The Affected Area

Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960)

M (Fritz Lang, 1931)

I am researching examples of how geographical areas of interest or exclusion are illustrated in fiction by a drawn line on a map.

In John Wyndham’s science fiction novel, The Midwich Cuckoos, 1957,  (later filmed as The Village of the Damned, 1960) a circular line is plotted on a map to determine the area around the village of Midwich in which people are mysteriously falling unconscious.

“One watching private stepped forward with his bucket and daubed a little whitewash on the grass, the other made a mark on his map. The party then moved along a dozen yards or so, and repeated the performance.”

“… and he produced a large‑scale map showing a perfect circle almost two miles in diameter, with Midwich Church lying somewhat south and a little east of its centre.”

In the film M, Fritz Lang, 1931, police searching for the killer of a child sweep an area of the city in ever-increasing circles in search of clues. An animated sequence of the film shows a compass line being drawn on a map as the search advances.

“Within a radius of 2 km, we have searched all the candy stores to find out where the bag came from, everyday our search widens…”

More on cinematic maps here…