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The Machine That Made Us
| Length: | 56 min |
| Released: | 2009 |
| Ages: |
High School College Adult |
In an age of sophisticated technology, The Machine That Made Us helps build an appreciation for the enormous contribution to culture, politics, industry, and even human psychology made by Johann Gutenberg's fifteenth century achievement—the printing press.
Writer and actor Stephen Fry energetically explores the story of the machine and of the man who created it. To gain a fuller understanding of each, Fry gathers a team of craftsmen to help him build a copy of Gutenberg's printing press and sets himself the task of learning how to make paper and type in order to print as Gutenberg once did. It is through these practical trials and tests that Stephen demonstrates the brilliance of Gutenberg's invention and brings the man and his machine to life.
Through these explorations, the film also examines why printing mattered so much to Gutenberg and his contemporaries; it describes the political and religious turmoil which shaped Gutenberg's world, and his invention’s impact on the culture.
Writer and actor Stephen Fry energetically explores the story of the machine and of the man who created it. To gain a fuller understanding of each, Fry gathers a team of craftsmen to help him build a copy of Gutenberg's printing press and sets himself the task of learning how to make paper and type in order to print as Gutenberg once did. It is through these practical trials and tests that Stephen demonstrates the brilliance of Gutenberg's invention and brings the man and his machine to life.
Through these explorations, the film also examines why printing mattered so much to Gutenberg and his contemporaries; it describes the political and religious turmoil which shaped Gutenberg's world, and his invention’s impact on the culture.
