Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
(The Movie Edition)

by Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland
includes DVD of movie version
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2008
176 pp. illus., 28 b/w ,16 col. Trade, $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-691-13657-8.
Reviewed by Rob Harle
Australia

harle@dodo.com.au

This review covers both the book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott and the recent movie Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions, produced by Seth Caplan, which is based on Abbott’s original book.

Some enchanting literary works are destined to become classics from the moment they’re published. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and most recently Harry Potter are of this nature. Flatland preceded these by over half a century but is of a similar stature.

These literary adventures excite aspects of the human psyche that are experienced by most, but articulated by few. Jung would say that they address archetypes within the collective unconscious and as such possess a timelessness, universal appeal, and profound impact on moral, ontological, and spiritual facets of existence.

Even though the underlying themes are timeless, the settings and cultural conventions of the epoch in which the author lived are firmly entrenched. Written in 1884 Flatland depicts the Victorian class system and the suppression of women just as it was. I don’t think we should criticise Abbott for being a “man of his times” in this respect, particularly as he was a visionary in exploring the nature of dimensionality and the myopic nature of society in this respect.

Flatland is a two dimensional (flat plane) world inhabited by individuals who go about their lives pretty much as we do in our three dimensional world, only they are of course, flat. Abbott describes the various inhabitants of Flatland; Squares, Circles, Polygons and so on and their social standing, class structure system, and day to day activities. All is well until a mysterious visitor arrives from Spaceland. Arthur Square and his granddaughter Hex have to acknowledge the existence of a third dimension - height. I will not spoil the outcome of the story or the movie by relating what happens, but as you can imagine it has similar ramifications to the discoveries and teachings of Copernicus, Socrates, and Galileo!

The book has both black & white and colour illustrations and contains the full text of the original Flatland book. There is an introduction by Professor Thomas Banchoff, short descriptive essays by: Seth Caplan, Jeffrey Travis, Dano Johnson, and the screenplay of the movie, together with the movie credits. The following quote will give an example of the kind of action, writing style, and Abbott’s imagination that fills the book, “Of The Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition. The agitation for the Universal Colour Bill continued for three years: and up to the last moment of that period it seemed as though Anarchy were destined to triumph. A whole army of Polygons, who turned out to fight as private soldiers, was utterly annihilated by a superior force of Isosceles Triangles – the Squares, and Pentagons meanwhile remaining neutral. Worse than all, some of the ablest Circles fell prey to conjugal fury” (p. 39).

Dano Johnson’s essay, The Visual Design of Flatland: The Movie explains how as a schoolboy he read, and like most others, was enchanted by Abbott’s novel. Little did he realise then the task he would be given many years later, to adapt the novel to screenplay form and also design the flatland world and its characters for the movie. As Johnson tells us this opportunity presented him with huge conceptual and practical problems.

The movie is delightful and works on a number of levels. It is, “an animated story that includes action, drama, and geometry lessons. This heartfelt movie, challenges audiences to grasp the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and to think about the idea of higher dimensions”. The DVD movie is in colour, runs for 35 minutes and is in NTSC widescreen 16:9 aspect. There is a wealth of extra material on the DVD such as interviews with the actors whose voices bring the animations to life – Martin Sheen, Kristen Bell, Michael York, and Tony Hale. An interview with Professor Thomas Banchoff, discusses the 4th dimension. The complete text of the novel is included in DVD-ROM mode.

I thoroughly recommend this book and movie to readers and viewers of all ages who like a little romance, mixed with adventure and drama, and fantastic colour animation.