The date of release on this short subject cartoon was Dec. 31, 1965. It strikes me as an early cartoon look at computers and the logic of the digital age – well before their commercial time. It reminded me also of the Morse Code which had been invented in 1836 (and I studied as a youth and later in the U.S. Army). Of course, here the mathematics is all geometrics. And, hidden within the cartoon is social commentary, a moral of sorts.
"The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics" is a splendid cartoon. It's from a story by Norton Juster. The humor of the dialog read by Robert Morley is quite good. It's a delight to watch the various contortions – like a child drawing lines and angles in a frenzy on paper. The line is the "hero" of this piece. He finally wins over the dot (the heroine?) when she sees through the unkempt and disheveled character of the squiggle. I could see variations on this pattern – a cartoon of dots and dashes. How about "binary beginnings." Or maybe, "logic bent out of shape?"
It's a pretty sophisticated and somewhat educational cartoon. It won the 1965 Oscar as the best short (cartoon). I probably saw it in a theater originally, but saw it again a couple of times in recent years. It came as a bonus on my DVD of "The Glass Bottom Boat." I think most viewers will enjoy this artistic short. It's a cartoon that has more than one angle.
"The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics" is a splendid cartoon. It's from a story by Norton Juster. The humor of the dialog read by Robert Morley is quite good. It's a delight to watch the various contortions – like a child drawing lines and angles in a frenzy on paper. The line is the "hero" of this piece. He finally wins over the dot (the heroine?) when she sees through the unkempt and disheveled character of the squiggle. I could see variations on this pattern – a cartoon of dots and dashes. How about "binary beginnings." Or maybe, "logic bent out of shape?"
It's a pretty sophisticated and somewhat educational cartoon. It won the 1965 Oscar as the best short (cartoon). I probably saw it in a theater originally, but saw it again a couple of times in recent years. It came as a bonus on my DVD of "The Glass Bottom Boat." I think most viewers will enjoy this artistic short. It's a cartoon that has more than one angle.