Bonus "Bright Star"

The film "Bright Star" portrays the relationship of Romantic poet John Keats with Fanny Brawne. The movie uses the relationship of the two to set up the broader context of Romanticism. Through this romance and many other aspects, the film seeks to portray the Romanticism of Keats.

The relationship of Keats and Fanny demonstrates power of love, through both Keats's and Fanny's musings through love. When the move begins, Fanny is not very impressed with Keats. She ultimately looks down with disdain at him, going so far as to buy his book Endymion to see if he is an idiot. Keats likewise responds to Fanny's lack of fascination by attacking her sense of fashion. To Fanny, this is unthinkable. Fanny's knitting is equivalent to Keats's craft of poetry. In spite of this, Fanny falls in love with Keats due to the authentic emotion, which he displays. Fanny is intrigued when Keats's takes care of his terminally ill brother with tuberculosis. Likewise, she also discovers that Keats is not pompous, as is his always formal colleague Mr. Brown. This is best exemplified in the scene where Keats plays ball with Fanny's sisters. He laughs and enjoys himself in this revelry. While on the other hand, Brown stands in the middle, ultimately getting knocked in the head. This represents a clear wake up to the utter goodness of John Keats for Franny. It also, demonstrates Keats' Romanticism and affinity for emotion. He almost exudes a childlike wonder in everything he does. While at Christmas dinner at the Brawne's house, Keats leads the whole family in child like games, such as vigorously stirring their tea. This is stark contrast to stark English manners. These changes ultimately cause Fanny to fall in love with the charming Keats. By falling in love with him, she loses her prudish nature. The change is clearly evident. She is now more apt to playing with her younger sisters. In her infatution with Keats, her personality is changed. Each one loves the other greatly. In a scene that could be taken from the emotion of a Keats poem, Keats slowly rubs her hand, while her chest begins to move. Clearly, Fanny's heart is beating with excitement and longing. The true and sensuous emotion is ultimately indicative of the poetry Keats sought to write while he was living.

The film demonstrates the power of love, and thereby the importance of Romanticism. Love is able to change the Fanny from being prudish to being lighthearted. As exemplified by Keats' longing for life, the movie also demonstrates the importance of emotion in our world today. If John Keats were to see the film today, he would be pleased. For after all, his work drew almost exclusively on our need for honest feeling. As the film concludes, love and emotions are some of the most important things about us.