Like the phenakistoscope, the zoetrope (“wheel of life”) was an incredibly important early animation device that presented the viewer with an illusion of motion. However, unlike the phenakistoscope, the zoetrope could be viewed by more than one person at a time, increasing its popularity.
The zoetrope is also based on the persistence of vision phenomenon. It consists of a metal or cardboard drum with slits made at equal intervals. A strip of paper with sequential images is placed inside the drum below the slits. When the zoetrope spins quickly, the viewer peers through the slits and the images animate. Zoetrope discs resembling phenakistoscopes were also placed in the device’s bottom, offering another set of images for the viewer to enjoy.
The many unknown artists responsible for the hundreds of zoetrope strips designed during this period have sometimes been called the very first animators. Moreover, the placement of sequential
images in a strip marked a major development in the conception of animated subjects—one that would eventually lead to animated cinema.
images in a strip marked a major development in the conception of animated subjects—one that would eventually lead to animated cinema.
The zoetrope was invented in 1834, just over a year after the phenakistoscope to which it is related. The inventor, Englishman William George Horner (1783- 1837), named his device the Daedalum or “wheel of the devil.” However, for some unknown reason decades went by before Horner’s invention was commercially produced in the 1860s, this time under the name zoetrope or zootrope. Many manufacturers in England made zoetropes and strips, the quality of which varied widely as the strips displayed here demonstrate.
The American board game company, Milton Bradley began selling the “definitive version” of the zoetrope and several collections of strips in 1866. By 1900 the Milton Bradley zoetrope and package of 12 strips sold for $2.50 or about $75.00 in today’s money. An additional collection of twelve strips cost 60 cents or the equivalent of about $18.00.
Zoetropes were marketed as both a parlor game for multiple viewers to enjoy, as well as an entertaining object for children.
Viewer Engagement: The Zoetrope
A viewer’s experience with the zoetrope was distinctly different from its predecessors, the thaumatrope and phenakistoscope. With a zoetrope the user interacts with the object, choosing the experience based on the strip. Some strip publishers even encouraged users to combine half of one strip with half of another for “amusing results.” This creative engagement with the object is similar to image editing and provided viewers with more possibilities and an active role in the experience. Of course, the linear nature of the sequential images permitted such “editing” in the first place.
Sources consulted:
Laurent Mannoni, The Great Art of Light and Shadow: Archaeology of the Cinema 2000, 218.
Stephen Herbert’s website: https://www.stephenherbert.co.uk/wheelHOME.htm
Charles Solomon, Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation (NY: Wing Books, 1994).
https://theoptilogue.wordpress.com/2022/02/16/the-weirdness-of-zoetropes/
Nicholas Dulac and Andrè Gaudreault, “Circularity and Repetition at the Heart of the Attraction:
Optical Toys and the Emergence of a New Cultural Series,” Cinema of Attractions Reloaded,
edited by Wanda Strauven, Amsterdam University Press, 2006, 236.
