The following Bell Labs movie--directed by Frank Capra!--was a reliable way for my elementary & middle school teachers to kill time. What I'd forgotten about this classic film since then was how religion dominates it early on--the biblical reference at the opening to offset the science & paganism, Mr. Sun as a bitterly nostalgic dethroned deity basking in the memory of past adulation, the use of Father Time's forward focus to skirt explaining creation before the film had a chance to establish its cultural cred. The overarching narrative frame is fantastic as well--the meta-play of fiction and fact, with the text escaping control of its authors, illustrates a point with which I've annoyed any number of graduate seminars: there's precious little in postmodernism that hadn't already appeared in cartoons.
Anyway kids, roll up your nap blanket and get your milk & cookies, 'cuz here he is . . . Our Mr. Sun!
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