Jim Clark - Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" Vs Tim Burton - Artist's own "Vincent'The whole idea of Animated Poetry is not to illustrate poems, but to interpret them in a visual way'
-Geert Van Goethem
[Van Goethem is a German film producer, he is little known but for his work with poetry and animation, his company is called 's.o.i.l Productions' and he is based in Belgium.
I could not find a date for this quote, but it is interest-arousing enough to warrant a critique of this statement.
Van Goethem made this statement whilst commissioning 60 film graduates to produce films based around poetry and it is certainly a debate-sparking quote.]
I neither agree nor disagree with this statement, but I believe it is short-sighted and ill informed; because poetry can be used in two ways:
One can either animate an already established poem written by somebody else, or one may create a poem oneself to be animated.
I will be using two conflicting cases-in-point, firstly I have selected the immensely simple work of little-known animator Jim Clark to illustrate the intended meaning of Van Goethem's statement.
However, already conflicting Van Goethem's statement, poetry is an art form in itself; and if it is effective it should need no explanatory visualisation at all. If animation is to be used in conjunction with serious poetry then the animation must too be simple and serious.
Contrary to this, the use of poetry in animation, (assuming the poem was written subjectively to be animated, and is to be used as a narrative tool) is a different story -and would contrast completely what Van Goethem has said:
I will be using a different case study here to contrast the use of "serious" poetry in Clark's interpretation of 'Daddy' (written by renowned poet Sylvia Plath)
My contrasting factor will be Tim Burton's 'Vincent' (written by Burton as a narrative tool to be animated).
Of course these two cases cannot be compared directly to one another, because they are two completely separate entities but none-the less I will create a balanced argument [using the two films separately] and demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Van Goethem's statement:
Supporting The Statement:
Clark's 'Daddy' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lNTYK2U15c]
-is a highly effective visualisation, using a recording of Plath herself reading her poem. It appears highly simple, and seems to be perhaps 20 frames running continuously, loosely dubbed around the narrative:
The girl the only subject, -the camera is fixed and no other action or movement other than a slightly disturbing method of lip-syncing and a distortion of the picture running on a continuous fluid slant.
To an audience who are unfamiliar with Plath's work it appears to be nothing more than a crude animation with an old picture of a child contrasting the harsh voice of an adult.
Infact Sylvia Plath wrote this poem in late1962, just months before her violent suicide in February 1963. Armed with this knowledge the animation now takes on a whole new form.
With the pretext that Plath wrote this poem in adulthood, [basing it around the simple structure and repetition of a nursery-rhyme] Clark's use of a child is radically transformed into a metaphoric image.
Clearly, this piece supports Van Goethem's statement. Clark is interpreting the poem by visualising Plath as a hurt frightened little girl, juxtaposing, [but confirming the metaphor] with the use of a direct recording of the poet reading her work.
The visualisation is simple, yet a highly effective and haunting visualisation of the meaning of the poem.
The animation reflects the grim intonation behind the poem, in the writing Plath explains how she had to kill her father in her memory when he died when she was eight years old from un-diagnosed diabetes.
She explains how she never forgave him for leaving her, ending with " Daddy you bastard -I'm through."
By means of literal visual interpretation Clark has used the image of an eight year old girl suggesting Plath's poem was the eight year old child who lost her daddy speaking to his memory, having regressed to his last days of life to express her anger and guilt surrounding his death. He has used a stark contrast of the haunting voice of an adult Plath coupled with the solemn lip-sync of a little girl:
It is a well informed and brilliant visual interpretation of the poem; confirming Van Geothem's statement in its entirety.
Opposing The Statement:
Tim Burton's Vincent [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHOyFsr8Q2w&feature=PlayList&p=A78BE2579F0B7388&playnext=1&index=8]
-is a poem written around the structure of Sir Edgar Alen Poe's "The Raven".
Instantly this brands the poem a parody; immediately suggesting it is not a serious piece of literature.
"Vincent" was written by Burton as means of a 'different' narrative tool.
The structure was 'borrowed' from Poe's "The Raven" as a way of conveying the sinister tone of the piece -whilst still allowing it the element of parody; lending it an element of humour.
Narrated by the legendary Vincent Price (Brahm Stoker's Dracular), [who also once read Sir Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven in a Fox Halloween special], the poem is beautifully structured but when listened to without the sound effects, or music, would not stand alone or allow its listener particularly vivid imaginings.
Thus the poem needs the animation to confirm and lend images to the viewer.
Disagreeing with Van Geothem's statement is the notion that a poem, written by the animator allows the animator to force upon the audience the imagery he/she intended when writing the poem.
- If the poem was already an established piece not written by the animator, then it becomes limited as to what the animator may visualise it with, -supporting Van Geothem's statement that animating poetry should not illustrate poems but instead visualise the meaning of the piece.
"Vincent" is very vividly visualised line by line with the exact images each sentence intended, and the poem takes on the form of a simple narrative; and it is allowed this because the Poem was written by the animator for the animation; therefore allowing him the freedom to couple it with the exact images he sees fit. If somebody else were to write the poem then his images could be contested, though as it stands, haven written the poem himself he may contradict Van Geothem's statement and use animation to illustrate poetry.
To Conclude:
As proved, Van Geothem's statement has its limitations and its strengths, though if I were to offer my personal opinion regarding the legitity of the statement, I would say he is correct, when in context.
Van Geothem was quoted regarding animating already standing Poetry, not a poem written by the animator for the animation; and in this case he is quite right, one cannot illustrate a poem with animation, but merely interpret the meaning visually -leaving the animation wide open to criticism from anybody who interprets the poem in a different way.
I think, although I have proved Van Geothem's statement to be legitimate, that already standing Poetry should not be animated without the Poets explicit consent and rigid guidelines. Poetry is a very delicate and personal art-form and should paint a picture alone with words.
I believe it is wrong to force images upon other people's poems -just as it would be wrong to illustrate a book without speaking to the author about what he/she believes the characters should look like.
If one must animate a poem them Van Geothem's statement should be taken as Gospel, one should never suggest a sequence that describes the action in the poem, but visualise it according to one's personal [informed] interpretation.
This will still be open to criticism by others who have a different personal interpretation of the work, but despite this proves Van Geothem's statement is correct.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
INTERNET:
(own knowledge to confirm wikipedia)
Date: UNKNOWN
Author: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Wikipedia
Date Link was Lase Proved Active: 15/3/09
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath
Date: 2007
Author: Geert Van Geothem
Publisher: Flanders Animation
Date Link was last proved active: 15/3/09
URL: http://flanders-animation.seesite.be/news/news/detail/dichtvorm-15-animated-shorts-inspired-by-flemish-poetry/
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