15 Sep 2009, Posted by christie in Misc Bytes, 24 Comments
Flatland – colorful math fun for all ages
I saw FLATLAND: THE MOVIE a few weeks ago, and as a math lover I found it very geeky cool and wanted to share. Apparently I am not supposed to buy the personal copy of the movie then display it for the rest of the world here, go figure. So I’m going to embed the trailer from YouTube.
In the full length movie, our main folks are in a two-dimensional world, Flatland, and as far as they know, that is the ultimate all-there-is world. They can’t conceive of three dimensions, but then comes the Sphere… We also see a guy whose world is only a single point, and he thinks his world is all there is. How would he know otherwise? Then there are the ones who live in a one-dimensional world, a line, and they get “freaked out” when they hear someone speaking from outside the line. Of course as a math/science girl, I couldn’t care less about any political or social crap to do with this movie. 
I simply loved enjoying the fun with the shapes and thinking about dimensions and how amazing and cool it would be to start to perceive a dimension that is not present in one’s current world. My favorite line in the movie, which soon became my tag line for instant messenger for the following month: “Configuration makes the man!” So true, don’t you think? 
Once again, I’m sorry this trailer is all I have. I’d love to grab my favorite mind-altering beverage, Mountain Dew, and see the whole movie again on a nice big screen.
Flatland Trailer
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24 Comments
September 15, 2009 7:50 pm
Extreme John
Wow this is pretty cool I need to show it to my on, who decided to fail a math test miserably today.
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September 15 2009 21:18 pm
Christie
Aww.. poor guy. Yes, I'd think this movie would make anything about points, lines, and two-dimensional shapes a whole lot more fun than reading a boring paragraph about 'em!
September 16, 2009 12:37 pm
Doug Dillard
“Configuration Makes the Man”… I do like that!
Trailer looks great… as me and my boys are all math geeks. Both my boys were sitting here and we watched it together and now they (and me too) are excited to go see it.
Another thing I learned is that Martin Sheen has a brother, Joe Estevez who is in the movie with him. I looked him up and he has quite a large portfolio of movies he has been in… but this is the first I have heard of him.
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September 16 2009 13:15 pm
Christie
Hi Doug! That's so cool - I'm glad you guys are all excited about seeing it! It really was so cool. When I saw it, someone had either bought or rented it for a group. Hopefully you can find it pretty easily. There are some places on the web that say you can watch it streaming from the web but I haven't tried it.
Oh yes - I have seen Joe Estevez but didn't know he was MS's brother. Get ready to geek out with some fun shapes and dimensions!
September 17, 2009 1:31 am
Klaus @ TechPatio
That’s just plain weird, but so cool
The first thing I thought about, “how can they see eachother?” when they are in 2D, I mean – when the boxes walk around on the floor, they shouldn’t be able to see it each other as they have no “height” to them, does that make any sense…?
Aww I could drink a Mountain Dew right about now! Or a Dr Pepper!!
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September 17 2009 18:42 pm
christie
Hey Klaus! It is definitely weird and cool! :D You're so right - they would not be able to see each other. There is no "height" at all. I'm with ya!
September 17, 2009 7:03 am
Tech-Freak Stuff
As you have explained it, it appear it will help kids to learn in the Fun way. After all, they remember better when visual tips are used!
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September 17 2009 18:43 pm
christie
Hi Tech-Freak Stuff - me too. I'm a very visual person and I guess that's why I really got into this little film! :)
September 17, 2009 9:38 am
Ching Ya
Looks promising. How I wish we have this showing in schools back in my studying days. Learning can be so much fun. ^^ Now where can I get this movie…. I wonder if YouTube has it. So far they have yet let me down. Hopefully someday, someone will post the full clip. I doubt I can find it in DVD around here.
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September 17 2009 18:44 pm
christie
Hi Ching Ya! There are websites that claim to have it as streaming video, or we will have to buy it from Amazon and have a screening for all of us in 2010....somewhere.... ? ;)
September 17, 2009 11:55 am
Deneil Merritt
lol you are such a geek. I want to see the movie now. I guess I am a geek too.
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September 17 2009 18:45 pm
christie
Hi Deneil! Glad to hear you're a geek too! It's so much fun finding something so ridiculously geeky and just plain entertaining.
September 18, 2009 7:33 am
Ricky
Well Indians are really good at maths (i aint among those indians). Here there are few books availables which teaches you do the lenghthy calculation without any calculator.
September 18 2009 18:08 pm
christie
Hi Ricky, But these cute little shapes and points would be a lot more fun to look at! :)
September 18, 2009 5:43 pm
Evan Kline
Math . . . . head . . . going . . . to . . . explode . . .
I think as part of being a tech geek, I’m supposed to like math, but, well, let’s just say I don’t. That said, it sounds like the kind of movie where there’s probably all sorts of symbolism and parallels to real life stuff, so my interest is piqued.
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September 18 2009 18:10 pm
christie
Hi Evan! Oh yes, there's all sorts of that real life stuff. :) I always liked playing with the abstract, the theoretical, while everyone else was saying, "But how would we USE this..?" so I ignored the real story of Flatland. I think you'd like it though - no messy calculations necessary.
September 18, 2009 6:17 pm
John Sullivan
I actually just wanted to stop by and say hello thinking you may of been back here by yourself BUT damn it’s awesome to see that your site is picking up steam and getting the props it deserves.
I watched the video very cool
thanks and have an awesome weekend @everyone
thanks]stumbled
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September 18 2009 18:24 pm
christie
Hi John! Thank you SO much! You have a great weekend too!
September 20, 2009 2:41 am
Jeffrey Travis
Christie,
I’m the co-writer and director of the movie. Came across your site; thanks for watching Flatland and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. We made this movie primarily for math teachers and sci-fi lovers.
To all the folks wondering where to get it, it’s available on DVD or for digital download on the movie’s website http://flatlandthemovie.com.
J
September 20 2009 15:00 pm
christie
Jeffrey - It's an honor to have you here! Yes, I was shown this movie in a group setting by my minister (who is a self-proclaimed geek) and I loved it so much I had to come home and look it up to find out more about it. It was just SO much fun to watch - you guys did a fantastic job.
September 20, 2009 8:43 pm
Terry with Medical Scrubs
Very nice. So, how many funny mathematical puns you counted?
September 30, 2009 2:38 pm
Ana
Sounds like a most inspiring and compounding movie to watch. This reminds me of the people in the world, and their different perceptions and ways of living. That’s a very neat way of interlinking the mathematical equation with the main story. What a pleasure it is to read the co-writer and director’s message on here.
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