In Brian Jacobsen’s chapter of the LACMA City of Cinema Exhibition Catalogue “Before the Studios,” he takes us through the interesting, accomplished, and multi-faceted life of Georges Méliès. He grew up tinkering with machines in his father’s factory. Being credited as the inventor of science fiction cinema, Méliès was able to create fictional worlds in a controlled environment using his film studio. Using newly standardized and mass-produced materials such as iron and glass, Méliès’ studio took the shape of a greenhouse and was finished in 1897. The idea of the film studio fundamentally changed the artist's relationship to filmmaking, giving them more control over things like light and temperature. Early cinema relied on the weather and sunlight for ideal shooting conditions.

In his fictional worlds, Méliès's interest and connection to technology were not lost. Méliès used familiar settings and well-known devices such as balloons, automobiles, trains, submarines, and early aircraft to ground his more fantastic scenarios in material reality. Méliès films often include a common theme of factories, workshops, and labs. For example, Le Voyage Dans La Lune features a machine workshop whose painted background resembles the famous Galerie des machines. His films include depictions of new technologies, though not without warnings about the risk of a world of machines. In turn, Jacobsen argues that Georges Méliès's role as a pioneer of cinematic techno-criticism is often overshadowed by his association with science fiction cinema.

What I found most interesting about this reading was the fact that Georges Méliès was able to pose critiques of mass culture through his films while actively participating in the creation of mass culture. For example in Spectacular Realities, Schwartz says, “Mass culture works through a dialogue between its producers and consumers - a dialogue that disrupts the fixed notions of production and consumption” (p.12). Méliès's films being consumed by the public placed them in the active dialogue between producers and consumers. What I think is special though is how Méliès was able to include himself in the dialogue, as a consumer, through the inclusion of new technology in his films.

Question:  Jacobsen describes that "The machines built by the characters function as moving metaphors for the studio" in which the illusionary form of travel is made possible. This reminds me of our discussions about the term illusion. With the rise of Virtual Reality and imaging technologies, does it seem feasible that the idea of an "illusionary form of travel" could replace physical travel? (maybe  even in the sense of museum exhibitions and virtual/digital exhibitions replacing in-person tours)