Zoetrope

After the class discussion last week it made me think of a toy I had as a kid, a zoetrope. This was a cylinder with slits in in and you could change the different comic strips or drawings inside it, then once you spun it you would look through the slits in the side and it would make the images appear as if they were moving.  Obviously the one I had wasn’t as popular as when they first came out in the early 1800’s, and even some say a Chinese inventory had actually come up with this around 100 BC. This was an early form and a stepping stone towards motion pictures, but it still has its place in society today. Over twenty years ago McDonalds was giving these out as toys, so even though there were movies these still had some sort of appeal.  This is still something that is done in some subways.  There are pictures painted on the walls with the beams separating the pictures, so as the train goes by these images appear to be moving. It might be a silly thing and out dated, but it still has a place today amongst all this modern technology, and we are still captivated by the illusion.