When we sat down to watch The Name of the Rose I thought that it
would be another boring movie that the professor really liked but didn't make
sense to the rest of us at all. However, this after watching it I realized how
important movies like these are to us as a culture. Living in the 21st century
it is easy to take for granted all the access to literature and knowledge that
we have. By watching movies like this we are reminded just how valuable this
knowledge is and how it contributes to our everyday life. This movie had so
many different ideas packed into it, for me I took away the idea of how
important books and knowledge are to us and how they can impact our lives in
different ways.
I particularly liked how in the movie the
young apprentice, Adso, didn't understand why William (Sean Connery) was so
obsessed with finding the books and saving them. He had to grow to understand
why this type of knowledge could save people, such as the village girl from
living such destitute lives. I think that this is an important lesson that we
can take away from the film. That without the knowledge that we have come to
rely on we would slip back into the "Dark Ages". This is not to say
that all our knowledge is necessary or very important but it is pivotal to how
far we have come and how far we hope to go.
Another reason why this film is so
impactful is all the symbolism that it has packed in. It shows the depravity of
man through the deformities in the monks, all the issues they have can be
attributed to how deprived they are of knowledge and books. While in contrast
we see how important knowledge is by looking at how healthy William and Adso
are throughout the film. This contrast is obvious but is easily skipped over
because it doesn't seem as important. For me this shows how we as people could
take two paths through life. We can either become deformed or warped by going
through life without seeking knowledge or being afraid of it. Or we can go
through life being happy and health by feeding our minds with new knowledge and
ideas.
