{"id":2635,"date":"2011-12-04T21:43:04","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T02:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=2635"},"modified":"2023-03-27T16:41:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T20:41:44","slug":"visualizing-the-invisible-bright-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/visualizing-the-invisible-bright-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Campion Visualizes the Invisible, in Bright Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As an English Major in another life, I’m not uninterested in poetry, or Keats in particular. But movies about poetry are another matter. It’s difficult to imagine a less natural source material for the eminently visual medium of cinema than poetry. You can mute the sound, drain the color, or take off the 3D spectacles, but the one thing you can’t subtract from movies is the moving picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art”<\/p>John Keats<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other filmmakers have tried to visualize essentially invisible things before: scents (Perfume<\/em>), academic research (The Da Vinci Code<\/em>), and math (A Beautiful Mind<\/em>, Pi<\/em>). The handful of movies about writing (Capote<\/em>, Factotum<\/em>, Henry & June<\/em>, Wonder Boys<\/em>) are nearly outnumbered by movies about not<\/em> writing (Shakespeare in Love<\/em><\/a>, Barton Fink<\/em>, Adaptation<\/em>, The Shining<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bright<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to poetry, the most internal and abstract form of writing, it’s slightly disappointing that the most writer\/director Jane Campion makes of it is to have her characters read verse aloud. However luscious the cinematography, it doesn’t help that the historical Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) and John Keats (Ben Whishaw) weren’t all that interesting as dramatic characters. The former is a lovestruck obsessive and the latter a sickly artiste not meant for this mundane world. It’s the standard biopic cliche: the insufferable wunderkind and the suffering woman that loves him anyway. At least, in this case, Keats wasn’t an addict (q.v.: Factotum<\/em>, Bird<\/em>, Ray<\/em>, Walk the Line<\/em>, Walk Hard<\/em><\/a>, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fanny reads Keats’ sonnet about her “Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art” at the close of the film. She lived to witness his posthumous recognition, and never stopped mourning him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an English Major in another life, I’m not uninterested in poetry, or Keats in particular. But movies about poetry are another matter. It’s difficult to imagine a less natural source material for the eminently visual medium of cinema than poetry. You can mute the sound, drain the color, or take off the 3D spectacles, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1485,1172,1170,1115,245,1165,1175,46,1173,1169,1171,89,1174,1167,1168,1166],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1485","tag-abbie-cornish","tag-ben-whishaw","tag-biography","tag-biopic","tag-bright-star","tag-charles-armitage-brown","tag-drama","tag-fanny-brawne","tag-jane-campion","tag-john-keats","tag-love-story","tag-paul-schneider","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-romance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/bright-star.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-Gv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":981,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/harold-kumar-escape-from-guantanamo-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":2635,"position":0},"title":"H&K drop LSD with NPH in Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"On the way to a hoped-for idyll in their spiritual home Amsterdam, our two beloved stoners Harold and Kumar take unintended detours through Cuba (as collateral damage in the War on Terror), Florida (where they drop trou' for a \"bottomless\" party), Alabama (rudely interrupting a Klu Klux Klan klatsch), and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/harold-kumar-escape-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":627,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-10-most-disappointing-movies-i-saw-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":2635,"position":1},"title":"The 10 Most Disappointing Movies I Saw in 2007","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was compiling the best and worst movies I saw in 2007, I found I still had enough for a special category: movies that absolutely don't deserve to be called bad, even when it's just me here talking to myself on my stupid blog. 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It apparently aspires to be a comedy of villainies along the lines of Bad Santa, extending even into the casting of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ice Harvest","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/ice-harvest.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6157,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-invisible-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":2635,"position":3},"title":"Elisabeth Moss has a villain problem in The Invisible Man","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"For a movie named after the antagonist, Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man has a villain problem. At one point, Cecelia (Elisabeth Moss) asks an interesting question: her husband is famous and wealthy, and can have anyone -- so why her? In one question, she essentially admits her longstanding insecurity at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invisible-man-hand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invisible-man-hand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invisible-man-hand.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invisible-man-hand.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invisible-man-hand.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5695,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/toys-shoot-to-kill-in-g-i-joe-retaliation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2635,"position":4},"title":"Toys shoot to kill in G.I. 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The Shawshank Redemption remains one of the most popular movies ever made, if not quite (yet?) accepted into the canon. The Mist, after The Green Mile, is Darabont's third Stephen King adaptation, so far\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Mist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2635"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6870,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions\/6870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}