Once Upon a Time...

Before the computer era, movies still sprang from the feeling of “once upon a time,” that feeling that gave man a solid and stable world to live in. “Once upon a time” means that there is a ground that is motionless and flat and a time that is linear and abiding for events to happen in. When you first heard “once upon a time,” you were most likely lying cozy in your bed by your loving mother. She had the storybook on her lap and through her reading words, you saw, in your mind’s eye, the story unfold, in a land you watched with distance and respect.
With Walt Disney’s feature length animation, this land became more visible and accessible without loosing its autonomy. It came to your everyday life as a blessing, still over and above but not “owned,” used and disposable of. But now, this land arrests you, coming into existence as a result of movement. Just like when the earth stopped being the flat and steady ground for man to walk on, in order to be revealed an orbiting sphere, moving in accordance to physical, mathematical laws, not just engulfing man in its scientific fate, but turning, simultaneously, vulnerable to be destroyed by man’s inventions.