Poetry & Movies

I watched two movies over the weekend. The first was "Moulin Rouge." I hadn't seen it before & loved it. I'm not sure if any of it could be considered poetry, per se, but then again, songs are poems, too, just set to music.

However, the surprise was re-watching "Serenity." Based on the cancelled-far-too-soon sci-fi western "Firefly," "Serenity" continues our heroes' journeys. The thing that struck me was the following dialogue:

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The Operative: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. [to Inara] Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.

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I had forgotten all about that line. I Googled it and discovered it was about a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Indeed, as Mal says, it's about an albatross that is a good luck sign until it gets shot & killed by someone on the ship. "That girl" the Operative mentions is River, a psychic teenager who also happens to be a dangerous weapon. She, too, reminds me of a poem: quiet, deep, graceful.

This is just one more reason why Joss Whedon is an absolute genius.