''The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics'' is a 1965 animated short film directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, pro ...

and co-directed by

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...

, based on the 1963 book of the same name written and illustrated by

Norton Juster Norton Juster (June 2, 1929 – March 8, 2021) was an American academic, architect, and writer. He was best known as an author of children's books, notably for ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' and '' The Dot and the Line''. Early life Juster was born i ...

. The film was narrated by

Robert Morley Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, of ...

and produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. It won the 1965

Academy Award for Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

and was entered into the

Short Film Palme d'Or The Short Film Palme d'Or (french: Palme d'Or du court métrage) is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. Since the creation of the Cinéfondation La ''Cinéfondation'' is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes ...

competition at the

1966 Cannes Film Festival The 19th Cannes Film Festival was held from 5 to 20 May 1966. To honour the festival's 20th anniversary, a special prize was given. The Grand Prix du Festival International du Film went to the '' Signore & Signori'' by Pietro Germi, in tie with ...

Story

The story details a straight blue

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

who is hopelessly in love with a red dot. The dot, finding the line to be stiff, dull, and conventional, turns her affections toward a wild and unkempt squiggle. Taking advantage of the line's stiffness, the squiggle rubs it in that he is a lot more fun for the dot. The depressed line's friends try to get him to settle down with a female line, but he refuses. He tries to dream of greatness until he finally understands what the squiggle means, and decides to be more unconventional. Willing to do whatever it takes to win the dot's affection, the line manages to bend himself and form

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...

after angle until he is nothing more than a mess of sides, bends and angles. After he straightens himself out, he settles down and focuses more responsibly on this new ability, creating shapes so complex that he has to label his sides and angles in order to keep his place. When competing again, the squiggle claims that the line still has nothing to show to the dot. The line proves his rival wrong and is able to show the dot what she is really worth to him. When she sees this, the dot is overwhelmed by the line's responsibility and unconventionality. She then faces the now nervous squiggle, whom she gives a chance to make his case to win her love. He makes an effort to reclaim the dot's heart by trying to copy what the line did, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tries to re-shape himself, the squiggle still remains the same tangled, chaotic mess of lines and curves. He tries to tell the dot a joke, but she has realized the flatness of it and he's forced to retreat. She realized how much her relationship with the squiggle had been a mistake. What she thought was freedom and joy was nothing more than sloth, chaos and anarchy. Fed up, the dot tells the squiggle off how she really feels about him, denouncing him as meaningless, undisciplined, insignificant, and out of luck. She leaves with the line, having accepted that he has much more to offer, and the punning moral is presented: "To the

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

belong the spoils."

Authorship

Though listed as being directed by Chuck Jones, the true acting director was Maurice Noble according to his own recollection, Noble being the long-term background artist and eventually credited co-director on numerous projects with Jones. Chuck Jones was one of the originators for the adaptation and did the first treatment for the short. However, the results did not please the producers, who asked Maurice Noble to take over, heavily vexing Jones. Noble recalls the hand-over happening somewhat dramatically as "Chuck, with a big scowl on his face, came in and threw all the pieces on my big brown bookcase; he stacked the whole picture like this: plunk, plunk, plunk...and stalked out of the room."

Legacy

''The Dot and the Line'' served as the inspiration for a collection of jewelry by designer Jane A. Gordon. The short film also inspired ''

The Dot and Line ''The Dot and Line'' was an online publication focusing on animation journalism. It was founded in 2016 by John Maher III and Eric Vilas-Boas. Over the course of four years, the masthead grew to include Elly Belle, Sammy Nickalls, and Marley Crus ...

'', a blog that publishes essays about cartoons and interviews with voice actors and creators including

Genndy Tartakovsky Gennady Borisovich Tartakovsky (russian: Геннадий Борисович Тартаковский, born ), commonly known as Tartakovsky (), is a Russian-American animator, director, producer, screenwriter, voice actor, storyboard artist, ...

, Andrea Romano,

Brandon Vietti Brandon Vietti (born in Fresno, California in 1974) is an American animator, director, and producer. Vietti developed and co-produces the animated television show ''Young Justice'' with Greg Weisman. He has also worked on various other animatio ...

, Fred Seibert, and

Natalie Palamides Natalie Palamides (born January 6, 1990) is an American actress, comedian and writer. Early life As a young child living outside Pittsburgh, Palamides made comedic home videos in her backyard. She would do bits in the corridors at school. Disn ...

Availability

The cartoon was released as a special feature on '' The Glass Bottom Boat'' DVD in 2005. The cartoon is also featured on the 2008 release of

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

'' Academy Awards Animation Collection'' and the 2011 release of the '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1'' Blu-ray box-set on the third disc as a special feature. In 2005,

Robert Xavier Rodriguez Robert Xavier Rodríguez (born June 28, 1946) is an American classical composer, best known for his eight operas and his works for children. Life and career Rodríguez received his early musical education in his native San Antonio and in Aus ...

made a musical setting of the book for narrator and chamber ensemble with projected images, and in 2011 he made a version for full orchestra.

Notes

* This was one of only two non-

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the ...

animated short subjects to be released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after 1958. The other one is ''

The Bear That Wasn't ''The Bear That Wasn't'' is a 1946 children's picture book written and illustrated by filmmaker and ''Looney Tunes'' alumnus Frank Tashlin. Synopsis A bear settles down for his hibernation and while he sleeps, the progress of man continues. H ...

'', the last animated short released by MGM. * "The Dot and the Line" won the final award for an animated short for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Chuck Jones' only award as a producer.Short Film Winners: 1966 Oscars
/ref> * This was one of two Juster books to be adapted for the big screen by Chuck Jones, although Juster had no involvement with the other, ''

The Phantom Tollbooth ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, first published in 1961. The story follows a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollboo ...

''. *Unlike other MGM Cartoons from 1963–67, the lion in this film's opening logo is Leo.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dot And The Line, The 1965 films 1965 animated films 1965 short films 1960s American animated films 1960s animated short films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Films about mathematics Short films directed by Chuck Jones Films directed by Maurice Noble Films scored by Eugene Poddany Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films MGM Animation/Visual Arts short films 1960s English-language films