History Main / AcrossTheUniverse

* ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse'', a film directed by Julie Taymor

* ''Literature/AcrossTheUniverse'', a series of science-fiction books by Beth Revis

'''''Across the Universe''''' can refer to:

''Across the Universe'' is the title of at least two works with pages on the wiki:

Naturally, it is also the title of Music/TheBeatles song that named both of these.

Naturally, it is also the title of the {{Beatles}} song that named both of these.

[[quoteright:235:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acubeatlesposter.jpg]]
[[quoteright:235: Lucy and Jude. The strawberry heart is his idea.]]

->''All you need is love, love''
->''Love is all you need''

2007 JukeboxMusical film featuring songs written by TheBeatles. It was directed by Julie Taymor.

It stars Jim Sturgess as (Hey) Jude and Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy (In The Sky With Diamonds), whose romance is the central plot that unfolds over the backdrop of TheSixties.

Jude Feeney is an [[{{Expy}} aimless young man from Liverpool]] who heads to America in hopes of finding his absent father, who knew his mother in WWII but had never been told that Jude was born. When the man proves to be something of a disappointment, he falls in with Ivy League frat boy Max (...well's Silver Hammer, not sung in the film) Carrigan. (Max helped him find his dad; Jude helped Max escape campus authorities; it went on from there.) The two move to New York with Max's sister Lucy. Jude finds himself falling for Lucy, and everyone falls for the hippie scene present there. But the real world intrudes as the Vietnam War wages on, and the political involvement (willing and otherwise) of various members of Jude's TrueCompanions becomes more and more perilous. It threatens to pull Jude and Lucy apart -- she's involved, and he doesn't approve of that part of the movement she's in...

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!!''Across The Universe'' contains examples of:

* AliceAllusion: After the gang gets ditched by Doctor Robert, en route to Mr. Kite's circus.
-->'''Jude:''' Where are you taking me?
-->'''Lucy:''' Down the rabbit-hole!
* ArtisticStimulation
* TheBeatles
* BetaCouple: Averted with Sadie and Jojo, who get together fairly easily, but run into relationship troubles later one.
* BigApplesauce
* TheCameo: In order: Joe Cocker as a hobo, a pimp, and an aging hippy singing Come Together, Bono as a wacky Ken Kesey {{Expy}} singing I Am the Walrus (and [[LargeHam ACTING]]), EddieIzzard as Mr. Kite, and SalmaHayek times 6 as a [[HelloNurse sexy nurse.]] Except for Salma Hayek, all qualify as [[OneSceneWonder One Song Wonders]].
* ClosedDoorRapport: Prudence, who had a crush on Sadie, ends up locking herself in a closet after she realizes that Sadie and Jojo are now a couple. So the gang (minus Sadie and Jojo, incidentally, who have a thing they have to get to) sing "Dear Prudence" to try and convince her to [[StealthPun come out of the closet]], get out of her funk, and see the world for how wonderful it is.
* {{Conscription}}
* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning - The Beatles wrote "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as a straightforward love song. Here, it's a closet lesbian pining for her unrequited crush. It works.
** One particularly {{egregious}} example of this is "Girl"; though it only uses one verse, the orchestration and out-of-context lyrics changes the song from a lament about [[YokoOhNo a man whose girlfriend's presence is putting serious strain on his social life with his buddies]], to a simple ballad about a lost love.
** Another great example is "I Want You" A song about lust and how sexy (heavy) the subject is. In the film the song is set to Uncle Sam's pointing finger, "I Want You!" during Max's draft enlistment.
*** Followed by a new perspective on the line, "She's so.... HEAVY!"
*** Though it's played straight when it switches to Prudence's perspective.
* [[CoolCar Cool Bus]] - Especially if you're on hallucinogens.
* DeadLittleBrother - [=JoJo=] is the brother of the little boy from "Let It Be" killed during the riot.
* DeathNotification: For the mother of Lucy's boyfriend, right after Lucy [[TemptingFate sings about how they'll be together soon]].
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: It's Julie Taymor in top form. What else would you expect?
* DoingItForTheArt - The homage to The Beatles was more important than the plot, hence a few songs and sequences that technically didn't advance the story at all.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* ExecutiveMeddling - Attempted, but failed. The studio decided the original cut of the film was "[[ViewersAreMorons too artsy]]," and re-edited it to better suit mass audiences. However, Julie Taymor had enough clout to make sure she had ProtectionFromEditors in her contract; she therefore told the studio to go fuck themselves, made them release her cut without any alterations, and even went so far as to get the studio to destroy all copies of their re-edited version.
* FakeAmerican: Joe Anderson, Max's actor, is actually English.
** Also, Irish-man Bono plays the American Doctor Robert.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: With the song "A Little Help from My friends"
-->'''College buddies:''' Would you believe in a love at first sight?
-->'''Jude:''' ''[sarcastically]'' Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time.
-->...and then he sees Lucy.
* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Jude
** TheLancer: Max
** TheSmartGuy: Lucy
** TheBigGuy: Jojo
** TheChick: Prudence
** TeamMom: Sadie
* FridgeBrilliance - This troper didn't get why the lyrics of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" weren't changed for a female singer ("Oh, please, say to me, you'll let me be your ''man''"). But then, if she's singing the song to a girl who's not a lesbian, then being a member of the opposite sex would be more beneficial.
** Probably just a big coincidence, but, in the movie, Bono's character sings "I am the Walrus", the song "Glass Onion" (not sung in the movie) states that "the walrus was Paul", [[ActorAllusion Bono's real name is Paul]].
*** ^Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude.
* {{Gayngst}} --Prudence spends a while of time angsting about not being able to be with her crush of the moment, doesn't help that she has a habit of falling for straight women who are already in relationships.
** Of course, she's pretty justified in the angst, being a Vietnamese-American lesbian in the '60s. Not a good time to fall in love.
* GlamorousWartimeSinger - Sadie, particularly during "Helter Skelter," with the scene switching from the performance to Max fighting in Vietnam. It's easy to get chills when her fiery red hair fades into explosions from the battle.
* GospelRevivalNumber - the Gospel cover of "Let It Be" is one of the best covers in the film.
* HeterosexualLifePartners - Max and Jude, with a heaping handful of HoYay .
* HospitalHottie - The Bang, Bang, Shoot, Shoot Nurse played by Salma Hayek ([[UpToEleven times six]]).
* HoYay: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" might just be the most homoerotic scene in any movie ever. The army recruiters get awfully handsy while singing a song originally about sexual obsession and lust to a bunch of half-naked young men, as Prudence [[{{Gayngst}} gayngstfully]] sings about her own obsession with Sadie.
** TruthInTelevision: Ever go through medical inprocessing for joining the military? If only they had Beatles music playing during the process.
*** IllBeInMyBunk
** I've always considered that song more talking about the draft, and how the US is desperate for troops. The whole scene carrying the Statue of Liberty across the Vietnamese jungle during the 'she's so heavy' part is either really cool or WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic. Great song for the scene.
* IncomingHam: Bono gets an entire monologue that seems to be made up of this, including the beginning of ''[[MushroomSamba I Am The Walrus]]''.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone
* JukeboxMusical
* JumpScare: When Lucy is nearly shot.
* LaResistance: Lucy joins a group of anti-war activists following Max's conscription. [[spoiler: TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized.]]
* LargeHam: ''Bono'' as Doctor Robert.
-->"TIME...is not on our hands, people. Time is slippin' through 'em. We got to transcend the bullshit...and FAST!"
** Never knock the way another cat swings.
* MatchCut -- during "Strawberry Fields Forever," between the strawberries Jude is painting and throwing, and the bombs the US Army is dropping.
** Also during "Helter Skelter", which matches Sadie's wild red hair with explosions from a Vietnam battle.
* MushroomSamba- "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite," and "I Am The Walrus" are perfect examples of why you should never watch this movie on acid.
** Never mind those, "Strawberry Fields Forever" is insane.
* NippleAndDimed - Naked symbolic... art people? Though if you were genuinely titillated, one worries for you.
** Averted by Evan Rachel Wood. And there was much rejoicing.
* MeaningfulFuneral
* MeaningfulName - Every character with a name had it derived from a Beatle's song.
* {{Nakama}}
* OneSceneWonder - Bono as Dr. Robert, a Ken Kesey {{Expy}}.
** EddieIzzard as Mr. Kite.
* RapeAsComedy: When the gang is trying to help Max find a way to get out of his conscription, Prudence suggests "Tell them you're a pedophile, and you can't wait to molest all the little girls who look like me!"
* RooftopConcert - The film ends with one of these after all of the characters [[spoiler: (minus Lucy)]] reunite. [[spoiler: She shows up for a meaningful eyelock with Jude at the very end though.]]
* SayMyName
* ShoutOut - All over the place.
** Every single one of the main character's names are from a Beatles song.
** Jude, naturally, is a Liverpudlian with a thick Scouse accent.
** Sadie and [=JoJo=] are very obviously [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed fictitious counterparts]] to Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.
** Prudence coming in through the bathroom window.
** When Jude first sees Prudence: "Hello, Hello"
** Maxwell could have killed his granny with a hammer.
** Mr. Kite is accompanied by the [[YellowSubmarine "Blue People"]].
** The apple Jude tries to draw is basically the Apple Records logo.
** [[GreenDay The hand in the Strawberry Fields Forever sequence holding the strawberry grenade]]
** The tour bus, the one that looks kinda [[MagicalMysteryTour magical and mysterious]].
** The impromptu concert on the roof at the end of the film.
** An old man at the shipyard tells Jude he thought he'd never be working there "when I'm 64."
* TheSixties
* SpiritualSequel - To {{Hair}}. The movie version, at least. Just watch them both and tell me it's not true.
* StrollingThroughTheChaos - Prudence's first song.
* SurvivalMantra - The reprise of ''Revolution''.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong - It's a JukeboxMusical, after all.
* TitleDrop - Done twice, once in the song the movie gets it's title from, and once by Mr. Kite
-->"And tonight Mr. Kite is TOPPING THE BILL BABY! ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!"
* UncannyValley - Deliberately invoked. The soldiers in the "I Want You" sequence. Shiver.
* TheVietnamWar - Naturally, naturally.
* VillainSong: "I Want You" for the Army/Vietnam War!
* WaxingLyrical - There are multiple examples, all with Beatles songs, of course.
* WelcomeToTheBigCity - "Come Together" for Jojo.
** A bit of a stretch, considering he came from [[MotorCity Detroit]].
* [=~What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?~=]
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<<|{{Film}}|>>

* MushroomSamba- "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite," and "I Am The Walrus" are perfect examples of why you should never watch this movie on acid.

Jude Feeney is an [[{{Expy}} aimless young man from Liverpool]] who heads to America in hopes of finding his absent father, who knew his mother in WWII but had never been told that Jude was born. When the man proves to be something of a disappointment, he falls in with Ivy League frat boy Max (...well's Silver Hammer, not sung in the film) Carrigan. (Max helped him find his dad; Jude helped Max escape campus authorities; it went on from there.) The two move to New York with Max's sister Lucy. Jude finds himself falling for Lucy, and everyone falls for the hippie scene present there. But the real world intrudes as the Vietnam War wages on, and the political involvement (willing and otherwise) of various members of Jude's {{Nakama}} becomes more and more perilous. It threatens to pull Jude and Lucy apart -- she's involved, and he doesn't approve of that part of the movement she's in...

->'''College buddies:''' Would you believe in a love at first sight?
->'''Jude:''' ''[sarcastically]'' Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time.
->...and then he sees Lucy.