Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination by Matthew Solomon

Author:Matthew Solomon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781438435824
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2011-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

A Trip to the Moon as Féerie

So what does it mean to approach Méliès's A Trip to the Moon as a féerie? In the first instance, this means to not look at the film as a “precursor” of whatever ulterior phenomenon (classical narrative cinema, science fiction, fantastic adventure films, and so forth) but as part of a “cultural series” (as André Gaudreault would call it) that reaches back into the nineteenth century.37 At the same time, féerie films, and A Trip to the Moon in particular, while participating in this tradition, or cultural series, also transform it formally as well as thematically. They are, in many respects, a different format, but still visibly rooted in the generic context to which they belong.

In terms of Ginisty's historical overview, A Trip to the Moon, just as Offenbach's Voyage dans la lune, belongs to the type of féerie that combines modern elements with more traditional ones. In this respect, the film presents a rather incoherent diegetic universe, the components of which are juxtaposed without trying to motivate this peculiar kind of blend at the level of a narrative logic. Just as in a stage féerie the guiding principle here seems to be the possibility to present a series of spectacular effects.

A 1903 distribution catalog for Star-Film productions in the United States lists the titles of the thirty scenes or “pictures” of which A Trip to the Moon is composed.38 The first one, “The Scientific Congress at the Astronomic Club,” already presents the tension between the seemingly modern and the fairy-tale–like fantastic elements that characterize Méliès's film. The scientists participating in the meeting appear in pointed hats and wide robes, looking rather like wizards or ancient astronomers. Young servants enter the meeting hall carrying telescopes, which a little later transform into seats. A comic element is introduced when one of the distinguished members of the Astronomic Club gets into a fight with Professor Barbenfouillis, who proposes the project, and both behave like quarreling schoolboys. When finally the group of men is formed that will take the trip to the moon, they change into relatively modern (but for 1902 still rather old-fashioned looking) travel clothes (Scene 2: Planning the Trip. Appointing the Explorers and Servants. Farewell). The following pictures (Scenes 3 and 4) show the workshop where the projectile is constructed and the foundries where the “monster gun” is cast and thus transfer the action into a modern industrialized environment in an attitude that is both admiring and ironic. The continuous changes in tone and atmosphere clearly indicate right from the start that A Trip to the Moon is anything but a faithful adaptation of Jules Verne's novel.

The following scenes (5–7) not only depict the explorers climbing into the rocket and the charging and firing of the huge gun, but also provide the occasion for the corps de ballet, appearing as bluejackets, to display their legs. Again, the generic conventions supersede narrative logic: instead of soldiers (as one would expect from the catalog description, detailing

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