Under cinema's spell
The realm of fantasy is a very wide one. In fact, its definition, when it comes to art, tends to depend on the artistic field. Pierre-George Castex defines it as “the brutal intrusion of mystery in real life”. This is the generic conception. Now if we try to narrow it down to the cinematographic field, a film of fantasy can just as well be one of science fiction as a horror movie. The point is to build the story on supernatural elements, from the world of magic and imagination. It doesn’t matter if the result is Alien or Harry Potter, it will still be a fantasy movie.
And so is A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès, who invented fantasy in cinema with this short film in 1902. But it does not come from anywhere. Most of the first productions categorised as fantasy draw inspiration from literature. Lots of stories had been told about going to the Moon at the time Méliès directed his film. We can think of course about Jules Vernes’ travels. Although he was probably the most famous, he was not the only one.
Since its birth, cinema had to face the concurrence of theatre. That’s why directors and producers soon started to develop special effects, to play on the scenery and the costumes as well as the angles of the camera to make a stronger impression on the spectator. And especially because cinema looks like real life, it is the perfect medium to make people believe in what is obviously unlikely to happen.
When I was growing up, I heard several times adults tell me that cinema is the literature for the lazy, because you don’t have to imagine by yourself. It is already there before your eyes. It was probably to encourage me to read but we need to acknowledge that visual culture does shape our imagination. In 1931, when James Whale adapted Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whale gave Dr Frankenstein’s monster a face that everybody now knows. It wasn’t the first adaption, not even in a movie, but thanks to the evolutions of the medium and to a very detailed costume of the creature, it sure made a strong impression on spectators. Since this movie, the creature has always had the same features such was the power of the visual culture in our collective imaginary. And indeed who could read Frankenstein nowadays and imagine the creature in a whole different way?
And so is A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès, who invented fantasy in cinema with this short film in 1902. But it does not come from anywhere. Most of the first productions categorised as fantasy draw inspiration from literature. Lots of stories had been told about going to the Moon at the time Méliès directed his film. We can think of course about Jules Vernes’ travels. Although he was probably the most famous, he was not the only one.
Since its birth, cinema had to face the concurrence of theatre. That’s why directors and producers soon started to develop special effects, to play on the scenery and the costumes as well as the angles of the camera to make a stronger impression on the spectator. And especially because cinema looks like real life, it is the perfect medium to make people believe in what is obviously unlikely to happen.
When I was growing up, I heard several times adults tell me that cinema is the literature for the lazy, because you don’t have to imagine by yourself. It is already there before your eyes. It was probably to encourage me to read but we need to acknowledge that visual culture does shape our imagination. In 1931, when James Whale adapted Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whale gave Dr Frankenstein’s monster a face that everybody now knows. It wasn’t the first adaption, not even in a movie, but thanks to the evolutions of the medium and to a very detailed costume of the creature, it sure made a strong impression on spectators. Since this movie, the creature has always had the same features such was the power of the visual culture in our collective imaginary. And indeed who could read Frankenstein nowadays and imagine the creature in a whole different way?
When I was growing up, I heard several times adults tell me that cinema is the literature for the lazy, because you don’t have to imagine by yourself. It is already there before your eyes. It was probably to encourage me to read but we need to acknowledge that visual culture does shape our imagination. In 1931, when James Whale adapted Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whale gave Dr Frankenstein’s monster a face that everybody now knows. It wasn’t the first adaption, not even in a movie, but thanks to the evolutions of the medium and to a very detailed costume of the creature, it sure made a strong impression on spectators. Since this movie, the creature has always had the same features such was the power of the visual culture in our collective imaginary. And indeed who could read Frankenstein nowadays and imagine the creature in a whole different way?