BBC vs. MTV: Poetry Season
by Maria PopovaOld rock, new roll, and why MTV has nothing on Lord Byron.
Millennials may be experts at a lot of things, but poetry isn’t one of them. To pique the MTV generation’s interest in the classic art of verse, the BBC commissioned London-based filmmaker Corin Hardy to translate Lord Byron’s 1817 poem So We’ll Go No More A-Roving into a familiar visual narrative, delivered by punk-rockers The King Blues.
The resulting 75-second short film is an inspired exercise in the creative blending of polar opposites — chaos and slow motion, high culture and street style, the “rock” of yesteryear and the punk of today — encrusted with interpretive emotional ambiguity. (Is that angry sweat running down his left cheek, or a tortured tear?)
It’s also timely reminder that the art of remix is a powerful cross-pollinator that bridges essential corners of culture.
Explore the BBC’s Poetry Season for a vital injection of classic verse into the narrative of your own modern storytelling.
