amy: The Name of the Rose

Oh my. I must blog about The Name of the Rose in relation to our classes. Thank goodness that this is not a film writing course because I think I could say quite a bit about the title and the "romance" in the story.

Putting aside my prejudice, I really enjoyed watching the film in context of the medieval time period. I find that movies have the ability to take learned ideas and, if they are well done, put them into a coherent visual picture. It helps greatly in the learning process.

In the Name of the Rose, I am able to see the downfall of the medieval picture of life, which was essentially existence with almost too clear a meaning. From a modern worldview, I never pictured this "classic education" to be as stifling as it now seems. The movie shows that there needs to be meaning in life, for it does not condemn the faith of the genuine priests. Yet at the same time, this faith needs to follow the logical and "modern worldview," because a faith must not contradict the facts of life if it is truth. I think William of Baskerville represents this balance of extreme compliance without exploration and extreme modernity without meaning.

The books in the movie also tied in with our class discussions of how books were made during the medieval time period. I have always been a bibliophile, so the fact that each book had its own character through handwriting makes it all the more precious. The Name of the Rose really put the emphasis on the beauty and importance of books. The labyrinth of knowledge was such a beautiful depiction of the man truly searching for knowledge. Overall, I received an important insight into the trials of Medieval life and the difficulty a scholar would have to struggle against in his pursuit of truth. Not to mention the difficulties each artist would face in the stifling lack of creativity.