Bartosch’s 1932 film The Idea was based on a book of woodcuts, or a ‘wordless novel’, by Belgian artist Frans Masereel. It was initially conceived in 1930 to be a collaboration between the two artists, but Masereel soon left the project after realizing how tedious animation was.
Perhaps the original author’s departure was key in shaping the final film as we see it today; William Moritz’s article points out the narrative and tonal differences between the original woodcuts and Bartosch’s adaptation. Although war era socialist-pacifism united Masereel and Bartosch, their distinctness from each other is clear. Masereel came from the practice of political satirical woodcuts, while Bartosch was a filmmaker-animator who had worked for Lotte Reiniger on Prince Achmed, which I’ve discussed in previous posts.
Firstly the intrinsic difference between a static image format and a video one, meant Bartosch had to significantly shorten the story from Masereel’s 70-plus page epic novel; Bartosch only chooses select woodcuts to be animated into real time. In the original novel where the protagonist The Idea goes through many more hardships, and eventually returns to her creator, only to find that she has been replaced by a new Idea in the form of a blonde woman, which is subsequently sent out to the world, and the original Idea is crucified. Changes of scenario that Bartosch made turned the story of The Idea not one of sardonic tragedy, as in the original, but a tragic drama that still remains noble and hopeful, finally letting The Idea return to the starry cosmos that she had originally appeared from. Another important part of the film, is the role Arthur Honneger’s music, played on an early electronic instrument, which repeats certain leitmotifs for the Idea throughout the film, and maintains the dignity of the Idea as she goes through her tribulations. The multiplane glass method that Bartosch designed for Reiniger, and his use of soap to create soft haloes of light, contribute significantly to The Idea’s atmospheric look, as well as the overall visual motif of light, which was not present in Masereel’s original novel. Though the thick outlines and use of highly contrasting light and dark no doubt evoke Masereel’s woodcut quality, the overall resulting imagery is vastly different.
Though the starting point of The Idea was Masereel’s work, the film took flight and became distinctly Bartosch’s — in form, visual style, theme and message. It is a shame that many Bartosch’s other works are lost; otherwise we would have a better picture of Bartosch’s entire oeuvre, and be able to better understand his artistry.
‘Bartosch’s The Idea‘ by William Moritz, in A Reader in Animation Studies, ed. Jayne Pilling
‘Frans Masereel’, GraphicWitness – visual arts & social commentary, https://www.graphicwitness.org/historic/masereel.htm#dieidee
Claudia Lau
ANIM223 - HISTORY OF ANIMATION - FALL 2019 