Hans Christian Andersen, Coursework Example

While many of Hans Christian Andersen’s more popular works have already been adapted to film, many of his short stories have been overlooked. As a computer animation student, I therefore propose a short cartoon be made of his 1852 short story In a Thousand Years(Andersen 1). In the tale, Andersen describes a futuristic mode of transportation that would allow an individual to explore Europe in an entire week. Although the story doesn’t have much of a plot, the author does an excellent job of capturing the excitement and wonder that such a journey would yield. He refers to his only mentioned character as “the young American” and describes his journey to various countries where important events had occurred and important people were born. It would be worthwhile to make this short story into a film because it has been overlooked compared to Andersen’s other works, while still invokes a sense of enjoyment from the reader. The tale presented by Andersen is very open ended and after completion of reading, the young reader may daydream about a similar journey. It would therefore be entertaining to a young child to adapt Anderson’s story into one that involves more conversation and plot and format it for the screen. An adaptation of this text would be appropriate primarily because it would open up the world to knowledge of many of Andersen’s lesser known works and create an interest in these usually ignored, yet valuable stories.

Andersen begins his story by exclaiming, “Yes, in a thousand years people will fly on the wings of steam through the air, over the ocean!” (Andersen 1). Despite this initial statement, he fails to provide an aesthetic description of either the ships people will fly on or the countries they will visit; rather, he lists the places that will bevisited and their significance. In order to make a film adaptation of this story appeal to children, aesthetics that match Andersen’s theme must be created. According to week 4 lecture, “Aesthetic Contributions of Children’s Illustrations”, “the fusion of the two aesthetics [literary and visual] leads to a more complex sense of artistry” (Aesthetic Contributions of Children’s Illustrations 1). While Andersen’s text provides an excellent backbone to the story, it needs to be accommodated by images that emphasize the excitement of the travelers.

Since Andersen’s text is not heavy in dialogue, the computer animated tale will focus on the scenery that the travels encounter and involve some level of story without the use of words. As a consequence, this film would be appropriate for children of all ages because it is easy to understand, and the older children will be kept entertained because certain elements of the travels will be made humorous. This will require me to assign many facial expressions to the characters in addition to providing a very active and scenic background. Week 3 lecture “The Evolution of Characters and the Need for Characterization” states that “Characters are very important to the narrative structure of children’s literature” (The Evolution of Characters and the Need for Characterization 1). Since there is only one character cited in Andersen’s original story, it would be useful to add a second so that a comrade is present throughout the journey with which the initial character can converse through emotion. Since the characters should be approximately the same age as the viewer, one should be made to be about 14 years old and the other 8 so that child viewers will relate to at least one of the characters. In addition, one character should be male and one should be female so they appeal to the gender of the viewers as well.

Aside from my ability as a computer animator, the film would benefit from being animated rather than live action because the aesthetics of animation has a greater potential to be appealing to a young audience. Furthermore, the journey of the two children throughout Europe can be made more fantastical through this medium. A live action film using the same storyline may seem too dramatic for a young audience. In addition, this would force the film to deviate from an exciting and humorous adventure to one that simply displays historically and geographically accurate locations. The latter is educational and interesting, but will likely lose appeal to a young audience. Instead, the animated characters can be allowed to have exaggerated emotions that allow them to convey what they are thinking and feeling to the audience. For example, when the pair visits Greece, they can be frightened by a lightning bolt sent from Mount Olympus. In order to demonstrate this fear, one of the young travelers could hide behind the other, or cover his or her face momentarily with a scarf. The exaggerated and unrealistic scenes that computer animation could deliver can also simultaneously make this scene humorous. For example, Zeus could have sent the lightning bolt in their direction accidentally, such as by sneezing and dropping it towards them. In a later part of the film, he could be found trying to figure out what he did with it; this could be continued throughout the story as a running gag, where Zeus tries to find his lightning bolt in obscure places. Audiences of all ages would be able to enjoy the simplicity in the humor that the story conveys, and the unrealistic situations could not be accomplished equally using live action.

Visual elements are an essential part of the story, although all of the locations originally discussed in In a Thousand Yearsmay not be discussed due to time constraints. Although an excellent example of a scene from the film was discussed above, the success of the film lies in how the other locations that the travelers visit are depicted. Images that allow the young viewer to associate an activity with a particular location would be useful. For example, Rome should be represented by the Coliseum and gladiators, England should be represented by Big Ben and ladies drinking tea, and France should be represented by the Eiffel tower. There is some opportunity for subplots and more humor within these scenes, such as Zeus getting stuck somewhere awkward in the Coliseum, just out of reach of his lightning bolt. Ultimately however, the story can take on many directions while still achieving the same goal. As other animated short films, such as those produced by Pixar, the duration of this film shouldn’t be more than five minutes long, which will require it to be fast paced and action packed. However, since Hans Christian Andersen’s initial story was relatively short, it shouldn’t be difficult to make an entertaining adaptation of In a Thousand Yearsin this time frame.

Works Cited

“Aesthetic Contributions of Children’s Illustrations”. Week 4 Lecture. Children’s Literature. AIO. 6 January 2014. Andersen, HC. In a Thousand Years. 1852. Web. 6 January 2014.<http://hca.gilead.org.il/thousand.html>

“The Evolution of Characters and the Need for Characterization”. Week 3 Lecture. Children’s  Literature. AIO. 6 January 2014.

Stahl, J D, Tina L. Hanlon, and Elizabeth L. Keyser. Crosscurrents of Children’s Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.