The Secret of Kells: Movies about Writing

Time to break from Poe because it’s St. Patrick’s Day. For some, it’s a time to drink. For others, it’s a time to give thanks for a lack of snakes in Ireland. For me, it’s an excuse to watch Irish movies.

Publishing - the dread of all editors and format gurus the writing world over. The spacing! The indents! The widows and orphans (not literal - it’s a ms word issue)! Well, imagine you are writing a book entirely by hand using ink from specialty ingredients and, oh yea, there’s an ancient Celtic evil after you.

This is the plot of The Secret of Kells, a beautiful animated film that does not get enough credit. The movie is a fictionalized version of how the famous Medieval illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, was finally finished. The only part that is really historical is how the book travels to Ireland to escape Viking raids and how Ireland at the time was split between Pagan roots and Christian beliefs.

The main character is Brendan, the nephew of Abbot Cellach (voiced by of course Brendan Gleeson), who is curious about the world outside of the abbey. He is apprenticed to the newly arrived Brother Aidan who has brought the Book of Kells with him after fleeing an attack. The diverse cast of illuminators within the abbey are in complete reverence to Brother Aidan who is a master at their craft. Also, Aidan has a cat named Pangur Ban that the young boy bonds with who is the best character in the story.

Brendan is sent beyond the abbey walls to look for berries to make ink from and is saved from a pack of wolves by a fairy named Aisling. Were there once wolves in Ireland? According to history sites on the internet (and another animated film from this same company) - yes. See, kids. This is totally educational.

Aisling tells him to beware of Crom Cuach, which in this film is a dark god of death and fear. I think in reality he was a chieftain god and had something to do with agriculture, but I need to brush up on my Irish mythology. I do know that according the story of St. Patrick, Crom Cuach was defeated by the famous bishops along with all of those “snakes”.

Tangent over. Brendan discovers that Crom has the eye of Colm Cille, a magnifying crystal used to create some of the greatest manuscripts. This is based on the stories of St. Columcille of Iona, an descendant of Irish kings turned priest who famously preserved the history of some really famous battles. The film does not mention that this guy was a military historian, just that Brendan should want to be as great of an illustrator as he was.
The fight for the “eye” coincides with a viking raid on the abbey. Brendan’s ultimate goal becomes protecting and training to finish the book. SPOILER ALERT: He spends his growing year traveling through Ireland and showing the book to people in order to give them hope.

If I had seen this as a little kid, I probably would’ve been upset that Aisling does not appear to Brendan in the same way when he’s an adult. But it makes total sense. He’s a monk, representative of a belief system that’s left her behind. And when he was a child, he still somewhere between the worlds of magic and reality. She’s a little bit like an imaginary friend in that sense. He knew she was real and there but knows she can’t be there for him in his adult life.

Besides being about how the book is the tome which “turned dark into light”, the movie is about both how stories are passed down and how much went into one of these illuminated manuscripts. I liked that Brother Aiden chose Brendan to finish the book because he saw the world with imagination and held onto his child-like wonder. Also, that we should all have a kitty cat to protect precious books.

Young Cassidy: Movies about Writing

I’ve been meaning to watch this film for years. TCM plays each St. Patrick’s Day so let’s do this.

Young Cassidy is a fictionalized account of Irish playwright Sean O’Casey’s autobiography. Johnny Cassidy (Rod Taylor) lives in a rundown house full of books with his mother and siblings who are all desperate for work in English controlled Dublin. Cassidy’s writing begins with protest pamphlets about Irish nationalism. The anonymous pamphlets end up inciting riots where many people are injured and killed. Cassidy decides that stirring up violence isn’t helping and decides to write newspaper articles and dramas about the plight of the Irish instead.

When Johnny publishes his first article and is paid for it, he celebrates by buying six copies of the paper and a book on drilling. He and other men around town form a militia, however, when the men start to think illogically, Cassidy leaves. After a battle (a weird battle that has an Irish stereotype where a man’s whiskey is destroyed and while he moans about it is shot), he writes a book about his fallen friends and is paid 15 pounds by an English publisher in Dublin. Hover, they pay him a check when he has no bank account so he can’t cash the damn thing.

The first play Johnny sends in is sent back the comment “a bit long on character and a bit short on plot”. He edits it, sends it again this time famous playwright, poet, and folklorist W.B. Yeats sends it back, saying, “a bit long on plot and a bit short on character.” The third time he sends the play, it’s lost. This is a legit scenario here. Eventually, one of his plays is produced and he explains to his girlfriend that “writing is love” to him and she takes it personally. Still, she’s supportive when his first play is a flop. Despite the lack of commercial success, the founders of the theatre Yeats and Lady Gregory encourage him to write more.

I’ve never read anything by Sean O’Casey, but plenty by Yeats and other Irish writers of the time who tried to use Irish culture as a way subtly fight back against the oppression of the English. I know enough about the different reasoning for Irish protest to call it oppression. I though his sister’s story was the saddest. Ella married the first man she could to escape Dublin, but he abandoned her with five children. Their mother speaks of Ella’s depression and current personality, according to Cassidy, “as if she had died”. Spoiler alert - Ella does die. But it adds to Cassidy’s fight and trying to fight using as he says it, “Beauty”. “[Ella] used to say that beauty was more important than bread. How do I explain that to her children?”

This film was always advertised to be about young exploits and Irish shenanigans than writing. Among his political struggles are the tales of his love affairs. His first notable relationship is with scandalous actress and kept woman Daisy (Julie Christie). His second is with bookshop worker Nora (Maggie Smith) who is impressed with his love of reading and sends him books he tried to steal. Why is there no public library in Dublin at this time? It’s supposed by like 1910 or 1911. Most major cities in America had libraries? What the heck.

But the movie is more about his love of country and how he could use writing to rebel. Nora makes a classist comment about needing a “high education” to be a writer.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Banshee (Copy)

Let’s just take a moment to recognize the lack of banshees used in popular media. Sure, Supernatural used it, as did several other “monster of the week” style TV shows. There are a few times cheesy horror movies have tried to bring back the Banshee without success. Darby O’Gil and the Little People made a good Banshee, which is pretty impressive for a Disney movie where they let Sean Connery sing. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (and because I’m sick to death of Leprechauns being everywhere) let’s give a little love to the Banshee.

First off, what is a Banshee (for those of you unfamiliar with the creature)? Long answer, it’s a spirit of a woman, sometimes young and sometimes a hag, who combs her hair and wails by the shores of rivers— Eh. Nevermind. Short answer, it’s a spirit that warns of or predicts death by shrieking.

Therefore, let us all shriek, long and loud, in honor of a piece of Irish culture that doesn’t get colored by first graders. Deep breath in and…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (gasp) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And done.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Banshee

Let’s just take a moment to recognize the lack of banshees used in popular media. Sure, Supernatural used it, as did several other “monster of the week” style TV shows. There are a few times cheesy horror movies have tried to bring back the Banshee without success. Darby O’Gil and the Little People made a good Banshee, which is pretty impressive for a Disney movie where they let Sean Connery sing. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (and because I’m sick to death of Leprechauns being everywhere) let’s give a little love to the Banshee.

First off, what is a Banshee (for those of you unfamiliar with the creature)? Long answer, it’s a spirit of a woman, sometimes young and sometimes a hag, who combs her hair and wails by the shores of rivers— Eh. Nevermind. Short answer, it’s a spirit that warns of or predicts death by shrieking.

Therefore, let us all shriek, long and loud, in honor of a piece of Irish culture that doesn’t get colored by first graders. Deep breath in and…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (gasp) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And done.