) Details DMCA
RH: And my favorite part: There is an atonement when they invite the defeated Blue Meanies to join them. This is so important! They don't kill any of them. They invite them to be friends.
The Chief Blue Meanie is transformed into the Bluebird of Happiness with the magical spell of the Nowhere Man and the power of "YES."
And in the end, the Beatles return with gifts (the hole, the motor, and a little love). John Lennon's warning of newer and Bluer Meanies right here in our own real world represents a cyclic mythological return. And so the story goes ever on.
MAB: Thank you, that's fascinating! Can you share with us what aspects of the symbolism and archetypes in the Yellow Submarine might have application to us today?
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