ABSTRACT
In Giannettino, as the magic lantern show depicting the creation of the world continues, the visual narrative created by the succession of images moves from the earth's surface to the ocean depths. The magic lantern had had more than two centuries to develop highly sophisticated techniques and a wide range of uses for entertainment and instruction prior to the emergence of moving pictures. For Carlo Collodi and Enrico Mazzanti, following the media theorists cited, the objects of representation are more important than the accurate depiction of the magic lantern as a medium. In Collodi's case, the print medium re-mediates the magic lantern through a strategy of representation that gives precedence to the exigencies of the book rather than to a historically accurate depiction of the magic lantern. Both Collodi's Giannettino and La lanterna magica di Giannettino point to a dynamic interaction among printed and visual media in the context of pre-cinema.
