44 Portal

We know it is a lame edit decision when we see dictionary entries to explain words in films, but here goes… late Middle English: from Old French, from mediaeval Latin portale, neuter (used as a noun) of portalis ‘like a gate’, from Latin porta ‘door, gate’.

The passageways from one realm to another are the best bits in literature and film. I find most of the rest just packing. Is that only me?

 

We pore over maps in the intros. There are so many from my yout…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weirdstone_of_Brisingamen 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_maps

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Foul%27s_Bane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_Station_(novel)

 

Back-of-the-wardrobe fumblings in Narnia

 

Stargate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3ihWxPL5eA

 

The Phantom Tollbooth (1970) https://youtu.be/0JHYAhcdsMk sadly I couldn’t find the subsequent scene that takes Milo through the actual tollbooth, from live-action to animation. Magic.

 

And I have to include a link to a hi-res image of an old map of the Forest of Fontainebleau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Fontainebleau I printed for my wall.

The forest is itself a special portal in art history, especially at the cusp of classical to impressionist landscape painting. It's not like the old days now though.
𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕢𝕦𝕖