Annabel Lee – Adaptation
This is another adaptation of the poem ‘Annabel Lee’ published and created by Brian Cassidy in December 2008. It is around 2 and 1/2 minutes long and uses musical sound effects to put emphasis on certain parts of the poem. The reason i choose this adaptation of edgar allen poe’s poem is because of the symbolism used in it. I really like the idea of not having the typical young girl and young boy falling in love and in this adaptation that is not the case. Cassidy uses nature to represent this dark romantic love story, at the same time still managing to support the idea of a grieving man who misses his soulmate Annebel Lee. He uses butterflies to represent the the narrator and Annebel Lee, and flowers to represent the angels who took her away from him. The video starts of with an old man walking up the hill and the voice over starting his story (Annebel Lee poem). Then a tear rolls down the mans cheek and the story continues within that tear. I really like the idea of this as it shows that the story he is sharing is not only an upsetting story but it is also one that he has to tell someone as he can’t hold it in any longer. It also symbolizes the man not having any control over what happened by visually showing the viewer all the memories that he has within that one tear that he involuntarily let escape. Love itself is symbolized by butterflies emphasizing the beauty and freedom of love as well as the darkness of it through the use of blacks and purples as the narrator talks about him losing Annebel Lee. Furthermore, the butterfly representing Annebel Lee remains white contrasting with all the dark colours expressing more the beauty of his love and the envy of the angels. What i also found interesting was having the faces of a young boy boy and girl present throughout the video, once in the tear and once in the moon. At first i didnt think anything of it because the poem itself talks about how young they were, but after watching the whole video i realised it was to ensure the viewers would recognise the power of their love as the rest of the story is shown through nature (the butterflies, flowers, etc). By having the image in both the tear and the moon, Cassidy is presenting the idea that where ever Annebel Lee is now, she will remain part of the narrators life and he will always look up to her as she will always remain his soulmate. Overall, i believe this adaptation focused on enlightening the viewer with the idea that in the narrator’s mind his love with continue to live on forever, both in his heart as well as in the nature around him and Cassidy was really successful is using original mediums and themes to portray this detailed analysis of the ideas behind edgar allen poe’s poem.