A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) Movie Summary
A Trip to the Moon was the first movie to be inspired by the popular “scientific romances” of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, and is widely acknowledged as the world’s first science-fiction movie. But while it is true that Méliès conjured up the basic iconography of sci-fi cinema—the sleek rocket ship, the moon hurtling toward the camera, and the little green men—the director did not set out to invent a genre. His aim was to present a mischievous satire of Victorian values, a boisterous comedy lampooning the reckless industrial revolutionaries of Western Europe. In Méliès’s hands, men of science are destructive fools. Led by Professor Barbenfouillis (played by Méliès himself), they squabble and jump
When they reach the moon, the scientists discover a strange land. Their arrogant attitude toward the moon people has led the movie to be seen as an anti-imperialist satire up and down like unruly children, and when they land on the lunar surface, their rocket stabs the Man in the Moon in his eye. They cause chaos in the kingdom of the Selenites—whom they treat as mindless savages—and they only make it home by accident. A statue of Barbenfouillis appears in the final scene—a caricature of a pompous old man, resembling one of Méliès’s political cartoons. Its inscription reads “Labor omnia vincit” (Work conquers all), which, in light of the chaos that has preceded it, takes on a decidedly ironic tone.
A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) Movie Cast & Crew
GENRE
Science fiction, fantasy
DIRECTOR
Georges Méliès
WRITERS
Georges Méliès, from novels by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells (all uncredited)
STARS
Georges Méliès, Bleuette Bernon, François Lallement, Henri Delannoy