Cinematic Mythology in the Narrative and Design of Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.560

Keywords:

animation, celtic art, cinema, design, fractals, tale, christianity, visual design

Abstract

This paper examines the Irish animated film The Secret of Kells. The conflict of the pagan world with the monotheistic world has been going on for millennia, and the reflections of these conflicts are clearly manifested both in the religious and artistic fields. In different geographies of the world, the call of mother nature still resonates in the depths of the subconscious of most people, images of pagan faith are transmitted from generation to generation and become visible in the works of artists. The life story of Brendon, the hero of the film, which is the subject of this article, makes viewers feel the sensitivity of cinematic aesthetics and folkloric narratives and mythologies through a characteristic Irish animation. The ethnic expressive style of Irish animation has been studied in detail in this article both in the sense of animated cinema and cultural studies.

Author Biography

Yasemin Kılınçarslan, Usak University

Yasemin Kılınçarslan is an Assoc. Professor of Cinema Studies at the Usak University Communication Faculty where she directs stop-motion animated films and teaches cinema history and cinema theories. She is underwater photographer and leads projects about the undersea of the west region of Turkey.

References

AlKhayat, M. (2020). Celtic Myths in Cartoon Saloon's The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014): A Critique of Irish Postcolonial Animation. Textual Turnings: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal in English Studies, 2(1), 40-62. doi: 10.21608/ttaip.2020.133416

Burke, L. (2009). Drawing conclusions: Irish animation and national cinema. Estudios Irlandeses, 4, 187-91.

Campbell, J. and Moyers, B. (2011). The power of myth. Anchor.

Campbell, J. (1949;2008). The hero with a thousand faces.New World Library.

Crow, W.B. (1972). A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism. Sphere.

Dell, C. (2010). Monsters-A Bestiary of the Bizarre. Thames & Hudson

.

Eliade, M. (2012). Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative Religion. University of Chicago Press.

Jacobs, J. (Ed.). (1892). Celtic fairy tales. Castrovilli Giuseppe.

Lilly, S. (2008). Ancient Celtic Coin Art. Wooden Books.

Monaghan, P. (2014). The encyclopedia of Celtic mythology and folklore. Infobase publishing.

Price, B. (2011). Celtic myths. Oldcastle Books.

Rank, O. (2015). The myth of the birth of the hero: A psychological exploration of myth. JHU Press.

Spartz, J. T. (2015). The Secret of Kells: Through a Forest of Darkness and Light. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, 2(3), 184-188.

Vogler, C. (1998). The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Michael Wiese Productions.

Yeats, W. B. (2013). Irish fairy and folk tales. Read Books Ltd.

Downloads

Published

2023-12-20

How to Cite

Kılınçarslan, Y. (2023). Cinematic Mythology in the Narrative and Design of Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 11(2), 225–249. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.560

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023): Winter

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Yasemin Kılınçarslan

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.