There is a reason that The Beatles‘ music doesn’t appear in film and television as often as it should: the price. To feature a Beatles track in a production reportedly costs hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, whereas any other popular track costs significantly less. That being the case, when directors and showrunners use a Beatles song, they are seemingly vital to the scene. On these three instances, we wholeheartedly agree with the decision to spend the pretty penny, because The Beatles’ music just made the scenes in question objectively better.
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“Tomorrow Never Knows” & ‘Mad Men’
If you watched Jon Hamm’s Mad Men all the way through, then you know just how perfect this song’s placement is. Appearing in season five, episode eight of Mad Men, the song and Don Draper’s(Jon Hamm) reaction to it articulate a deep subtextual shift occurring in the show, but we won’t spoil what that is, just in case you decide to watch.
The use of “Tomorrow Never Knows” was an enormous milestone for music licensing in TV, as the show was one of the first shows to use a Beatles track, and they allegedly spent $250,000 in licensing fees. Again, we don’t want to spoil anything for you, so if you want to see why we chose this, then you’re just going to have to watch five seasons of the show to find out.
“Baby, You’re A Rich Man” & ‘The Social Network’
One of the greatest movies of the 21st century is David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s 2010 drama, The Social Network. If the film didn’t use The Beatles’ 1967 track, it still would have been phenomenal. However, the use of this single in the film is equivalent to placing a nicely tied bow on an already exceptionally wrapped present.
We don’t want to spoil anything, but what we will say is that this selection clearly defines the bitter-sweet arc of Mark Zuckerberg that is depicted in the film. It’s a completion of the subtextual plot line, and ultimately poses the question: You got what you want, are you happy?
“All You Need Is Love” & ‘Love Actually’
While it is a cover of The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”, the film Love Actually still perfectly utilizes the iconic single. A perfect way that reminds one of the power of love, the joy of love, the rarity of love, the pain of love, and just love, love, love in totality.
That is certainly not a very intellectually in-depth take on the matter, but the use is not that of an intellectual one; it’s that of an emotional one. If you’ve seen the movie and know what scene we’re referring to, then you get our perspective, as the collaboration evokes a joyful optimism that goes beyond words.
Photo by Chris Burnett/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
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