Jules Verne: Submarines, Science and Space

This blog entry will be both for Caleb Spragg and Chris Wetmore and will cover the research done for aspects of Jules Verne’s career, the book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. You may want to read this post after you have attended our presentation this afternoon.

The Book

This part of the blog entry will cover our thoughts of the book both as a piece of literature and as a piece of pop culture history. Although the book may be known for Verne’s forward thinking of science, it is ultimately made popular by the great adventure story that it is. The perhaps popular misconception that the Nautilus is under the ocean 20,000 leagues, is alleviated by the end of the novel (or even before the book starts depending on one’s knowledge of nautical measurements) and the reader can appreciate how far the characters have traveled. By travelling 20,000 leagues, this is equivalent to circumnavigating the globe at the equator 2 1/2 times. Although they all travel together for this time and experience some fantastic things together, ultimately freedom is the most sought thing by Ned Land, Arronax and Conseil. It is interesting to see how the narrator is conflicted with this quest for freedom though as he is so interested with seeing more and more of what the oceans have to offer.

Another aspect of the novel that is interesting historically is the use of Captain Nemo as an Anti-Hero. He certainly saves the men who are thrown overboard from the ‘Abraham Lincoln’ although afterwards keeps them prisoner. His dislike for humanity (or at least some countries) does not paint him as the traditional protagonist. There is nothing presented in the novel to indicate why Captain Nemo would view whales as evil creatures but he refers to them as this after slaughtering some later in the novel. It has also been his ship that has been attacking in some form other ships at the beginning of the novel. However near to the end of the story the reader finds out that he has been using his wealth to help the poor and oppressed. It is through these dichotomies that Captain Nemo is definitively an Anti-Hero.

In popular culture the story of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, has been remade and adapted in various efforts, many of which were part of our childhood growing up. Let us look at a quick rundown; Super Mario Bros. Super Show had an episode titled 20,000 Koopas under the sea, then the real Ghost Busters episode 20000 Leagues Under the Street, and 20000 Leaks Under the City an old Teenage Mutant Turtles Episode (all via YouTube). this is just a small smattering of of parodies as it were, there have been skits on SNL (which are not posted online), various film versions, as well as some more recent parodies in television shows. Obviously this book itself has had an affect on media today, let alone the technical aspects of what Verne writes about.

Vernes Career and Research for the project

Some of the difficulties that came up with researching for the project involved simply not knowing enough about science. Some of the technical aspects that are mentioned in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea we simply did not have enough experience with to know whether or not the science was closer to real or simply made up. We went with Verne’s consistency as what we were familiar with was science fact to our knowledge. Regarding Verne’s career, it was interesting to learn that he began his career as a playwright after moving to Paris to become a lawyer. His success as a playwright however, was limited and he moved on to writing short stories and eventually longer tales. His first work was 5 Weeks in a Balloon which garnered him much praise from the literary community. Other popular works include From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Around the World in Eighty Days (1875), A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1871) and most notably 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Many of these works were made into film.

We will post another entry this evening after our presentation that will talk about some of the difficulties we had in filming as well as some of the enjoyable parts about making a film project.

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~ by themilkmanblog on March 11, 2010.