Head takes its central cue not from A Hard Day’s Night—which came out four years earlier to great acclaim and probably a central inspiration for the Monkees’ TV show—but from the psychedelic films that were now embedded in the cultural landscape. Like the Beatles’ own psychedelic entry Magical Mystery Tour, Head received a poor popular and critical reception upon release. However, co-creator of the TV show (and thus, the band itself), Bob Rafelson equipped his Monkees’ vehicle with its own defense system designed to neutralize this very critique: one of the central themes of the recursive, surreal series of scenes within scenes is the Monkees’ unreality as a band and their inability to break through to the real world. “Well, if it isn’t God’s gift to eight-year-olds,” a character greets the band, encapsulating the film’s self-deprecating hostility to its own fanbase and success. As “a manufactured image with no philosophies,” the film mocks the very stardom and show business creating it, intercut with news footage of the Vietnam War—ultimately recognizing the unimportance of the band, the film and its audience in the face of death. – Sidney Dritz

This event is part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).