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The documentary “Donald in Mathmagic Land” is a film interpreted in cartoon
form that talks about Math and how it is incorporated not only in math formulas but also
in music, architecture, modern games, etc. The film starts off with Donald Duck when he
discovers an unfamiliar world that is replete with numbers and mathematic symbols,
both literal and abstract. The film continues with Donald duck wandering the foreign
place until the narrator of the film begins a conversation with Donald and explains to him
that he is in Mathmagic Land and takes him on a journey to ancient Greece to show
Donald the birth of Math with Pythagoras.
In Greece Donald learns the relation between mathematics and music. Donald
also learns that Pythagoras followers, the “Pythagoreans” had a secret society to share
their mathematical discoveries and they all had a symbol; a pentagram which Donald
later learns that the pentagram is composed of lines which are all proportionate and are
in relation to the golden section. Donald continues his journey and learns the way this
proportion system can be found in nature, architecture, art, etc. The narrator introduces
Donald to another situation where Math is found; games and sports. Donald is taught
how Chess, Billiard and baseball have proportional dimensions and are played through
mathematical strategy. The last thing Donald is taught in the film is how all shapes are
related one way or another and they are used to create the objects we use in the
modern world such as balls, lenses, wheels, etc. At the end of the film the last quote is
said “Mathematics is the alphabet in which God has written the Universe”.
The purpose of the film was very clear from the beginning. Even if the title of the
film was not exhibited, its purpose is well stated during the process of the movie.
Donald entered a dark world which in the viewer’s understanding means that it was
undiscovered or unfamiliar; this new obscure world was filled with numbers, which gives
the impression that the film has something to do with mathematics.
The movie is simple to understand in my opinion, due to the fact that the film is in
cartoon form. If the film had been portrayed by real people in a set, the point of the
movie would not have been as clear as in the cartoon version. The reason why it is easy
to understand this specific film in cartoon form is because of the circumstances that
happen throughout the film for instance, in the beginning of the film Donald walks
through a dark place filled with what seems to be trees but are actually numbers
portraying to be trees, or when the narrator literally takes Donald to Ancient Greece.
This could only be done in cartoon form and it is easier to believe for the audience since
if the film was done with real characters it would be impossible to take someone to
ancient greece the way they did in the cartoon. This is why it is easier for the audience
to believe and understand what they see in cartoons no matter how unrealistic it is than
to see real people in a film attempting to do unrealistic things. Although the film is not
long, it makes it easier to watch because of the comedy in some parts of the film.
Another strong point in the film is when the narrator relates the golden section and the
proportions of a pentagram to nature, unlike architecture of games, nature is something
humans cannot control and it is both fascinating and mysterious that nature follows that
proportion system.
Although the film was very clear and well illustrated, there are a couple of things
that can be improved. One of them being the way Donald Duck speaks. It is
understandable that Donald is a character that was invented for children but even as an
adult, It is sometimes difficult to understand what he is saying. Another weak part of the
film in my opinion is at the last part when the narrator shows Donald how by cutting
shapes or putting together different shapes he can make an object that we use today in
society like cutting a sphere we get a lens, rolling a circle can make a wheel, etc. The
reason why I believe this as a weak part is because there are more shapes than a
circle, a triangle and a rectangle; there are an indefinite number of shapes and It is
possible to make any object by mixing together different shapes and cutting them to
obtain what we want.
The film relates to the lecture in class about Chaos to Cosmos that talked about
the Philosophers Pythagoras, Thales and Anaximenes and their theories about
everything. In the lecture, it was mentioned that Pythagoras's theory was “All is a
harmonic numerical formula”. The film explains Pythagoras's theory about how every
single thing in the world, even nature and the solar system which are things that
humans cannot control, are related to the concept of proportions in mathematics.
The film was appealing since the beginning because of the ambiguity it produced
with Donald traveling through an unknown place. The graphics and animation also help
to understand the concepts better. Another aspect that I appreciate in the film is that the
producers turned something that is supposed abstract into literal objects (square root in
the movie was actual trees square roots). The thing that I liked the most about the film is
that although it is an educational film, it was not boring and at the end it makes you go
want to try out the things shown in the film like drawing a pentagram or a golden section
and see if they work like they shown in the film.