From Ted Rockley
I am grateful to Catherine Brahic for confirming my belief that animation is deeply embedded in the human psyche. Her wonderful article describes some of the ingenious methods that our ancestors came up with to create a sense of movement in cave art and artefacts (22/29 December 2012, p 44).
Animation predated the cinema, with “toys” such as the modern zoetrope creating the illusion of movement, but until now few people would have appreciated that animation began thousands of years ago.
However, there is more to the astonishingly skillful, beautiful and stylistic imagery of such ancient artists. It implies highly ordered social groupings, a storyteller, an audience and perhaps music and dance. The stories may have had a purpose – to teach, to recall, to worship. It requires little imagination to understand how potent such an experience would have been.
Perhaps cinema-going could be interpreted as a modern manifestation of that ancient cave experience. Urgent research is required into any grains or seeds found on the cave floor. I’m betting they had popcorn too.
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