Abbey Among Oak Trees Analysis

The romantic period was a time of unprecedented change, widely known for its expression of transformative ideas, varied perspectives and exploration of meaning. It is this amalgamation of radical multifarious viewpoints that have endured and remained poignant both on intellectual and emotional levels. The reactionary nature of the movement itself characterized a set of antithetical values to the preceding age of reason. Logic and rationality gave way to imagination, an individuals search for meaning, intense emotion, idealistic perspectives and pantheistic views of the natural world. Using their texts as a medium romantic artists explored the ability of these tenants to push the confines of logic and rationality. Jane Campion’s film, “Bright …show more content…
Therefore the varied articulation of ideas and shifts in thinking present in the romantic period contribute to its prolonged relevance and ability to engage an audience intellectually and emotionally

Bright Star directed by Jane Campion, engages it’s audience intellectually and emotionally through it’s portrayal of the catalytic effect of intense emotion and focused imagination on challenging the constraints of society. Protagonists Fanny Brawn and John Keats, have a relationship, which reverberates the intense emotions of the first Romantic Movement. In their fist interaction an electric atmosphere is created with the use of low key lighting as Fanny Brawn walks through a dimly lit corridor, the only diegetic sound the gentle quivering of china on china, this allows Fanny’s anticipation to permeate the scene and highlights the two’s emotional presence. A sense of connection is further attained through parallels in the creatively focused characterization, Keats an accomplished poet and Fanny a seamstress practicing the domestic art, is …show more content…
The primary vector of the image constructed by the overbearing trees is the crumbling structure of a monk’s abbey, representative of the impermanence of man’s creations and subjects of man’s devotion. The trees haggard gnarled appearance communicates that man cannot tame the natural world, this pantheistic perspective of nature true to the first movement of romantics. The monk’s burial ceremony is clouded in darkness suggesting finality, whilst their movement carrying a coffin emphasizing a passing of time, to highlight man’s transience. The use of shade, black bodies shrouded in a charcoal fog, exaggerates how indistinguishable they are from one another to encompass the insignificance of the individual. The trees themselves occupy the negative space of the landscape impiously growing, and the ruined graveyard, impregnates the scene with the tone of the natural world reclaiming the area. Even these great looming trees however are dying, although on further consideration when considered in conjunction with the waning crescent moon, it underpins the natural worlds cyclical nature, creating a sharp contrast between human finality and the super temporal natural world. David uses this idea to