Elemental
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| - | ''' Prospero's Books ''' ([[1991 in film|1991]]), written and directed by [[Peter Greenaway]], is a cinematic adaptation of ''[[The Tempest]]'', by [[William Shakespeare]]. [[John Gielgud]] is [[Prospero]], the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. Stylistically, ''Prospero's Books'' is narratively and cinematically innovative in its techniques, combining [[mime artist|mime]], dance, operatic [[set pieces]], and [[animation]]. The film makes extensive (and pioneering) use of digital image manipulation (using the [[Quantel Paintbox|Paintbox]] system), often overlaying multiple moving and still pictures with animations. [[Michael Nyman]] composed the musical score and [[Karine Saporta]] choreographed the dance. The film is also notable for its extensive use of nudity, displayed with a [[naturist]] ethos in keeping with the work's key themes. (i.e. The nude actors and extras represent a realistic cross-section of male and female humanity.) | + | An '''elemental''' is a mythological being first appearing in the [[alchemy|alchemical]] works of [[Paracelsus]]. Traditionally, there are four types:<ref>Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p 38 ISBN 0-19-512199-6</ref> |
| - | + | *[[gnome]]s, earth elementals | |
| - | == Plot summary == | + | *[[Ondine (mythology)|undines]], water elementals |
| - | The daughter of Prospero, an exiled magician, falls in love with the son of his enemy, while the sorcerer's [[sprite]], [[Ariel]], convinces him to abandon revenge against the traitors from his earlier life. In the film, Prospero stands in for Shakespeare, and is seen writing and speaking the story's action as it unfolds. ''Prospero's Books'' is a complex tale based upon [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest (play)|The Tempest]].'' | + | *[[sylph]]s, air elementals |
| - | + | *[[Salamander (legendary creature)|salamanders]], fire elementals. | |
| - | Ariel is played by three actors — a boy, an adolescent, and a youth. Each represents a classical [[elemental]]. The boy represents [[water]], and is shown perpetually [[urinating]]. Conservative movie critic [[Michael Medved]] attacked the scene of Ariel urinating from a [[Swing (seat)|swing]] in "The Urge to Offend" chapter of his book ''[[Hollywood vs. America]]''. | + | |
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| - | ==Trivia== | + | |
| - | *Director [[Peter Greenaway]] and composer [[Michael Nyman]] acrimoniously ended their longstanding work relationship while making ''Prospero's Books''. Most of the film's music cues, (excepting Ariel's songs and the Masque) are from an earlier concert, ''[[La Traversée de Paris (album)|La Traversée de Paris]]'' and the score from ''[[A Zed and Two Noughts]]''. | + | |
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| - | * [[John Gielgud]] said a film of ''[[The Tempest]]'' (as [[Prospero]], as he had been in four stage productions in 1931, 1940, 1957, and 1974) was his life's amibition. He had approached [[Alain Resnais]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], and [[Orson Welles]] about directing him in it, [[Benjamin Britten]] to compose its score, and [[Albert Finney]] to be [[Caliban (character)|Caliban]], before [[Peter Greenaway|Greenaway]] agreed. The closest the earlier attempts came to being made was in 1967, with [[Orson Welles|Welles]] as both director and as Caliban to [[John Gielgud|Gielgud's]] [[Prospero]], but after the commercial failure of [[Orson Welles|Welles]] and [[John Gielgud|Gielgud's]] [[Shakespearean]] film collaboration, ''[[Chimes at Midnight]],'' financing for a cinematic ''[[The Tempest]]'' collapsed. | + | |
| + | The exact term for each type varies somewhat from source to source, though these four are now the most usual. Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy; their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore. The sylph, however, is rarely encountered outside of alchemical contexts. | ||
| + | The basic concept of an elemental refers to the ancient idea of [[Classical elements|elements]] as fundamental building blocks of nature. In the system prevailing in the [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] world, there were four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. This paradigm was highly influential in Medieval natural philosophy, and Paracelsus evidently intended to draw a range of mythological beings into this paradigm by identifying them as belonging to one of these four elemental types. | ||
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An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemical works of Paracelsus. Traditionally, there are four types:<ref>Carole B. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, p 38 ISBN 0-19-512199-6</ref>
- gnomes, earth elementals
- undines, water elementals
- sylphs, air elementals
- salamanders, fire elementals.
The exact term for each type varies somewhat from source to source, though these four are now the most usual. Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy; their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore. The sylph, however, is rarely encountered outside of alchemical contexts.
The basic concept of an elemental refers to the ancient idea of elements as fundamental building blocks of nature. In the system prevailing in the Classical world, there were four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. This paradigm was highly influential in Medieval natural philosophy, and Paracelsus evidently intended to draw a range of mythological beings into this paradigm by identifying them as belonging to one of these four elemental types.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Elemental" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
