The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Directed by	Georges Méliès
Starring	Georges Méliès
Release dates	1907 (1907)
Running time	9 min.
Country	France
Language	Silent

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon (originally L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune) is a French silent film made in 1907 by director Georges Méliès.

Plot

A professor of astronomy (Georges Méliès) gives a lecture instructing on an impending solar eclipse. The class rushes to an observation tower to witness the event, which features an anthropomorphic Sun and Moon coming together. The Moon and the Sun lick their lips in anticipation as the eclipse arrives, culminating in a romantic encounter between the two celestial bodies. Various heavenly bodies, including planets and moons, hang in the night sky; a meteor shower is depicted using the ghostly figures of girls. The professor of astronomy, shocked by all he has witnessed, topples from the observation tower.

Themes

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon has been remarked upon for its overt sexual symbolism.^[1]^[2] Christine Cornea posits that the film's primary theme, the clash of scientific logic with sexual desire, was also evident in Méliès' earlier films A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, and would become a prominent in many subsequent science-fiction films.^[1]

Some scholars, interpreting the Sun and the Moon to be both male, have described the erotic "eclipse" as an early depiction of homosexuality in cinema,^[2]^[3] with an "effeminate" Moon being seduced by an "devilishly masculine" Sun.^[1] By contrast, Méliès's film catalogue describes the liaison in heterosexual terms, referring to the participants as "the man in the sun" and "dainty Diana" and using pronouns to match.^[4]

References

1 2 3 Cornea, Christine (2007), Science fiction cinema: between fantasy and reality, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 14
1 2 O'Donoghue, Darragh (July 2004), "Great Directors: Georges Méliès", Senses of Cinema, retrieved 8 March 2014
↑ Jess-Cooke, Carolyn (2009), Film sequels: theory and practice from Hollywood to Bollywood, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 20
↑ Méliès, Georges (1905), Complete Catalogue of Genuine and Original "Star" Films, New York: Geo. Méliès, p. 135, retrieved 13 February 2014

External links

The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon at the Internet Movie Database
The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon is available for free download at the Internet Archive

Films directed by Georges Méliès

1896–99	Actualities (1896–1900) Playing Cards (1896) Watering the Flowers (1896) Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station (1896) The Rag Picker (1896) Post No Bills (1896) The Rescue on the River (1896) A Terrible Night (1896) A Lightning Sketch (1896) Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds (1896) A Serpentine Dance (1896) Miss de Vère (English Jig) (1896) The Vanishing Lady (1896) The Haunted Castle (1896) A Nightmare (1897) Comedian Paulus Singing (1897) A Funny Mahometan (1897) The Haunted Castle (1897) On the Roofs (1897) Reconstructed newsreels (1897–1902) The Last Cartridges (1897) The Surrender of Tournavos (1897) Sea Fighting in Greece (1897) Gugusse and the Automaton (1897) Between Calais and Dover (1897) The Laboratory of Mephistopheles (1897) The Bewitched Inn (1897) After the Ball (1897) Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" (1898) The Magician (1898) The Famous Box Trick (1898) Pygmalion and Galatea (1898) Adventures of William Tell (1898) The Astronomer's Dream (1898) The Four Troublesome Heads (1898) The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1898) Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb (1899) The Devil in a Convent (1899) The Clown and Automobile (1899) A Mysterious Portrait (1899) The Dreyfus Affair (1899) Cinderella (1899) The Mysterious Knight (1899)

1900–05	Addition and Subtraction (1900) The Cook's Revenge (1900) The Misfortunes of an Explorer (1900) Paris Exposition, 1900 (1900) The One Man Band (1900) Joan of Arc (1900) The Rajah's Dream (1900) The Two Blind Men (1900) Thanking the Audience (1900) The Christmas Dream (1900) A Fantastical Meal (1900) Going to Bed Under Difficulties (1900) The Doctor and the Monkey (1900) China Versus Allied Powers (1900) Bluebeard (1901) The Man with the Rubber Head (1901) The Eruption of Mount Pelee (1902) The Catastrophe of the Balloon "Le Pax" (1902) A Trip to the Moon (1902) The Coronation of Edward VII (1902) The Treasures of Satan (1902) Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants (1902) Robinson Crusoe (1902) The Enchanted Well (1903) The Inn Where No Man Rests (1903) The Oracle of Delphi (1903) The Melomaniac (1903) The Monster (1903) The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903) The Infernal Cauldron (1903) Faust and Marguerite (1904) The Barber of Seville (1904) The Impossible Voyage (1904) The Christmas Angel (1904) The Palace of the Arabian Nights (1905) An Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905) Rip's Dream (1905)

1906–12	A Mix-up in the Gallery (1906) The Chimney Sweep (1906) A Desperate Crime (1906) The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) The Mysterious Retort (1906) Robert Macaire and Bertrand (1906) Under the Seas (1907) How Bridget's Lover Escaped (1907) Tunnelling the English Channel (1907) The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon (1907) Hamlet (1907) Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar" (1907) Satan in Prison (1907) Humanity Through the Ages (1908) Why That Actor Was Late (1908) Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908) The Miser (1908) A Love Tragedy in Spain (1908) French Cops Learning English (1908) Fun With the Bridal Party (1908) Buncoed Stage Johnnie (1908) Fortune Favors the Brave (1908) Seein' Things (1908) The Diabolic Tenant (1909) Whimsical Illusions (1909) Baron Munchausen's Dream (1911) Cinderella or the Glass Slipper (1912) The Conquest of the Pole (1912) The Knight of the Snows (1912) The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family (1912)

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