Alongside my numerous watching of the Film, I’ve now finished the book and watched the the Movie and its sequel Sphereland. I was wondering why the Movie is so hated, but upon reading the book, it hit me. It’s just a very sanitized educational video.
Think back to the Film and what we like about it. We can’t really say that it’s the adherence to the novel, that is just not true. To me, it’s the fact that the film retains a lot of the book’s commentary and themes, not to mention just entertaining conflicts. President Circle’s purge, A Sphere’s borderline narcissism for what’s supposed to be a kind and enlightening journey, B Square’s betrayal of his own brother, and much more. These are entertaining! They serve a theme! We can pick them apart for days on end, make headcanons, craft OCs, etc etc.
The Movie has none of that. Much of the real story with murder and conspiracy and betrayal is gone. The conflict between the shape classes is simple, women are on more equal footing in both shape and status, and there’s a whole monument that can easily prove the third dimension. And the explanation of the dimensions is more prominent, and less shown. And the very fact that the website hosting the The Movie says that you must pay a fee to show the video in classrooms just tells its purpose: it’s educational.
One of my favorite books, The War of the Worlds, suffers from the same issues with its adaptations. A lot of its depth and symbolism are often forgo’d to serve a simpler story of evil aliens attacking earth out of pure evilness and spite. Those that retain important elements such as the symbolism of blood and the struggle of the HMS Thunder Child are often more liked and rated higher. We do the same here between Flatland: The Film and Flatland: The Movie. The former is more thoughtful and deeper despite its wackiness, the latter is a classroom video.