Good morning Steemians!

Welcome to the third episode of my weekly series: Sunday Cinema Reflections, where I explore a variety of films that I have found to be life-changing, eye-opening, and revolutionary for one reason or another.

Previous Episodes

Episode 1: K-PAX
Episode 2: Snowden
Episode 3: The Peaceful Warrior
Episode 4: They Live

Be warned, while I do not plan to spell out the whole story of any of these movies, there will most likely be at least some spoilers in every episode.

Episode 5: Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land

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The Movie

Donald in Mathmagic Land is a short Disney documentary released in 1959. It was nominated for an Academy Award (best documentary - shorts), and in 1961 it was the first Disney short to be aired on color television. Throughout the 60s it was shown in schools across the US.

The Story

The movie starts off with Donald Duck wandering through a strange looking place, in his hunting apparel, and crossing paths with a strange-looking bird that is listing off the digits of Pi. While he is confused by the bird and wondering where he is, Donald is greeted by The True Spirit of Adventure. From that point forward, the spirit guides Donald through some basic & esoteric math, history, and much more.

The movie is split into a few parts:

intro
Pythagoras, the Pythagorans, and music
The pentagram, the golden section, and the golden rectangle
architecture & art
the human body & nature
games & sports
mental experiences
infinity & the future

Some Quotes

The True Spirit of Adventure: The mind is the birthplace for all of man's scientific achievements. The mind knows no limits when used properly. Think of a pentagram, Donald. Now put another inside, a third, and a fourth. No pencil is sharp enough to draw as fine as you can think, and no paper large enough to hold your imagination. In fact, it is only in the mind that we can conceive infinity.

[the infinite progression of pentagrams turns into a hallway of doors]

The True Spirit of Adventure: Mathematical thinking has opened the doors to the exciting adventures of science.

Donald Duck: I'll be doggone! I've never seen so many doors before.

[Runs back and forth from one door to another]

The True Spirit of Adventure: Each discovery leads to many others. An endless chain.

Donald Duck: Hey, hey! What's the matter with these doors? Hey! These doors won't open! They're locked!

The True Spirit of Adventure: Of course they are locked. These are the doors of the future, and the key is...

Donald Duck: Mathematics!

The True Spirit of Adventure: Right. Mathematics. The boundless treasures of science are locked behind those doors. In time, they will be opened by the curious and inquiring minds of future generations. In the words of Galileo, "Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe."

The True Spirit of Adventure: And now you are ready for the most exciting game of all.

Donald Duck: Oh, boy!

The True Spirit of Adventure: And the playing field for this game is in the mind.

[Fade in to Donald's mind, revealing a disorganized room with dusty file cabinets]

The True Spirit of Adventure: Uh-oh. Look at the condition of your mind: antiquated ideas! Bungling! False concepts! Superstitions! Confusion! To think straight, we'll have to clean house.

[the cabinets close and a broom starts sweeping by itself; Donald's face contorts as dust and moths fly out of his head]

The True Spirit of Adventure: There, that's more like it. A nice clean sweep.

The True Spirit of Adventure: The profusion of mathematical forms brings to mind the words of Pythagoras: "Everything is arranged according to number and mathematical shapes." Yes, there's mathematics in music, in art, in just about everything. And as the Greeks have guessed, the rules are always the same.

The True Spirit of Adventure: Now that you're all pent up in a pentagon, let's see how nature uses it's same mathematical form. The petunia. The star jasmine. The starfish. The wax flower. There are literally thousands of members in good standing in nature's Pythagorean society of the star. All nature's works have a mathematical logic and her patterns are limitless. The magic proportions of the golden section are often found in the spirals of nature's designs. The profusion of mathematical forms brings to mind the words of Pythagoras. Everything is arranged according to number and mathematical shape. Yes, there is mathematics in music, in art, in just about everything. And as the Greeks had guessed, the rules are always the same.

Why I Wanted to Share Donald in Mathmagic Land

This is such an old movie, and something that used to be shown in schools... and yet, in the modern world, I didn't know many of the things featured in this film until I first saw it at age 27. Nobody had ever explained the way a billiards table works, I didn't know most of the things said about Pythagoras, the musical section was all new, and even some of the geometry was presented in ways that I hadn't ever seen.

I feel like this is an amazing film for anyone and everyone to watch, and it is certainly a must if you've got kids. One of my big focuses recently has been finding kids' movies that are actually educational, inspiring, and revolutionary. You can expect to see plenty more of those in this series :-)