George Melies\'s Movie \"A Trip

¶ … George Melies's movie "A trip to the moon" is considered to be the first example of science fiction cinema in history. First of all, the movie's theme is an event which, at the point that the movie was made at, was a future event. Indeed, in 1902, humanity only dreamed that, at some point, it could actually send a spaceship to the Moon and safely lend a human being there. The theme of a trip to the moon was part of a number of science fiction writing, most notably Wells and Jules Verne and was eventually put into Melies's cinematographic representation.

At the same time, the storyline in Melies's movie is set outside everyday reality, as science fiction stories generally are. In order for his characters and actions to evolve, they are sent to the Moon, at that point an element definitely outside everyday realities (it had never been reached before, it only presented itself as a celestial body). The movie, in fact, fulfills several potential criteria for the settings: it is set in the future (the action could not be performed at the time the movie was created), it was set in a different world (on the Moon) and in space, which was not known or researched at that point.

This brings another characteristic of science fiction works present in Melies's creation as well: the existence of scientific objects and advanced technology with which the characters generally interact in order for them to fulfill their mission. In the case of Melies's movie, these technological advancements abound, starting with the initial mean of getting into space (a huge cannon, a space capsule) and continuing throughout the movie.

It is certainly not only the scientific and technological objects that make the movie a science fiction one, but also many of the actions of the main characters, as well as some of the secondary characters. The existence of people such as the Selenites, who burst whenever they are hit, is such an example, as is the fact that the capsule falls into the water to the bottom of the ocean and is rescued from there (although, in broad lines, this is indeed how things happen nowadays as well, although, at the beginning of the 19th century, this must have certainly belonged to the science fiction genre).

Finally, it is worth pointing out that the movie also involved nature laws that, at that point, belonged to the science fiction. The main such nature law was the law of gravity: at the moment of the movie, there was no perception that gravity could be in fact surpassed and that la launch in space was a possible endeavor for the human race.