A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

http://www.theeducationshop.com.au

SCREEN EDUCATION 2

This study guide to accompany Bright Star (2009), a feature film written

and directed by Jane Campion, is recommended for secondary students from the middle to senior years. It provides information and suggestions for learning activities in English, Literature and Media.

Bright Star tells the story of John Keats, the English Romantic poet, and Fanny Brawne, his love and inspiration.

In completing the tasks, students will have demonstrated the ability to:

– analyse the construction of a non-print text and comment on the ways it represents an interpretation of ideas and experiences;

– respond to a text both personally and in detached and critical ways;

– discuss the social, cultural and historical values embodied in a non-print text;

– draw on appropriate metalanguage to discuss the

structures and features of a non-print text;

– use their own written and spoken texts to explore concepts and ideas and to clarify their own and others’ understanding.

SynopsisLondon 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23-year-old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of fashion. The unlikely pair start at odds; he thinking her a stylish minx, she unimpressed by literature in general.

It is the illness of Keats’ younger brother that draws them together. Keats is touched by Fanny’s efforts to help and agrees to teach her poetry. By the time Fanny’s alarmed mother and Keats’ best friend Brown realise their attachment, the relationship has an unstoppable momentum.

Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers are swept into powerful new sensations, ‘I have the feeling as if I were dissolving’, Keats writes to Fanny. Their romantic obsession deepens.

Their troubles mount. Only Keats’ illness proves insurmountable.

Director’s Statement

The film is in itself a kind of ballad, like Keats’ ‘Eve of St Agnes’ – it is a story about the love affair of Fanny Brawne and John Keats. The story progresses in verses charting their increasing involvement and attachment as well as their deepening difficulties.

The storytelling’s restraint mimics Fanny’s own life restraint, the passive waiting fate of any young woman of her time: the life amongst the family, her obsession with sewing, the restrictions on her activities and her chaperoned outings. Against all these restraints, her determined passion for Keats expressed through the notes she left under his pillow or by presenting herself at his window when he was sick, seem all the more remarkable.

The most important quality of this story was to get across the intimacy of the characters to the viewer. Rehearsal was very important for this as it helped the actors to establish a subtle Being. Both Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish have a particular

SCREEN EDUCATION 3

delicious charisma which, through the rehearsal period, they gave their characters claim to. The more real they are, the more the mystery of their unique personalities is allowed to fascinate us, capturing our imagination and our hearts.

I see the world of Keats and Fanny as light-filled, literally leaking light, and even though the film ends with Keats’ death, the lamp lit by his poetic genius and unique spirit cannot be extinguished. It is Bright Star’s ambition to sensitize the audience, to light the lamp. – Jane Campion

John Keats

Born on 31 October 1795, John Keats published three books of poetry in his lifetime but was attacked and dismissed by most critics. He had no advantages of birth, wealth or education. Yet grief and hardship never destroyed his passionate commitment to poetry.

In the autumn of 1818 Keats moved to Hampstead Village to nurse his brother Tom. It was during this time that Keats first met eighteen-year-old Fanny Brawne. After Tom’s death on 1 December 1818, Keats moved to Wentworth Place, where he lived with his close friend and fellow poet Charles Brown. Inspired by his love for Fanny, Keats enjoyed an incredible burst of creativity in the two years that followed, until illness in the winter of 1820 took its toll. Concerned friends and followers deemed it necessary for Keats to leave England. In September 1820, accompanied by his friend Joseph Severn, Keats sailed to Italy.

Keats died on 23 February 1821 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. His last request was to be buried under a tombstone reading, ‘Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.’ His name was not to appear on the stone. His friends Joseph Severn and Charles Brown added the following epitaph, along with an image of a lyre with broken strings:

to Fanny scandalised

Victorian society.

Fanny’s letters to Keats, as he

had requested, were destroyed upon

his death. It was not until 1937, that a collection

of letters, written by Fanny Brawne to Keats’ sister, revealed

the intensity of Brawne’s feelings for Keats and redeemed her rather promiscuous reputation.

Keats is now regarded as one of the key figures of the Romantic movement. Romanticism covers the period from 1800 to 1825. The Romantic poets can be divided into two groups, earlier and later. The major poets of the first group were Wordsworth and Coleridge, whose best poetry was written in the decade or so following 1798. The second group consists of Byron, Shelley and Keats, whose major poetry appeared during the fifteen-year period from 1810 to 1825. Keats’ poetry was characterised by sensual imagery and remain among the most popular poems in English literature.

– A detailed biography can be found at <http://www.john-keats.com>. The website also provides information about Keats’ poetry

This Grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone

Brawne mourned Keats as if they had been married, wearing widow’s black for three years and spending hours in her room re-reading his letters or wandering alone on Hampstead Heath. In 1833 Fanny married and began a family, but she never took off the ring Keats had given her. She also kept many of Keats’ love letters to her. Some were mere notes, others lengthy chronicles of his devotion.

The publication of Keats’ letters

Bright Star

SCREEN EDUCATION 4

in love, the only other possibility he can imagine is to die at a moment when he is experiencing the ecstasy of love.

• Why do you think Campion settled on ‘Bright Star’ as the title of the film?

• What does the sonnet tell us about love?

• Keats’ final poem was called ‘Ode to Fanny –’

Read the poem and share your impressions of it with others in the class. What does the ode tell us about Keats’ love for Fanny?

A love story

‘I was drawn to the pain and beauty and innocence of their love affair.’ – Jane Campion

and letters. Similar information can be found at <http://englishhistory.net/keats/contents.html>.

Keats wrote the sonnet ‘Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art –’ for Fanny Brawne.

The sonnet is considered one of Keats’ loveliest and most paradoxical. The speaker wishes he were as eternal as a star. But while he longs for this unchanging state, he does not wish to exist by himself, in ‘lone splendour.’ Instead he wants to be ‘Awake for ever’ and ‘Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast.’ Unfortunately, these two desires – to experience love and to be eternal – cannot co-exist. The speaker reveals an awareness of this in the final line of the poem. If he cannot ‘live ever’

• For both Keats and Fanny this is first love. What statement does Bright Star make about first love?

• Many have critiqued, challenged and attempted to explain Keats and Fanny’s affair. What does Campion want us to think?

• Is it not extraordinary? When among Men I have no evil thoughts, no malice, no spleen – I can listen and from every one I can learn – my hands are in my pockets I am free from all suspicion and comfortable. When I am among Women I have evil thoughts, malice, spleen – I cannot speak or be silent – I am full of Suspicions and therefore listen to no thing – I am in a hurry to be gone – You must be charitable and put all this perversity to my being disappointed since Boyhood – … I must absolutely get over this, – but how? The only way is to find the root of the evil, and so cure it.

– John Keats, in a letter to Benjamin Bailey, July 1818

Nothing strikes me so forcibly with a sense of the rediculous as love – A Man in love I do think cuts the sorryest figure in the world – Even when I know a poor fool to be really in pain about it, I could burst out laughing in his face – His pathetic visage becomes irrisistable.

– John Keats, in a letter to his brother George, September 1819

Keats had admitted to being perplexed by women and by love.

What happens when he meets Fanny? When does he admit to being confused by love? When does he acknowledge that he has arrived at an understanding of love?

• When did you know that Keats was attracted to Fanny? When did you know that Fanny was attracted to Keats?

• How do Keats and Fanny express their love for each other?

‘Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art –’Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art – Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature’s patient sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors – No – yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, And so live ever – or else swoon to death.

SCREEN EDUCATION 5

Bright StarCampion offers a vivid picture of the social constraints on grand passion and romantic fulfillment in England at the time. In an age of propriety and restrictive social codes, Keats and Fanny were obliged to exercise restraint.

• When does Campion show Keats and Fanny’s restraint?

• Campion shows Fanny and Keats in neighbouring bedrooms imagining each other on the other side of the bedroom wall. How else does Campion portray intimacy?

• When does Campion show the lovers giving in to passion?

Is love a distraction or does love enhance creativity? Bright Star examines the effect that love has on the creative person.

• Is Keats distracted by Fanny’s presence? Or is he inspired? Or does his passion for Fanny both excite and exhaust him? What is Brown’s opinion?

Keats and Fanny’s romance takes time. The fatal illness of Keats’ brother Tom; Keats’ absences; Brown’s interference; the initial disapproval of Fanny’s mother; the constant presence of Fanny’s siblings and the concerned but disapproving opinions of family friends such as the Dilkes, are obstacles in the path of their love.

• As a class, discuss how the following factors thwart Keats and Fanny’s love.– Money and the need to

make a living– Social mores– Family expectations– Male loyalties– Illness

• Keats and Fanny do not cope well with separation. They are miserable without each other. When does Campion show this to be true?

• Fanny’s dance card is always full. How does jealousy shape Keats and Fanny’s romance?

• Fanny’s mother tries in vain to bring an end to the romance. Fanny refuses to give up romance for reality. Finally Mrs Brawne gives permission for the couple to be officially engaged. Why does she give in to what Fanny and Keats want?

• ‘Why not bed her? She’d do whatever you wished.’ – Brown

Brown has a crass and casual approach to love. When does Campion show this to be the case?

Pre-Victorian England

• What does Bright Star tell you about life in Pre-Victorian England?

• How does Bright Star critique social structures of the time?

• Mrs Brawne, Charles Brown, the Dilkes and Keats’ friends and followers – What do these characters regard as their role in society? How do they assume and perform their role?

• In what ways is Keats constrained by society’s views and values? Does he challenge these constraints?

• In what ways is Fanny constrained by society’s views and values? Does she challenge these constraints?

Keats’ poetry

‘The great beauty of Poetry is, that it makes every thing every place interesting –’ – Keats

In May 1816, Keats published his first poem in a magazine. A year later in March 1817, Keats published Poems, a volume of poetry. Endymion followed in April 1818 and a third volume of poetry titled Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems, was published in June 1820. Keats wrote 150 poems.

• Do you have a favourite Keats poem?

• ‘My sister has met the author, and she wants to read it for herself to see if he is an idiot or not.’ – Toots

SCREEN EDUCATION 6

Toots and Samuel are sent to the bookshop to buy a copy of Keats’ Endymion. The shopkeeper seems to regret stocking the books given he has taken twenty but not sold one.

Does Endymion change Fanny’s perception of Keats?

• ‘The rhythm is beautiful and unique. There are rhymes, but not on the beat. They’re quiet, but binding. And the repetitions set you up to fly.’ – Reynolds

Do you agree with Reynolds’ view of the poem ‘Endymion’?

Fanny, as opposed to Reynolds’ technical analysis, offers two words to convey her opinion of the poem, and in so doing shows her innate understanding of Keats’ writing – ‘It’s beautiful.’

Why do you think ‘Endymion’ can be described as beautiful?

• Fanny confesses to Keats that ‘poems are a strain to work out’. Keats recommends that Fanny consider an impressionistic reaction rather than an intellectual one.

of others and the precariousness of his hope of making a living from literature.

How does Keats regard his failure to impress the critics?

• Continue your study of Keats by reading ‘Ode on Melancholy’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to Psyche’ and ‘To Autumn’.

Make a detailed analysis of these Keats poems.

Three essential questions to assist your analysis of each poem are:

– What is the poem about?– What is the purpose of the

poem?– How is language used to

convey meaning, create impact and involve the reader?

Begin your study of a poem by reading it aloud. Keep in mind that constant re-reading of a poem is invaluable. Often features that appear difficult or obscure on a first reading will suddenly become clear.

Find the line in the poem that you

A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore, but to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out, it is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery.

Drawing on Keats’ advice, spend time reading:

– ‘When I have fears that I may cease to be’

– ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’

– ‘Ode to a Nightingale’

– ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’

Record your thoughts and feelings about each poem. When does Campion make use of these poems and to what effect?

• ‘There were two very positive reviews, by friends, and six mainly hostile and four hostile. I don’t know is that successful?’ – Keats

The gibes of the reviewers reveal the harshness and carelessness

SCREEN EDUCATION 7

My dearest

Lady,I am now at

a very pleasant Cottage window,

looking onto a beautifully hilly

country, with a view of the sea; the morning is very

fine. I do not know how elastic my spirit might be, what pleasure I

might have in living here if the remembrance of you did not weigh so upon me. Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom.For myself I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair.I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.

like the most. It could be the line that makes the most sense or the line that creates the greatest impact. Use this line as a way to develop a more complete knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the poem.

• Keats’ extreme sensitivity to nature is evident in most of his poems. When does Campion show Keats drawing on the natural world for inspiration?

Fanny’s clothes

Fanny is as concentrated on her sewing as Keats on his writing.

• Bright Star begins with Fanny dressed in white cotton and ends with her dressed in widow’s black. What does Campion acknowledge through the change in Fanny’s appearance? What else does Fanny wear? What do Fanny’s clothes and her interest in fashion reveal about Fanny?

• ‘Well, all I wear I’ve sewn and designed myself. I am often told I am clever to exception about design.’ – Fanny

What moments would you use to prove that Fanny is both talented and proud of her creativity?

• Fanny’s stitches are as beautiful as Keats’ words. Do you agree?

• Brown dismisses Fanny as ‘the very well-stitched Miss Brawne’. What does his attitude reveal about attitudes to female creativity? How do other characters respond to Fanny’s creativity?

• Women of Fanny’s time were expected to sew and wait. When does Campion show this to be the case?

Keats’ letters

Keats’ love for Fanny Brawne inspired some of the most beautiful love letters ever written.

Campion uses the following excerpts from Keats’ letters in Bright Star:

Bright Star

SCREEN EDUCATION 8

Will you confess this is in a letter? You must write immediately and do all you can to console me in it – make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me – write the softest words and kiss them that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been.

I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks, your Lo!eliness and the hour of my death.O that I could have possession of them both in the same minute.I never knew before, what such a lo!e as you have made me feel, was; I did not believe in it. But if you will fully lo!e me, though there may be some "re, it will not be more than we can bear when moistened and bedewed with Pleasures.

My sweet Girl, I am living today in yesterday: I was in a complete fascination all day. I feel myself at your mercy. Write me ever so few lines and tell me you will never for ever be less kind to me than yesterday – You dazzled me – There is nothing in the world so bright and delicate. You have absorb’d me. I have a sensation at the present moment as if I was dissolving.

SCREEN EDUCATION 9

Bright StarMy sweet creature, when I send this around I shall be in the #ont parlour watching to see you show yourself for a minute in the garden.When I look back upon the ecstasies in which I have pass’d some days, and the miseries in their turn, I wonder the more at the Beauty which has kept up the spell so fervently. How horrid was the chance of slipping into the ground instead of into your arms – the di$erence is amazing Lo!e.

Let me no longer detain you from going to Town – there may be no end to this imprisoning of you. Perhaps you had better not come before tomorrow evening. You know our situation – I am recommended not even to read poetry much less write it. I wish I had even a little hope. I cannot say forget me – but I would mention that there are impossibilities in the world.

SCREEN EDUCATION 10

• What do the excerpts from these letters tell us about Keats’ understanding of love and his love for Fanny?

Discussing narrative structure

Campion has taken creative liberties in shaping the details of Keats and Brawne’s relationship into a feature film.

Bright Star is inspired by actual events and people, however, certain details, characters, dialogue, organisations, scenes and events have been created and therefore are not to be viewed as factually accurate. Campion needed to invent the story between the facts. Context, constructed dialogue and other fictionalised elements have been used for dramatic purposes. Certain names have been changed. The timeline of events has been compressed and edited to accommodate the motion picture format.

Campion drew on Keats’ poems and letters, as well as Andrew Motion’s biography to create the narrative.

• Based on your knowledge of

Fanny’s effort to make a good impression comes to nothing when Keats opens the door unexpectedly. She does not make the entrance that she planned to make.

• What does this scene tell us about Fanny?

• Fanny tells Keats, ‘I am not the least interested in your character.’

Is Fanny being honest?

• Why does Keats call Fanny ‘minxstress’?

Biscuits for Tom

‘I cannot offer poor Mr Keats’ brother anything that’s not perfect.’ – Fanny

• Why does Fanny make a basket of biscuits for Tom?

• Why does Brown deliberately annoy Fanny?

• How does Keats behave?

Christmas 1818

‘Dear Mrs Brawne, May I yet join you for Christmas? I have not the heart to be anywhere but with a family such as your own. John Keats.’

Keats spends Christmas with the

Keats’ life, do you think Campion has offered a faithful account of Keats and Fanny’s love affair?

In beginning the film with an image of a needle and thread piercing a piece of white fabric Campion establishes that the story is told from Fanny’s perspective.

• Why do you think Campion decided to tell the story from Fanny’s perspective? What other moments confirm that this is the case?

Discussing scenes and sequences

• Begin by asking students to share their favourite moments of the film. The class can then sort these moments to form a list of key scenes.

John Keats and Fanny Brawne meet for the first time

When Fanny Brawne meets John Keats for the first time, his spirits are low. Tom, his brother is ill and Keats does not wish to socialise.

Prior to meeting Keats, Fanny checks her appearance in the mirror and then smooths her dress.

SCREEN EDUCATION 11

Bright Star

The garden at Wentworth Place is a thing of beauty.

• Drawing on Keats’ poetry create a description of the garden at Wentworth Place.

• When does Campion show us that Keats and Fanny desire only to be together?

A picnic on Hampstead Heath

Away from the watchful glances of family and friends, Keats and Fanny flirt and kiss.

• How does this moment change everything?

The Isle of Wight

Keats and Brown go to the Isle of Wight, as Brown puts it, ‘for some undisturbed writing and carousing.’

• Fanny, I have no money. In fact I am in debt. I must

earn, I must write and make a living. If I fail, though I hate to

think on it, then I must make way so another may marry and adore you as I wish to. – Keats

Romantic or realistic? Spend time discussing Keats’ explanation to the distressed Fanny. What does his explanation tell us about his ambition and desire?

• ‘No! I will not be adored ever again by you or by anyone! I hate you!’ – Fanny

Were you surprised by Fanny’s outburst?

Fanny is at a loss as she waits for news from Keats. She mopes around the house, is mean to Toots and struggles to get out of bed.

• When I don’t hear from him it is as if I’ve died, as if the air is sucked out from my lungs and I am left desolate, but when I receive a letter I know our world is real. It’s the one I care for. – Fanny

When the letters arrive how does Campion show Fanny’s change of mood?

Brawnes even though Brown has endeavoured to keep them apart.

How does this scene shape our understanding of Keats, his view of life and his regard for Fanny?

A poetry lesson

‘I cannot restrain my credibility longer. Miss Brawne, is this really you or are you acting?’ – Brown

Fanny arrives at Wentworth Place intent on arriving at an understanding of poetry.

• Why does Brown question Fanny’s motives?

• How does Fanny respond?

• What do we learn of Keats’ motives in this scene?

Valentine’s Day

‘Darling Valentine I am not sure if you should have a kiss for your amber enchantress eyes or a whipping! Yours, the Suitcase’

Brown claims that the valentine message was meant to amuse Fanny and to protect Keats.

‘John, she’s what? A poetry scholar one week, and what, a military expert the next? It is a game. It is a game to her, she collects suitors.’

• Why do you think Brown sent Fanny the valentine message? Do you think Brown would ‘bed’ Fanny if he had the chance?

• Why is Keats so upset?

• How does Fanny behave?

Next door neighbours

When the Brawnes move into the Dilkes’ half of Wentworth House, romance blossoms. Keats immerses himself in the life of the Brawne family. Brown does his best to keep the households divided. Fanny’s presence is intoxicating and Keats finds himself both distracted and inspired.

• Brown establishes the rules of the shared household. What makes this scene humorous?

Bright Star

SCREEN EDUCATION 12

• What sentiments does Keats convey in his letters? What does Fanny offer in reply?

• In one of the letters from the Isle of Wight, Keats tells Fanny:

Listen, I love you more in that I believe you have liked me for my own sake – I have met with women whom I really think would like to be married to a Poem and to be given away by a Novel.

Why is this acknowledgement so important?

Keats is ill

On his return from a trip to London, Keats becomes seriously ill and must rest.

• ‘I am simply determined to preserve the life of my friend.’ – Brown

‘I was wondering where you were.’ – Keats

‘I get anxious if I don’t see her.’ – Keats

‘I have been waiting to be with you the whole day.’ – Fanny

Does Brown act in Keats’ best interests when he insists that Fanny must not see the ailing Keats?

A trip to Italy

‘Well, he has to go, He won’t live through another winter in England.’ – Dr Bree

A meeting is held and Keats’ health and wellbeing are discussed.

Does Keats’ have a say? What about Fanny?

Keats returns to Wentworth Place

Brown’s affair with Abigail, the Brawne’s maid, has repercussions for Keats. Abigail’s pregnancy means that Brown must provide for her and cannot meet his obligations to Keats. Keats is forced to move to a room in Kentish Town. After five weeks he cannot bear the separation from Fanny and he returns to Hampstead Village. Toots finds the exhausted and emaciated Keats collapsed in the garden.

• Mrs Brawne chooses to ignore gossip and allows Keats to stay. What moments confirm that Keats is happy to make a home with the Brawnes?

Goodbye

• Use the following quotationss to generate a discussion of Keats and Fanny’s thoughts and feelings before Keats’ departure.

‘Shall we awake and find all this is a dream? There must be another life, we can’t be created for this kind of suffering.’ – Fanny

‘I doubt that we will see each other again on this earth.’ – Keats

‘We have woven a web, you and I, attached to this world, but a separate world of our own invention. We must cut the threads Fanny.’ – Keats

‘Let’s pretend I will return in spring.’ – Keats

• What type of future do Fanny and Keats imagine for themselves?

• In the end they do not speak words of goodbye. Why does Campion portray their final moment together in this way?

SCREEN EDUCATION 13

Bright StarKeats’ death

The news of Keats’ death devastates Fanny.

• How does Campion convey Fanny’s grief in the final scenes and the closing credit sequence of Bright Star?

Discussing characters

John Keats – Ben Whishaw

• Campion’s Keats is engaged by the beauty of life and the burdens of being human. When does Campion make us aware of Keats’ sensitivity?

• How would Fanny describe Keats?

• How would Brown describe Keats?

Fanny Brawne – Abbie Cornish

Fanny is young and impetuous when she first meets Keats. Her relationship with Keats causes her to mature. Fanny goes from being the minx to someone with great gravitas.

• ‘Shush, or I’ll cut your hair in the night’ – Fanny

When does Fanny show herself to be the bossy older sister?

• When does Campion make us aware that Fanny is courageous?

• Writing as Brown, compose a letter to Keats that expresses his opinion of Fanny and attempts to persuade Keats to bring an end to the romance.

Charles Brown – Paul Schneider

Brown is abrasive and abrupt towards Fanny but generous and protective towards Keats.

• Why is Brown so resentful of Fanny’s presence in Keats’ life?

• ‘Your writing is the finest thing in my life.’ – Brown

When does Campion convey Brown’s admiration of, commitment to and love for Keats?

Discussing relationships

The dynamics between the characters are interesting to watch. Brown and Keats are poetic companions and friends but Brown and Fanny are social combatants. Fanny may be the bossy older sister but Samuel and Toots’ loyalty to her is beyond question. While Keats is yet to win over the critics, the Dilkes and their social circle admire his poetry. Keats seems to be at his happiest when he is in the company of the Brawne family.

• Compile an analysis of one of these relationships. Draw on both moments and statements from Bright Star to support your analysis.

• How does Campion portray family life?

Mrs Brawne – Kerry Fox

Mrs Brawne is a widow with three children.

• What does Mrs Brawne want for her children?

• Writing as Mrs Brawne, compose a letter to Mrs Dilke about her concerns for her eldest daughter.

Samuel and Margaret (Toots) – Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Edie Martin

Samuel and Toots are Fanny’s younger brother and sister.

• When does Campion show that Samuel and Toots want to please and protect Fanny?

• When does Campion show that Samuel and Toots love Keats?

Minor characters

– Maria Dilke– Charles Dilke– Tom Keats– Joseph Severn– John Reynolds– The Reynolds sisters– Leigh Hunt– Abigail

• What part do the minor characters play in shaping our knowledge and understanding of the story told by Bright Star?

SCREEN EDUCATION 14

The basket of biscuits, the pillow case, the valentine message, Keats’ letters, the butterflies, the nightingale, the key to the chest containing Keats’ possessions and Keats’ gifts to the Brawnes all carry symbolic meaning.

• What other symbols can be added to this list?

Choose five symbols that you regard as significant. Match each symbol with a quotation from the film. Write a brief explanation of why each symbol is significant.

• Visit the Bright Star website and download or draw the image of one of the love letters onto a square of paper. Fold the paper to make the shape of a star (just like the letters on the website).

Discussing production values

Understanding Bright Star involves an investigation of filmmaking techniques employed in telling the story. The way in which the film is constructed is a matter of camera angles and shots, framing, editing, sound, lighting, set design, costumes, make-up and props.

• Working with a partner, select a scene and complete an analysis of the production values of the scene. Use a PowerPoint slide presentation to share your findings with others in the class.

• How does Campion use silence to tell the lovers’ story?

• Examine and discuss Campion’s use of still frames.

Discussing Setting

The main geographic setting of Bright Star is Hampstead Village, North London. Campion takes us to Elm Cottage, where the Brawnes first lived and Wentworth House, the house that Brown and Keats shared with the Brawnes. Other settings include Well Walk, Keats’ room in Kentish Town and the paths and fields of Hampstead Heath.

• Consider the use of these different settings and explain what each setting contributes to the telling of the story.

Discussing symbols

A symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else beyond it. The thing is often a material object that is used to represent an idea.

SCREEN EDUCATION 15

Bright Star• What recurring visual images does the filmmaker use? What ideas do these images reinforce?

Online

The official website for Bright Star <http://www.brightstarthemovie.com> provides a production scrapbook and offers students the opportunity to learn about the making of the film.

More information about Bright Star can be found on the Internet Movie Database at <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810784/>.

View the trailer for Bright Star at <http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810011941/trailer> or <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7IwhVQa8Uk>.

Review

Locate reviews of Bright Star in newspapers, magazines and on the internet.

• What judgements do the reviewers make about Bright Star? Do you agree with the views expressed in the reviews?

• Complete a detailed analysis of one of the reviews that you have located. Your response should address the following questions:

• What is the purpose of the review?

• Who is the intended audience of the review?

• What views are expressed about Bright Star?

• What evidence is provided to support these views?

• What values and assumptions inform the reviewer’s views?

• Do you agree with the reviewer’s interpretation of Bright Star?

• Write a review of Bright Star. Draw on the structure and features of other film reviews to develop your review.

Bright Star

SCREEN EDUCATION 16

Respond

• ‘Bright Star is a story of first love.’ Discuss.

• ‘Bright Star is a portrait of love and loss.’ Discuss.

• ‘This is life, things of immense beauty and things of great pain.’ Use this claim to discuss the story told by Bright Star.

• ‘Bright Star reveals the life-altering power of love.’ Discuss.

Jane Campion Filmography

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, Australia. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a Bachelor of Arts, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, Campion started making films in the early 1980s at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. She is now regarded as an internationally successful filmmaker.

Her credits as a director and producer include:

Peel (1982)Passionless Moments (1983)A Girl’s Own Story (1984)Two Friends (1986)Sweetie (1989)An Angel at my Table (1990)The Piano (1993)The Portrait of a Lady (1996)Holy Smoke! (1999)In the Cut (2003)Bright Star (2009)

References

John Keats: The Major Works, edited with an introduction and notes by Elizabeth Cook, Oxford World’s Classics, 2001.

John Keats: Selected Letters, introduction by Jon Mee and edited by Robert Gittings, Oxford World’s Classics, 2002.

Andrew Motion, Keats: A Biography, Faber and Faber, 1997.

Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hopsctoch Filmshttp://www.hopscotchfilms.com.au

This study guide was produced by ATOM.

© ATOM 2009 editor@atom.org.au

For more information on Screen Education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit <http://www.metromagazine.com.au>. For hundreds of articles on Film as Text, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit <http://www.theeducationshop.com.au>.

SCHOOL GROUP BOOKINGS > For the first time, Hopscotch Films and Screen Education magazine are offering teachers the chance to organise school group bookings to take their classes and other teachers to see Bright Star before the film opens to the general public on 26 December 2009. Specific dates and times for school group bookings will vary from cinema to cinema, so please contact your nearest cinema below. School group bookings can be made for sessions from 19 October 2009 onwards.

NATIONAL

Dendy Cinemas (nationally)Anita Huynh02 8594 9006anitah@dendy.com.au

Event / Greater Union / BCC Cinemas (nationally)Alice Daviesalice_davies@ahl.com.au

Village Cinemas (nationally)1300 993 150

ACT

Hoyts Cinemas, ACT Rachel Drill 03 8662 3524actgroupsales@hoyts.com.au

NSW

Avalon & Collaroy Cinemas, NSW02 9913 2866warriewood@unitedcinemas.com.au

Empire Cinemas Bowral, NSWGerard02 4861 4676gerard@empirecinema.com.au

Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, NSWRachell Baker02 8969 8789rachell@orpheum.com.au

Hoyts Cinemas, NSW Elizabeth Vidakovic02 9609 3965 nswgroupsales@hoyts.com.au

Palace Cinemas, NSWTania Lestal02 9346 8799tania.lestal@palacecinemas.com.au

Randwick Ritz Cinemas, NSWPaula Stevens02 9399 7758functions@ritzcinema.com.au

Roseville Cinema, NSWLisa Van Pinxteren02 9416 8555lisa@rosevillecinemas.com.au

QLD

AMC Stafford Cinemas, QLDMatthew Hanslow 07 3211 1011 matthew.hanslow@a-m-c.com.au

Cineplex Balmoral, QLDCandy Tyler07 3395 6086candy@cineplex.com.au

Gold Coast Arts Centre, QLDJessica Graham07 5588 4000graham@gcac.com.au

Palace Cinemas, QLDDimity Powell07 3852 1595dimity.powell@palacecinemas.com.au

SA

Hoyts Cinemas, SA Rebecca Handyside08 8332 7685sagroupsales@hoyts.com.au

Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, SA0404 071 717events@palacenova.com

Trak Cinemas, SA08 8361 2353

TAS

Village Cinemas Hobart, TAS 03 6234 7288

VIC

Cameo Cinemas Belgrave, VICAnne-Marie Varrasso03 9754 3766 amv@cameocinemas.com.au

Cinema Nova, VICSue Curwood03 9347 2573groups@cinemanova.com.au

Classic Cinema, VICMaleela Gabriel Jullyan03 9524 7922maleela.jullyan@readingcinemas.com.au

Hoyts Cinemas, VICEmily Wigney03 8662 3522vicgroupsales@hoyts.com.au

Mornington Cinemas, VICIan McCann03 5975 5141

Palace Balwyn, Como, George, Kino & Westgarth Cinemas, VICTara Williams03 9816 1777tara.williams@palacecinemas.com.au

Palace Brighton Bay & Dendy Brighton Cinemas, VICCatherine Ellis 0401 646 721 catherine.ellis@palacecinemas. com.au

Sun Theatre Yarraville, VICKris Jansson03 9362 0336kris@suntheatre.com.au

WA

Cygnet Cinema, WAMarion Newman08 9367 1663cygnet.cinema@bigpond.com

Hoyts Cinemas, WA Danielle Denner08 9316 0428wagroupsales@hoyts.com.au

Windsor Cinema, WAJessica Braine08 9386 3554jessica@lunapalace.com.au