Moulin Rouge is a French play which tells the story of a young author who falls in love with a movie star featured in the Moulin Rouge. The young poets defy his father's order and join the colorfully diverse clique inhabiting the dark, fantasy world in France. In the dingy but fashionable world sanctuary of sex, drug abuse and recently discovered the power; the innocent young writer finds himself confined into an obsessive and disastrous love affair with Satine who the highest paid nightclub performer and the capital's most well-known courtesan. The love triangle featured in the story turns, and winds and Satine does not know that she has a top-secret that could risk the whole thing (James" Felicity 150). Evidently, the theme of love and romance is highlighted throughout the movie. This research paper seeks to address the connection between the cinema Moulin Rouge and Samuel Taylor's romantic poems
How Moulin Rouge connects to Samuel Tylor's Romantic Poems.
Kubla Khan which is a poem written by Samuel Taylor highlights a story of a young man who is a writer and is inspired by a vision, An Abyssinian maid and wants to recreate his tune. Also, there is the aspect of musicality in the poem through the depletion of the chant "Kubla Khan" Also, the poet lays more emphasis on the element of sound. Luhrmann dramatically embraces the style, the setting and the themes inculcated by Taylor Samuel in his work of art. In both the poem and the movie, there are musical inspirations For instance in Moulin Rouge; a musical inspiration takes place inside a nightclub in Paris. Manifestly, the film portrays the character of a musicality throughout the scenes. For example, there scenes of synchronized dancing throughout the poem and also male characters in the poem wear all the same. Manifestly, the poem uses contemporary favourite songs and lines inside a world in the preceding which makes the movie incredibly fascinating(Taylor" John 200) Also; the dance moves are brilliantly put together which leave the audience out of breath. Christian who is a young poet is inspired musically and ends up writing a musical script to be performed in Moulin Rouge. Also, as highlighted in the poem, the narrator is a poet similar to the movie whereby Christian who is the central character is also a poet. Baz Luhrmann even chooses to incorporate poetry into the play in the scene whereby Christian recites a poem to the courtesan. The movie is also similar to the verse in that Christian who is the main character in the poem is also a poet.
Kubla Khan is an excellent example of a romantic poem written by Tylor and entirely focusses on nature to bring out the aspect of romance (Fogarty " Mary 142). The poet mystically defines environment as a mystical being which can grant clarity to those who are lucky enough to commune with it. Similarly to the Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann focuses on a love story between a young poet and beautiful courtesan woman describing how the two fall in love inside a nightclub. The theme of love and romance is prevalent throughout the movie. For instance, the film highlights the love story between Christian and Satine. Christian meets Satine who is very beautiful in a club and falls in love with her, and although it takes a little while before she eventually falls in love with him too. Meanwhile, the club owner capitalizes on a wealthy duke to help him manage the club, and the Duke insists that he will only agree to sign the contract if only Satine falls in love with him. The love triangle creates an excellent storyline that fills the viewer with joy sadness, humor and excitement at the same time
Further, there is the aspect of vivid description in the poem, Tylor Samuel vividly describes the environment around him like the flowing river and mountains which provoke specific emotions to the reader (Landy" Marcia 676). Evidently, and Baz is entirely inspired by this aspect as manifested in the movie. For example, Christian who is the narrator in the film vividly describes the city of Paris, the coolness of the cabarets and the audience is also able to see the view of the village of mort ante. Throughout the movie, a moving camera is used to change the perspective of the poem for the audience to feel as participators in the play. Additionally, specific editing tactics in the movie provoke certain aspects of emotions. For example, the change of the cameras filming speed creates a surrealistic effect. Through slow motion, the intensity is added, and in comic situations, the rate is added. Also, there is the use of montage sequencing in the poem which creates emotional impacts to the audience. Evidently, the film has successfully managed to convey a variety of emotions and feeling
Besides, Samuel Tylor uses symbolism in his romantic poetry because he believed that analogy was the only acceptable way of expressing an in-depth religious view and used the sun to signify God. Frequently, in most of his poems, the sun is used to symbolize Gods power, his influence and also his supreme authority. Significantly, Baz employs the aspect of symbolism in the movie for it adds depth and meaning to the text. For example, mirrors are the central character for Satine for she tries to live a life that pleases others and therefore what the audience sees is a reflection of what the people want to look at. Additionally, mirrors in the movie are also used to compare the relationship between Duke, Satin and Christian. For example, before meeting Duke, Satine has to prep herself for a mirror because she wants to look amazing before Duke. However, when she is around Christian, mirrors hardly feature for she does not apply makeup. The mirror in Duke's apartment is small and dirty a clear indication she does not use it for she does not have to change herself for him.
Samuel Taylor entirely worshipped nature as highlighted in most of his romantic poems. In nearly all his verses, Taylor expresses respect for and a delight in nature through great attention and vivid descriptions to aspects such as color. In poems such as the "The Nightingale" and even in poems which do not directly deal with nature such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" symbols and images from nature are highlighted. According to Tylor, nature contains a distinctive, continuous joyous wholly separate from the challenges people go through. Likewise, Baz uses the environment to enhance the theme of romance in the movie (Jackson"Andrew 130). For example, throughout the film, the setting is in Paris apart from the flashbacks which are used to show the life of Christian in London. Also, Luhrmann used India as a set of the play to add more romance to the movie. For instance, Paris has the reputation of being the city of love where many couples visit to celebrate their passion and where lonely people would tour to find love.
Apparently, Samuel Tylor explores dreams and dreaming in his poetry for purposes of communicating imagination and also the inaccessible clarity of visions. For example, "Kubla Khan" is entitled "A Vision in a Dream" because Samuel claims that he fell asleep and dreamt of a marvellous pleasure palace. However, most people do not believe that this poem was a dream. Manifestly, the poem talks about the imaginative possibilities of the subconscious (Horvath" Stephen 86). Additionally, according to Samuel, dreams always have a pleasurable connotation as highlighted in "Frost Midnight". The narrator in this poem is a young child in a boarding school who comforts himself by dreaming and imagining about his rural home. On the other hand, the visual spectacle which is in the Moulin Rouge movie is almost unreal. The shades are vibrant and intense the sceneries imaginary, and the outfits worn by the characters are bold and beautiful. Also, the viewpoints and the angles of the camera scheme the viewers of the movie. Many fast-paced, moving shots are used and almost create an overwhelming sense of misperception and exhilaration at the same time (Gross" Kenneth 32) However, the limelight does not belong to Lurmarns creative visualization alone, but also the characters present strong performances.
The movie has a combination of genres, and there is also the aspect of dynamic movements which make the t movie to be often compared to a music video because it uses a jitter camera throughout the film. Additionally, the movie is also is almost entirely made of cover songs although most of these songs have been written in new styles.
Conclusion
Evidently, Baz is entirely inspired by Samuel Tylor's poetry and incorporates some aspects of style which Tylor uses while composing his poems and it is quite evident that Baz is a great fan of Tylor. Although it is consistently astonishing and vulnerably stunning, the movie gets off to instead a terrible start. For instance, the first fifteen minutes of the film are awful because of very flashy cameras, intense flashing colors and pop music which is seemingly out of place. However, after those annoying moments, the movie settles down into a stunning and touching performance mixed with waves of harmonious humor and angst in an astoundingly attractive world which has never been seen before. Lurmarns creativity skill is entirely unrestrained, treating the audience to filmic spectacles both ominously deceptive and intensely bright. Additionally, Luhrmann chooses quite good music which influences the emotions of the audience. Moulin Rouge is not perfect, but Luhrmann manages to come up with something new which is an entirely uncommon in today's recycled world. However, he might not revive the music but helps recreate the excitement and creativity which many movie producers seem to have forgotten
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