PHENAKISTOSCOPE
Literally a "decptive viewer" from Greek, this toy consisted of patterns painted on a thin oval piece of wood and spun before a mirror to produce an animated sequence. It was marketed in 1832 by its inventor, Joseph Plateau, whose research proved important in the creation of motion pictures. A mon more than two millennia Plateau's senior with a remarkably similar name, the Greek philosopher Plato, created what may be the earliest recorded cinema in his allegory of the cave, from "The Republic" in which chained prisoners watch a moving shadow show created by their captors in lieu of real actions.
Forgotten English Knowledge Cards by Jeffrey Kacirk, Pomegranate, CA
Phenakistoscope huh? I think I had one of those but the wheels fell off...
ReplyDeletePeople who think the downfall of society began with the advent of film and television evidently have to go back a long way to find it's origins if Plato had the idea!