Unpreeceding Imagination
20.000 Leagues under the sea (1954)

Scientific spirit spread through the world in the nineteenth century. Particularly in Europe, in countries such as France, England and Germany, confidence on progress coming from science became an essential part of the way people understood their own world. The invention of electricity, trains, combustion motors, telegraph (and afterwards telephone) and many other wonders made humanity believe in infinite possibilities coming out of its capacity of creation and realization.

In this context, with so many well-succeded realizations made by scientists and researchers, literature couldn´t be left out. Books such as the ones written by Jules Vern (20.000 leagues under the sea, Round the world in 80 days, Voyage to the center of earth,...), H. G. Wells (The invisible man, Time machine, War of Worlds,...) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) incorporated the dynamics of the reality in which its authors were living (science, creation, criativity, the belief that there were no boundaries for human capacity).

Among all of them, Jules Vern's creations gathered enormous success (deserved) and repercussion all over the world. Vern was sent to Paris to become a lawyer (just like his father), he was not interested in this carreer and started writing stories to pay his debts and living necessities. As soon as the stories were published they became a great success of sales and he became one of the first writers to live on authoral rights.

He tried on his books to announce the great victories of humanity, at the same time he showed some fear regarding the possibilities and limitations of technology. His stories mixed action, a certain suspense, fantastic machines and exotic places.

In 1954, Disney produced a movie version of this literature classic. Hired known stars of the period (such as Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Peter Lorre) and invested in remarkable effects for the time. The film may seem a bit slow for today's audience, but it is worth to be seen. After all Vern's immortal work never looses its charm and value!

The Story

Ships that go and never come back. Sailors that could never return to their families. A mistery for everyone that lives in touch with the sea, people who respect and fear its forces, but know that experienced sailors don't forget the way back home. In this difficult situation there are no ships that can take professor Pierre Aronnax (Paul Lukas) to Shangai. He studies sea life and with many difficulties can board in a boat hired by the american government to find out about the missing boats.

Imagining they were going to fight some sea monster, the crew lead by Ned Lang (Kirk Douglas) gets prepared for the worst situation. They are really about to face a colossal "monster", never seen by any of them. It was called Nautilus.

Nautilus is captain Nemo's submarine (Nemo is performed by James Mason). A visionary that united science and technique to discover a machine that could make mankind study the oceanic world. A machine never made until then.

But why did this man get isolated of humanity? What new information he could give to men? What could he tell professor Aronnax and Ned Lang?

For Teachers

1- To work with the support of ficction literature (created by writers such as Jules Vern, Mary Shelley or H. G. Wells) turn students our allies. The qualities on their works, the fantastic characteristics of their stories, the surprises in the narrative and many other things on the books make students interest grow and allow excellent learning opportunities.

2- For this situation to happen it is a need that teachers have read and know quite well the stories. It is not possible to read the text in class. It is up to the teacher to show the highlights of the story, select ideas to develop activities and even cheer up the pupils to the work.

3- Most part of the books mentioned in this text (the invisible man, Round the World in 80 days, Frankenstein,...) have been filmed. The use of the films at the same time of the books is recommended. It is very interesting to see how students get surprised to find out that movies are not (usually) in the same level of books.

4- Always try to show the context in which the book was written. Identify the author, talk about the period in which the book was written (what was going on, how people lived, other exponents of culture,...), give informations about the country in which it was developed, and as many informations as you can. This helps students to understand the story because it establishes connections among the world of the time and the ideas presented in the book, giving information for the students to understand the motivations for the author to produce this work.

João Luís Almeida Machado
Master Degree in Education, Arts and History of Culture (Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, em São Paulo); Professor at Faculdade Senac in Campos do Jordão; Middle and High School teacher; writes weekly columns for the website Planeta Educação (www.planetaeducacao.com.br).

Send e-mails, comments, suggestions and critics for:
profjoaoluis@planetaeducacao.com.br

Technical Information

20.000 thousand leagues under the sea

Country/Year of production:- USA, 1954
Lenght of time/Gender:- 126 min., Fiction
Director: Richard Fleischer
Screenwriter: Earl Felton
Cast:- Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas,
Peter Lorre, Robert J. Wilke, Ted de Corsia.

Links

- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/20000LeaguesUndertheSea-1000079/ (in english)
- http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046672 (in english)