Poetry and Pop Culture

The machinimaization of Langston Hughes’ poem “Suicide’s Note” detracts from the poem’s original tone. By using footage from a video game, as well as music used in a videogame ad campaign, a casual tone is created instead of a serious poem. It may have not been the creator’s intent but the visual aspect was too cartoony and bright. Also the fact that one comes back it life in a videogame means that suicide becomes a point of hilarity instead of an issue of morality. The portrayal of the poem in this way severely detracts from my enjoyment of the text. I have trouble taking it seriously in the context of a videogame I played when I was younger while trash talking my friends.

Within Popular Culture there is a great of amount of poetry and poetic references. In movies there are often poetic references. For example in the action movie Equilibrium, William Yeats’ poem He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven is quoted. In the moment in which this poem is quoted Sean Beans character has been caught for feeling and is about to be killed by Christian Bale’s character. In this instance the quote enhances the moment dramatically. Not only do the lines spoken refer to the situation, but also the use of poetry as a empathetic device enriches the dialogue and scene. In fact the choice of poetry connects deeply to the theme of the movie, which is that it is repression of emotions can lead to the destruction of humanity.