1. The Middle East: Understand the perplexities of the nations
B y S P E N C E R M E C H A M
Professors at the Kennedy Center
took on the challenge of explaining
the “perplexities of the nations” on
the heels of the most recent outbreak
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Sept. 10 panel was titled “Mak-
ing Sense of the Crisis in Gaza” and
included Professors James Toronto,
Joshua Gubler and L. Quinn Mecham.
All three experts have lived in the
Middle East and currently teach BYU
courses on the region.
The seeds of conflict
“The common misconception is
that it started with Abraham,” Gubler
said. In reality, he claimed, the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict began with the
Holocaust, which was the culmination
of centuries of Jews being mistreated
by people and governments in Europe.
“Jews decided the only way to avoid
this again was to have a state of their
own,” Gubler said, “a state that was
dominated by Jews, where the govern-
ment was Jewish and the military was
Jewish.”
The issue is not that of conflict
between Jews and Arabs per se but
rather of Israeli Jews versus. Pales-
tinian Arabs.
“You can still find Jews and Arabs
living in Israel who remember
the good old days of drinking tea
together,” Gubler said.
The creation of this state involved
the displacement of thousands of Pal-
estinians. Many of these Palestinians
are now angry over the loss of their
homes, land and power. This anger
has contributed to the creation of
Hamas, a terrorist group that cur-
rently governs in Gaza, and the con-
flict has since escalated with multiple
wars and thousands dead on both
sides.
Gubler said that one of the most con-
troversial elements of this summer’s
conflict is the Israeli blockade on
goods, including items such as tooth-
paste, to Gaza. Israel maintains the
blockade for security reasons, but it
has led to a lower standard of living
in Gaza.
Recent events
The most recent war, which Israel
called Operation Protective Edge, is
currently in a ceasefire. But Hamas,
which was losing power before the
war began last summer, has emerged
from it with renewed popularity in
Gaza.
“Seventy-nine percent of Palestin-
ians believe that Hamas won the war,”
Mecham said. “Leaders of Hamas
have a 78 percent approval rating of
how they conducted the war.”
Mecham explained that while a
look at the numbers would show a
clear victory for Israel, (2,104 Pales-
tinians died compared with 72 Israe-
lis) Hamas has taken advantage of the
media and won the battle of public
opinion the world over, much to Isra-
el’s surprise.
“If I was an Israeli adviser, and I
was asked how to ensure that more
than a million people are really,
really mad at me because of deep
psychological trauma, I would have
advised them to do what they did in
Gaza,” Mecham said.
Gubler agreed with Mecham, say-
ing that while he loves Israel, the state
is continuously walking into a trap.
“Hamas has a plan,” he explained.
‘Come and destroy a lot of people,
you’ll look really bad, and we will look
really good as a result.’
Gubler referred to a Hamas strategy
of launching more than 4,700 rockets
at Israel from highly populated civil-
ian areas. Israel’s military response
results in civilian casualties and free
press for Hamas.
A solution
Mecham did not express optimism
for an immediate solution, but he
offered insight into what he believes
needs to happen before peace can
come to the region. He said the first
step is for the Palestinian Authority,
a less extreme group that represents
Palestinians in the West Bank, to
start working with Hamas.
“Life in Gaza has got to get better,”
Mecham said. “If Palestinians can see
a road to a peaceful life that does not
involve militancy, I believe they will
take it.” Mecham also acknowledged
that Israel would not lift the blockade
until it felt more secure.
In his concluding remarks, Toronto
encouraged students to follow the
counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 88,
which urges the saints to “teach dili-
gently … the wars and perplexities of
nations.”
“The Church does not take sides in
this conflict, affirming that Heavenly
Father loves all his children, both
Arabs and Jews,” Toronto said.
Associated Press
Left: Palestinian children wash their faces among the ruins of the Al-Sousi mosque that was destroyed in an Israeli strike
at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Right: Israelis watch as soldiers carry the coffin of an Israel soldier killed in Operation
Protective Edge.
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The Beatles: Buying our
love for 50 years
B y H AY D E N H A R M A N
I
magine escaping hordes of fans
and playing live television con-
certs drowned in the screams of
hysterical young girls. Visualize
dodging the press while trying to keep
Paul McCartney’s grandfather out of
trouble.
Those are just a few scenes that
composed a day in the life for the Bea-
tles in their full-length film debut, “A
Hard Day’s Night.” This year marks
the 50th anniversary of that historic
film, which was originally released in
the U.S. on Aug. 11, 1964.
The film, like the Beatles them-
selves, has been influential since its
release. BYU faculty members shed
some light on what makes “A Hard
Day’s Night” and the Beatles’ legacy
so important today.
“‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was the film
that introduced Americans to Beatle-
mania,” said BYU English professor
Trent Hickman, who teaches a class
about American culture through the
Beatles. “It was in many respects a
big music video before MTV even
existed.”
Richard Lester, who had previously
collaborated with the British comedy
troupe the Goons, directed the film.
Lester’s short film with the Goons,
called “The Running, Jumping and
Standing Still Film,” impressed the
Beatles, and they were willing to
work with him when United Artists
approached them about making a fea-
ture-length film.
“I sometimes think Richard Les-
ter doesn’t receive enough credit for
directing it because it seems like such
an effortless film, like we could just
follow these guys around with a cam-
era and have a great movie. Actually,
that may be partly true, but it’s not
entirely true,” said BYU film profes-
sor Thomas Russell.
According to Russell, others also
contributed to the cinéma vérité
style of the film. For example, cin-
ematographer Gilbert Taylor used
handheld shots to give a natural feel
to the scenes. Editor John Jympson
broke away from linear storytelling
rules using quick cuts that allowed
for digressions from the overarching
narrative.
Alun Owen contributed to the film’s
authenticity by allowing the Beatles
to retain their native Liverpudlian
speech patterns in his Academy
Award-nominated script. In addition,
George Martin’s score for the film was
nominated for Best Score.
From the film’s opening scene of
the Fab Four running from a mob of
fans, with George Harrison and Ringo
Starr tripping on the sidewalk, it was
clear that “A Hard Day’s Night” wasn’t
going to be a “glossy, promotional film
from the cigar chompers at United
Artists,” Russell said.
Reviews of “A Hard Day’s Night”
praised the film for its unique vision
and playfulness. Critic Andrew Sarris
famously wrote in The Village Voice
on Aug. 27, 1964, that the film was “the
‘Citizen Kane’ of jukebox musicals.”
BYU English professor Phil Sny-
der recalled seeing the film “three or
four times” with his little sister when
it first came to the Fox theater in his
hometown in Fullerton, California.
Snyder gave his children deluxe-
edition DVD copies of “A Hard Day’s
Night” as a Christmas present a few
years ago.
“My kids all know the Beatles, and
now my grandkids do because it’s
incumbent on us to pass down that
kind of musical heritage,” Snyder
said.
Musically, around the time of
the film’s release, the Beatles were
already developing their own style
and sound by incorporating elements
from diverse forms of popular music.
This included influences that ranged
from Broadway to Tin Pan Alley song-
writing, from American rock ‘n’ roll
to early Motown, said BYU music pro-
fessor Michael Hicks.
“The Beatles were like kids in a
candy shop,” Hicks said. “They just
were grabbing all this stuff and bring-
ing it into their music.”
Hickman said the Beatles also
adopted elements of American popular
culture and movies, added their Brit-
ish sense of humor and mannerisms
“and sent it back across the Atlantic
to the Americans, where a booming
youth culture was ready to eat it up.”
Hicks, who was a young boy when
“A Hard Day’s Night” was released,
recalled the unique sound of the Bea-
tles’ recordings during those early
years. He remembers listening to the
opening drums and guitar on the song
“She Loves You” and how it sounded
like an “explosion on the radio
speakers.”
The Beatles’ compelling songs and
sounds still affect people today. Cathe-
rine Mott, a BYU student and longtime
fan of the Beatles, described the music
as having an uplifting quality that
“makes you feel better and expresses
emotions in unusual ways.”
“They as a band stood for things and
never apologized for it,” Mott said.
“A Hard Day’s Night” and the early
music of the Beatles will likely con-
tinue to influence generations to come.
“The film scolds humorless suits,
business hawks and even the culture
that worships rock stars; or, maybe
better, the film just chooses not to take
those people seriously,” Russell said.
“But it’s one of the more gentle, joyful
films a person can watch. It was ahead
of its time in many ways. But so were
the Beatles.”YouTube/Makenzie Jamias