In Tom Gunning’s article on A Trip to the Moon (1902), he writes that “The performances, sets, and theatrical tricks in this film contrast sharply with a later cinema practice of realism and transparency… Méliès was not offering an inadequate approximation of realism but a different style, based on acknowledged theatricality and illusion- a fairyland with a sense of human and irony about itself,” (48).
In this way, I see A Trip to the Moon as being a crucial precedent for a wave of heavily-stylized films to come within the next few decades, particularly in Germany’s Weimar Republic. Like the famous mise-en-scène presentations of such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Metropolis (1927), A Trip to the Moon contains a unique visual setting contextualized within an aesthetic sphere meant to embody the mood of the film. The fantastic, whimsical set design of A Trip to the Moon, full of mystical imagery and nods to stereotypical imaginings of science and philosophy, speaks to the film’s exploration of the bizarre and unknown world of space travel in 1902 Europe, just as Caligari’s set of harsh angles and painted-on shadows emphasizes social dissonance and existential dilemma faced by the Weimar Republic in the years leading up to the rise of Hitler. In this way, Méliès can be seen as a pioneer of mise-en-scène, building a foundation onto which later filmmakers could construct their own heavily-stylized interpretations of topical social issues and realities.
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