A strange take on plagiarism in “Yesterday”
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The new romantic comedy offers two musical superstars — but only Ed Sheeran is a real-life plagiarist
There’s a lot to like in “Yesterday,” the new film directed by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis, although mere likability may be its greatest saving grace. The cast is likable. The tone is quiet. And, of course, the music is some of the greatest around. It seems carefully crafted to avoid offense, and yet that blank quality, while perfect for summer escape, is also problematic.
The high concept premise is this: a strange, world-wide blip means that almost no one remembers The Beatles. Jack, the hero of the story, is suddenly faced with a moral dilemma: should he pass the song catalog off as his own or rob the world of ever knowing their pleasures? Rather than struggling with this question, the film takes Jack on another path: the problems and complications of fame. Will he forget his roots, his family and his friends, including volunteer manager/fan Lily James?
In the midst of all this, it is hard to know what to make of the film’s conduit to fame: Ed Sheeran, as himself. Sheeran, in real life, is both incredibly successful and a prolific plagiarist. He’s taken the work of Marvin Gaye, TLC and Kandi Burruss, and Cheryl Cole, resulting in some of his biggest hits, a few lawsuits and a revision of songwriting credits and royalties. When he discovers Jack and launches him into a global sensation with the help his manager Kate McKinnon, one has to ponder whether the real Sheeran might also live in a world in which he’s magically unable to recognize the work of classic pop and R&B stars. And when the movie’s Sheeran reveals his own ringtone is “The Shape of You,” the same song he ripped off of TLC and others, I couldn’t tell if he (or anyone) is in on the joke. It was the one moment in the film that made me laugh out loud.
From there, the film follows the traditional narrative of a small-town guy being groomed to greatness, and loosing everything about himself along the way. There are diets and stylists and marketing…
