Sonnet #130
- Episode aired Dec 16, 2014
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1.90: Sonnet #130: A good take on it that adds context
This sonnet rather stands out by virtue of it deriding the colorful language of others – a device I have seen one other in this film series do thus far if my memory is correct. The writer uses the usual comparisons with roses, the sun etc, only to say that they do not apply to the subject of the sonnet. Of course in the end the sonnet concludes that she is as fair as anyone compared to such things, but it does seem a long rather degrading walk to get to the point of being told you are loved. At least that is how it came over to me when I read it.
Of course I think it is meant to be taken that it is the pointlessness of such comparisons that is degraded, not the person and it is this that this film does a very good job of delivering. It doesn't start well though; we get a basic "tour guide" opening around shots of central part, followed by a young couple in love who do not speak like the couple they look like – all under oddly dainty music. This is cut across most pleasingly by the main character – a drunken old man sitting at the foot of a statue. From here he derides the young couple while also musing on his own love. This approach makes the words flow better, because it is the man's lack of love for flowery language and his more base tongue that is the subject of the text, not the subject, whom he adores. This works well because we see the actor (Saunders) making reference to the young couple with his body and as such the context fits well and takes nothing away from his own love.
Technically the film looks and sounds good (no sound credit at the end, but it is very clear and crisp). The opening sequence is terribly cheesy, as is the projection of the credits onto the water of the lake; I would like to believe that such romantic twaddle is deliberate so that it fits with the romantic poetry comparison that the sonnet mocks, but maybe this is me being generous. This aside though, the heart of the film works very well, adding context and meaning to the words beyond the page, and delivering them in a clear manner.
Of course I think it is meant to be taken that it is the pointlessness of such comparisons that is degraded, not the person and it is this that this film does a very good job of delivering. It doesn't start well though; we get a basic "tour guide" opening around shots of central part, followed by a young couple in love who do not speak like the couple they look like – all under oddly dainty music. This is cut across most pleasingly by the main character – a drunken old man sitting at the foot of a statue. From here he derides the young couple while also musing on his own love. This approach makes the words flow better, because it is the man's lack of love for flowery language and his more base tongue that is the subject of the text, not the subject, whom he adores. This works well because we see the actor (Saunders) making reference to the young couple with his body and as such the context fits well and takes nothing away from his own love.
Technically the film looks and sounds good (no sound credit at the end, but it is very clear and crisp). The opening sequence is terribly cheesy, as is the projection of the credits onto the water of the lake; I would like to believe that such romantic twaddle is deliberate so that it fits with the romantic poetry comparison that the sonnet mocks, but maybe this is me being generous. This aside though, the heart of the film works very well, adding context and meaning to the words beyond the page, and delivering them in a clear manner.
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- bob the moo
- Dec 22, 2014
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