“Absolution"

By Crystal Lee Lucas

A Trip To The Moon (1902) Directed By: Georges Méliès

cinema firsts: a trip to the moon (1902) directed by george méliès

the first science fiction movie & was fourteen minutes long

Just thinking about postwar!Levi and him watching a film in a movie theater for the first time. It’s well after The Rumbling, and everyone was talking about the new “moving pictures” showing up in these newly built movie theatres. Levi had never been one to attend theatre productions or music concerts before, but he was curious to see what the fuss was all about, so he goes one night with Onyakopon and Yelena.

And what he sees is nothing short of spectacular to him.

People in fantastical costumes traveling beyond this world and meeting new creatures Levi had never thought of in his wildest dreams. After that first time, he started going every weekend with Onyakopon, eager to view new stories and places long gone, forgotten, or never created.

But one afternoon, he sits in the theater and watches as the screen fills with soldiers attacking innocent, unarmed people. A woman holds a child with tears in her eyes, but the soldiers march forward. There’s no sound, but Levi can hear every pop of the guns, every cry of the women and children. He stands up and leaves.

Onyakopon finds him sitting in the lobby, his head in his hands.

“You ok, Levi?” He asks.

Levi looks up, sweat on his brow. “Yeah…it was just a little too realistic.”

earliest science fiction movies (that aren’t lost)

the mechanical butcher (1895)

a trip to the moon (1902)

the impossible voyage (1904)

under the seas (1907)

the airship destroyer (1909)

frankenstein (1910)

dr. jekyll and mr. hyde (1913)

aelita (1924)

the lost world (1925)

metropolis (1927)

Costume design by Wilhelm (William Charles John Pitcher) for a character in the operetta Le Voyage dans la Lune' or A Trip to the Moon, 1883,1898, or 1910

nothing in particular i just felt like obsessing over silent films lmao--

The a trip to the moon references in Lisa Frankenstein were made for me and me alone I think

history + film first

In the quietude of my chamber, I find myself pondering upon the phases of the moon, that mysterious orb that waxes and wanes in the vast expanse of the sky. As I trace the silvery journey of Luna through her cyclical metamorphosis, I discern a reflection of my own mutable existence, an existence once shrouded in the dusky veils of uncertainty and ignorance. There were periods when my soul, like the crescent moon, stood in partial illumination, revealing only fragments of its true essence. Shadows draped my spirit, and I walked a path scattered with the debris of my own missteps. With each passing phase and passage of time, I delve deeper into the labyrinthine corridors of my own being. On this pilgriamge in the realm of introspection, words become inadequate companions. The soul, weary of the trivial discourse, seeks solace in the profound silence of self-reflection. Through the darkened hours of my mistakes and loss, I became a beacon, not of flawlessness, but of resilience. The past, like the waning moon, retreats into the obscurity of memory, making way for the burgeoning radiance of a new self. It is a communion with the divine, where the essence of the self converges with the cosmic energies that govern the celestial dance. Amidst the celestial dance of the moon phases, I, too, have evolved—a woman transformed, imperfect yet profound, in the perennial journey of becoming. 🌙

Photography by Crystal Lee Lucas (2023)

Le voyage dans la lune (George Méliès, 1902)

Poster by Nazarena Montalbetti

#4 - 8/1/24

A trip to the moon:

One of the very first science fiction films, this film about a voyage to the Moon is a fun film that has an impressive scope and visual style for such an early film.

It's a Wonderful Life:

A big classic that was time and time again parodied and referenced, which is always the proof of greatness. Everyone knows of the part where the hero says "i wish i wasn't born" and then is shown an alternate reality in which everyone in his life is worse off without him, but it's so much more than that. It's a movie about taking a stand against bullies and tyrants, a movie about how it doesn't matter how miserable a life is, it's still worth living, and how the poorest, most pathetic man can still influence others and change their lives, even without meaning to.

If I had a nickel for every movie where A Trip to the Moon was a major motif, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice

Like a little black dress

You're a faded moon