Bright Star

[bimo]

I woke up this morning with the idea of writing a lengthier entry on Jane Campion's Keats movie Bright Star (For the interested: the last three years of John Keats' life, seen through the lens of his relationship with Fanny Brawne; a movie typical of Jane Campion as a director insofar as Bright Star's superb visuals, added by a strong focus on the observation of character dynamics make more than up for the film's slow pace. What struck me as most noteworthy was how Campion has managed to transfer the romanticism of Keats poems into essentially quiet but powerful images. Altogether a film well worth seeing, with some very fine actors and quite a bit of costume porn at work there*g*)

Opening my browser window, however, I got somewhat distracted, not only by reading up on the featured Keats poems, but also by the latest edition of metafandom, featuring the all time discussion classic of of how much cultural literacy fanfiction authors should expect from their audience.

Without going into any details, some of the actually quite sensible and pragmatist answers to that question scare me, mostly because I firmly believe in the importance of broadening our shared cultural horizons and the role that fiction (any fiction, not just "literature") plays as a means of transporting knowledge.

Comments

[selenak]

I really enjoyed that film.

Re: link - never will I ever bother to explain who Sheherazade was if alluding to her in a story. What I mean to say: I definitely believe in giving some background information to readers - for example, when I write a story set during the French Revolution, I would clarify when it exactly it takes place, before the Terreur or during, and I also would include some exposition on who, say, Robespierre or Danton are. But I would not bother to explain that France was a kingdom pre 1789!