M!

Mark Ismay

Flatland / Where will I be in twelve months time?

 

To
The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL
And H.C. IN PARTICULAR
This Work is Dedicated
By a Humble Native of Flatland
In the Hope that
Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries
Of THREE DIMENSIONS
Having been previously conversant
With ONLY TWO
So the Citizens of that Celestial Region
May aspire yet higher and higher
To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE or EVEN SIX Dimensions
Thereby contributing
To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION
And the possible Development
Of that most and excellent Gift of MODESTY
Among the Superior Races
Of SOLID HUMANITY

 

 

- from the preface of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.

I do wonder where I will be at this time next year. What will the limits of my imagination be?

 

Alice in Wonderland (1903 silent film)

I harbour a long-lived attraction to classic films (the 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis is a dear favourite of mine). However intangible, I find the quality of story telling to be engaging in a way that modern films are not. From an artistic perspective, I find it fascinating to watch the technology of visual storytelling evolve over the eras as the prolific directors try to push their respective technological (and also Hays Code censorship) boundaries.

I find silent films endearing for this boundary-pushing reason.

This restored version of the original film adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland impress me for its visual effects, particularly evident in the scene depicting Alice shrinking. I am aghast imagining the technical hurdles successfully circumvented to achieve this effect in 1903.

As an aside, given how persuasive Alice in Wonderland is in our popular culture I find it almost surreal to realise that this film was produced a mere 37 years after the original novel was written. It's a shame that Lewis Carroll was not alive to see it.

I wonder what he would have thought?