I realize this is a super-geeky idea, but I think there are some interesting parallels between film vignettes and poetry. Both tend to depend on brevity, and both depend on both structure and content to make meaning. Here are a few episode ideas:
Episode One: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Directors: Sophia Coppola, Woody Allen, Spike Lee
Episode Two: "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe
Directors: Clint Eastwood, Tim Burton, James Cameron
I mean, these directors would DEFINITELY want to do this television show, right? 😂
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| "Whether or not he heard, the coachman did not slow." Coen, Ethan and Joel Coen, directors. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Netflix, November 2018. |
Can I tell you how brilliant I find this idea? You could also have an incredible cross section of cultural poems in the show! Langston Hughes alone would be an ENTIRE season! What an incredible way to show off the power of poetry!
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea. I also agree with Mike. Langston Hughes' poems would be very good to use, full of expression. Piggy backing off Mike, How about Maya Angelou? Have you given any thought to the actors and costume style of the characters?
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that diversity could (and should) play a role! I was starting with eye-rollingly famous poems to try to see how new life could be breathed into them. Nina, I know this is cheating, but I guess that actors and costumes would be up to the directors! But I would definitely want to try my hand at a few poems...I love "This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams, or "Not Waving But Drowning" by Stevie Smith, or "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver...I'd better stop before this becomes a post about my favorite poems. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a truly brilliant idea. I think this would be a great way to introduce poetry to modern audiences. I think a good mixture of famous poems and then more obscure poems would be a great idea! Show people poets they've likely already heard the names of and then show them some names they've never heard of. Would this series go in chronological order of when poems came out? Or just be a random mixture?
ReplyDeleteI like it! As I suggested to Abbey about her cinematic sonnet cycle, it would be cool to put out a call for proposals: invite some specific directors, absolutely, but also just open it up and see what poems and ideas come to light. Rather than you having to match the poem to the director, you could allow the individual directors to choose a poem that speaks to them and let them tell whatever story they wish with it. I'd especially love to see some lyrics and other non-narrative poems included!
ReplyDeleteThis, of course, stems from my personal preferences in tv shows, but I feel like it's difficult to get audiences to invest in a series if there isn't continuity between the episodes. Would there be a narrator or time-travelling character of sorts in the background of each? Or maybe use different combinations of the same actors for each poem like an acting company? If done poorly, I know these ideas could make the whole project a thousand times more tacky. But I'm just trying to figure out what could connect everything to maintain the audience's interest to keep coming back to this amazing idea.
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