Trip to the Moon: Reaction Paper

Labrador, Ana Micaela B.

2011-02178

If I had been present at the premiere of Trip to the Moon, I would have been very impressed by the technicality of the film, especially considering the technological limitations they had at the time. The mere fact that each shot was colored by hand already would have had a large impact on me, knowing how long it must have taken to go over each shot over and over again. Even the props were very imaginative; it was interesting how they used various tricks and illusions for ‘special effects,’ in lieu of the computer editing we have access to at the present. Such effort and innovation is a great example of the creative genius of man.

The story itself is one that would have stuck with me at the time. The film was made in 1902, many years before the first landing on the moon. To have something as ‘impossible’ as a trip to the moon depicted in film would have made me think as a member of the audience: Is it really possible for technology to be so highly evolved in the future that it will enable us to go beyond the Earth’s atmosphere? The film goes even further with such questions that, even to this day, seem absurd, such as: Are there other forms of life in outer space? With such thought–provoking questions tackled by the film, it’s no wonder it became an iconic work of art in film history.