Part 5

• The Book of Kells in popular culture

Unlike any other book of its age, the Book of Kells has implanted itself into the popular conscientious of the western world. Two recent examples of this are the Academy Award nominated animated film The Secret of Kells, and the Google Doodle used in place of the Google logo for St. Patrick’s Day, 2012.

Movie Still from The Secret of Kells (2009)

The Secret of Kells (2009) is a feature length animated film telling the story of the production of the manuscript from the standpoint of a novice monk Brendan. It incorporates elements of Irish folklore and history to tell a story that is highly enjoyable. The film makers clearly took their time to research elements of the production of the manuscript into the film. The story included Viking raids, references to St. Colum Cille, Iona and the Gall nuts used to produce the ink for the text. The film successfully incorporates insular motifs without appearing wholly durative of the forms contained within the manuscripts.

St Patrick's day 2012 Google Doodle

The 2012 St. Patrick’s Day Google Doodle, produced by Jennifer Hom, was based on the Book of Kells. Hom noted that “she wanted to go deeper than clichéd shamrocks and leprechauns and wee pots o’ gold (Cavna, 2012).” The Doodle, produced in forty hours over four days, takes elements directly off the Chi Rho page, the human head in the second O being a prim example, as well as interpreting elements of the swirl and interlace art work found throughout the manuscript.

• Summary

There is little that can be said about the Book of Kells that has not been said already. It represents the height of insular manuscript production although it was never completed. The artwork contained on its pages have awed and inspired a millennium of onlookers, although the scribes who wrote it did not take the same care with their words. It has been stolen, recovered, rebound, defaced, and repaired; yet thought it all it has remained, in a word, magnificent.

 

·         Reference Page

Analysis of the book of kells. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2012 from the Trinity College Dublin website:

http://www.tcd.ie/Library/preservation/research/analysis-book-kells.php

Brown, P. (1980). the Book of kells: forty-eight pages and details in color from the manuscript in

trinity college, dublin. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Brunner, D., Fleteren, V. V., Young, P. (Producer), Moore, T., Twomey, N. (Director). (2009) the Secret of kells

[Motion picture]. Ireland, France, Belgum: Celluloid Dreams.

Cavana, M. (2012, March 17). St. patrick’s day google doodle: the emerald style! Artist reveals the real inspiration

behind elegant irish logo. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/st-patricks-day-google-doodle-artist-illuminates-the-true-inspiration-behind-todays-elegant-irish-design/2012/03/16/gIQAIHQnHS_blog.html?tid=pm_entertainment_pop

Meehan, B. (1994). the Book of kells: an illustrated introduction to the manuscript in trinity college dublin. London,

England: Thames & Hudson.

Simpson, B. (Editor). (2010). the Book of kells [DVD-ROM]. Available from http://www.bookofkells.com/the-dvd.htm
Stalley, R. (1994). Investigating the book of kells [Review of the book the Book of Kells: forty-eight pages

and details in color from the manuscript in trinity college, dublin¸ by B. Meehan]. Irish Arts Review Yearbook, 94-97. Retrieved from http://irishartsreview.com/irisartsreviyear/pdf/1994/20492768.pdf.bannered.pdf

Sullivan, E. (1986). the Book of kells. New York, NY: Crescent Books