Archive for the ‘Reference’ Category
September 30th, 2009
John Keats
I’m glad of the arrival of the new movie Bright Star, based on the life of poet John Keats. Really, it’s high time Hollywood produced a movie based on the romantic and absolutely fascinating life of this famous poet. Bright Star focuses on Keats’ relationship with his neighbor Fanny Brawne, and the subsequent influence Brawne has had on the subject and nature of his work. Hopefully, the film will spark a fresh wave of interest in Keats, someone whose life hasn’t provided the kind of mainstream biographical interest as his contemporaries, Byron and Shelley.
Bright Star also got me thinking about the many if-not-great then at least ’solid’ biopics that have recently been produced on the lives of poets. Of course, we don’t prescribe to a biographical reading of any author’s work (we are strictly Barthesian in believing that the author is dead), but we whole-heartedly enjoy the singular sensation of watching the real-life, actual persona of a poet — a creator of poetic fictions — become the subject of a fictional portrayal itself. No one can possibly argue that a Hollywood biopic has any relevance in the discipline of academic biography, so the pleasures we experience in watching them are intently and completely based on fictional — i.e., entertainment — value. These poetic biopics are wholly ‘meta’, unapologetically middle-brow, and greatly entertaining, with small trivia takeaways that become of value later in board games and dinner conversation. We love them! And, without further ado, here are our five favorites.
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September 24th, 2009
By: Garin Kilpatrick
Family Guy is rife with unabashed references to pop culture so it is no surprise that the show takes some jabs at literature as well. The parodies referenced below are strikingly similar to the original literature being referenced, only featuring family guy characters instead. Watching any of the episodes below is perhaps the most entertaining way to introduce yourself to one of the five following essay worthy topics, so enjoy!
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September 20th, 2009
We love literature. We love music. But try telling your English teacher that listening to music helps you better understand literature when you’re caught listening to your iPod in class…
Actually, the connection between pop music and classical literature isn’t as far fetched as it seems. Though it may not always be obvious, pop stars do read — at least, they occasionally read. How else would they be able to write such great songs based on literary works? Below, our 5 favorites with links to their music videos and descriptions of the work in question.
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September 17th, 2009
The Simpsons is a show that is rife with literary references. So rife, in fact, that we had difficulty narrowing it down to our five favorites. Like many of you students, we here at Eduify have seen every single Simpsons episode (at least once). We love the show for its incisive and hilarious writing, its endearingly obnoxious characters, and the strange relevance that a little cartoon can have on our actual lives. So, without further ado, here are our 5 favorite Simpsons episodes and educational links to the literary references therein.
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September 12th, 2009
09/09/09 saw the release of the Beatles Remastered albums, which the forces of marketing proclaimed was “22 years in the making”. While we think the whole Beatles Remastered hullabaloo is a bit cheesy — and not really that relevant considering we’ve been listening to un-remastered versions of all those albums since we were babies and did just fine thankyouverymuch — we are self-proclaimed Beatles fanatics and wholly give into the whole Beatlemania thing.
The Beatles were an amazing band, one of the first rock ‘n roll bands that really walked the fine line between intellectually interesting pop music that was both intelligent and held mass appeal. Their songs are deceptively simple. Beneath the catchy hooks and the straight-forward melodies are hidden complexities, which is often manifested in the lyrics of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. As Eduify is a literary website, we are particularly fascinated by the literature of Beatles lyrics. Namely, you’ll be hard-pressed to name many popular pop bands of the 60s who dropped as many literary references as the Beatles.
In honor of the Beatles, and in keeping with this new wave of Beatlemania that’s spreading the nation, here are our favorite Beatles songs that contain literary references.
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