Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889–1977) is considered one of the first movie stars ever and made film history with his acting and his works. He is also one of the few artists who managed the transition from silent films to sound films.
Because of using archetypal imagery and symbols in his films, it is natural that the moon could also play a part somewhere. We found four references:
The film is based on the book of the same title by Cressida Cowell (2003), was released in 2010 in movie theaters and became one of the most successful animations and earned nearly $500 million. Next to its impressive technical quality of the animation, it is most of all about the story of Hickup, a son of a Viking, who flies directly into the hearts of the audience, with his ability to tame dragons, which was a hostile skill to have up until then.
We recently went to a ballet performance – Swan Lake by Tschaikowsky – with the Moscow Ballet. Immediately, after the curtain rose for the first time, the stage set showed a nighttime scenery, with a castle at a lake and high in the sky a wonderful full moon. Later, when the »swans« appeared and everything was bathed in a bluish light, the entire room was permeated with a fantastic and subtle atmosphere.
The dancers were sensational. Every movement danced with absolute emotional power and perfect precision. We were amazed and in awe. A true delight for the senses …
In the finale, the castle scenery came into action again and the entire performance was surrounded by full moon light.
Whether Tschaikowsky had the full moon in mind?
As is generally known, the moonlight is actually sunlight reflecting from the surface of the Moon and reaching us here on Earth. You ask yourself the question, whether the moonlight may have a different colour than the sunlight, especially since a nightly scenery usually appears to be bluish. Also movie scenes, are portrayed in blue and so are many pictures and photographs. We would like to forestall the answer: the moonlight is nearly white. The night appears blue due to other reasons.
Maybe it lies within the plan of creation that we are so susceptible to everything that is bigger than what we already know or have already experienced. However, the following merely relates to heavenly bodies …
As we recently wrote in our article »Sun and moon the same size?« here in our full moon blog, the moon changes its distance to earth due to its unusual orbit and subsequently appears to be of a different size for the observer here on earth, depending on how close it is to earth at the time. Is the moon (or another heavenly body) as close to earth as possible, one speaks of perigee, and if it is the furthest away, it is called apogee. You can confidently forget these terms again, however, you may want to memorise that the moon can appear to us in different sizes.
Have you ever wondered, after you took a photograph of the full moon that the Moon looks much smaller on the picture than as it appears to you in real? This effect occurs particularly when the Moon is above the horizon. This is a so-called Moon illusion, which is an optical illusion, meaning it can only be seen this way through our perception and is therefore not depicted on the photograph.
There is a wide spectrum of views and opinions about how the moon may influence human life and it is in the very nature of things, that these opinions lead to discussions. During the course of the years, we got acquainted with many different viewpoints and are trying to give room to these diversities on these pages.
Let’s imagine two people for example, a sceptic, who analyses sensibly and critically, and a mystic who allows his actions to be guided by faith and dedication. Let’s have both people answer the question, whether principally, full moon has an effect on human beings.
Who doesn’t know Batman, the comic hero who fights the sinister subjects of the big city at night as a bat man with super powers. Who has not seen him in movies or held one of the comic books in his hand? What we are mostly interested in, at this point, are not however, his impressive appearance, nor the trendy outfit, but the affinity to the full moon. Batman can be seen standing in front of the circular moon in countless images, his black cape blowing in the wind. And also the famous batman logo is always portrayed in connection with the moon, whether hovering against the light or as a full-moon-like light projection in the black night sky (the so-called »Bat-Signal«).
Richard Riemerschmid (1868–1957) was a German artist and architect and a major figure in Jugendstil (German form of Art Nouveau). Further, he worked in arts and handcrafts and created furniture, fabrics, wall paper, and dishes, and was the co-founder of the German Association of Craftsmen – an association of artists, architects and business men.
Looking at the Moon, you can recognise the spots on the surface with the naked eye, which are termed lunar maria and have always been inspiring people’s imagination. It is actually molten rock that rose to the surface during the origin of the Moon and then hardened. If looked at closer and using a telescope as an aid, you are able to make out mountains and valleys and a large amount of craters. In short: they are landscapes that give our Moon its face.
Have you ever seen a face or shape of an animal in passing by clouds? This tendency of our perception to find structures within an image or a pattern, is called pareidolia (derives from Greek eidolon = picture). Essentially, this is a misperception where we see objects changing subjectively. But this can also be so much fun and inspire our fantasy to search for these shapes and to find them. Children, in particular, are known to be true masters of this game.