The Last Machine

This episode focuses on travel. The railroads, automobiles, hot air balloons, and submarines were opening up new avenues of travel, while film made others into armchair travelers.

The 20th century reality was created by film. In 1910, motion pictures and the news had sound and color to make their fake news more interesting than the real news.

On screen, the human body has fascinated and influenced viewers. Ever since Thomas Edison filmed "electric girls" for his first Kenetoscope peep-show, the human form has inspired and influenced sex, sport, art, and war.

The electric, pulsing life of the big city provided a natural film backdrop for early movies. As the film industry has grown, so has the urban mythology created by city movies.

Magic, religion, grisly horrors, ghost stories, and every kind of fantasy imaginable are ideally suited for motion pictures. Many artists, including Virginia Woolf, have speculated about the tie between film and the unconscious language of the human spirit.