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Resizing is a common plot element in fiction. Works where it plays a prominent role are listed below. For stories about resizing in antiquity, see Size change in fiction § Mythological precursors.
Literature
editThis list describes novels and short stories in which resizing is central to the plot or the premise of the work.
| Year | Title | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1865 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | At some points throughout the story, Alice grows or shrinks as she eats foodstuffs or drinks potions.[1] |
| 1904 | The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth | H. G. Wells | A chemist experiments with a substance that causes animals and people that ingest it to grow into giants. |
| 1906 | The Wonderful Adventures of Nils | Selma Lagerlöf | While his family is at church, Nils Holgersson captures a tomte, who offers Nils a gold coin if he releases him. Nils declines and the tomte shrinks him down to the size of a tomte. |
| 1928 | Out of the Sub-Universe | Roman Frederick Starzl | After discovering a method of resizing inanimate objects and living things, Professor Halley attempts to send two human volunteers to an atomic world by shrinking them. |
| 1936 | He Who Shrank | Henry Hasse | A man continuously shrinks through endless levels of worlds nested within worlds. |
| 1937 | The Extraordinary Adventures of Karik and Valya | Janis Larri | Two children drink a miniaturizing elixir by mistake, shrink about two hundred times, and go on adventures in the grass "jungles". |
| 1942 | Twig | Elizabeth Orton Jones | A girl named Twig asks an elf who visits her to make her the size of a fairy. |
| 1953 | Atta | Francis Rufus Bellamy | After being hit by lightning, a man wakes up half an inch tall, meets an ant named Atta, and returns to normal size after Atta dies. |
| 1956 | The Shrinking Man | Richard Matheson | A man accidentally ingests insecticide and is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray, causing him to start shrinking, which he gradually does throughout the story. |
| 1956 | Mrs. Pepperpot | Alf Prøysen | The eponymous protagonist Mrs. Pepperpot occasionally shrinks down to the size of a pepperpot. |
| 1971 | The Shrinking of Treehorn | Florence Parry Heide | A young boy begins to notice that he is shrinking. |
| 1973 | A Wind in the Door | Madeleine L'Engle | A "singular cherubim" called Proginoskes takes Meg Murry inside of one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria in order to battle echthroi that have been making Charles Wallace ill by persuading his farandolae (fictional creatures residing within mitochondria) to not settle down and mature like they are supposed to. |
| 1981 | George's Marvellous Medicine | Roald Dahl | Eight-year-old George Kranky attempts to make a substitute for his grandmother's medicine by concocting a new, magical medicine, which he feeds to her as well as a chicken, causing both of them to grow. |
| 1986 | The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks | Joanna Cole | On a field trip, Ms. Frizzle's class shrinks down to the size of raindrops, falls into a water purification system, and returns to normal size after going through a faucet. |
| 1987 | Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain | Isaac Asimov | A group of scientists is miniaturized to go into the dying brain of Soviet scientist Pyotor Shapirov. |
| 1989 | The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body | Joanna Cole | |
| 1999 | The Ant Bully | John Nickle | |
| 2000 | Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants | Dav Pilkey | A scientist named Professor Poopypants uses a shrink ray to shrink Jerome Horwitz Elementary School and give its students and faculty silly names in order to get revenge for being laughed at because of his own name. |
| 2011 | Micro | Michael Crichton, Richard Preston |
Film
editResizing is a common theme and plot device in films. The list below covers films for which resizing is central to the plot or premise of the work.
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | The Dwarf and the Giant | Georges Méliès | A man portrayed by Méliès is split into two figures, one of which shrinks to a smaller size.[2][3] |
| 1936 | The Devil-Doll | Tod Browning | Concerned about the effects of overpopulation on the Earth's resources, a French scientist creates a formula to shrink humans down to one sixth of their original size, but he dies shortly after a prison escape, and his former cellmate decides to use the formula in a revenge scheme in which he targets the people who had originally framed him for bank robbery and murder.[4][5][2][6][3][7] |
| 1940 | Dr. Cyclops | Ernest B. Schoedsack | A biologist shrinks down visitors who come to his laboratory in the jungles of the Amazon rainforest.[8][4][5][6][3][7] |
| 1955 | Tarantula | Jack Arnold | A scientist tests a miracle nutrient on a tarantula, which escapes and grows larger and larger. |
| 1957 | Beginning of the End | Bert I. Gordon | After a scientist successfully grows vegetables by using radiation, the vegetables are eaten by locusts, which consequentially grow to gigantic size and attack Chicago. |
| 1957 | The Amazing Colossal Man | Bert I. Gordon | A U.S. Army lieutenant colonel grows to a height of 60 feet after being exposed to plutonium, losing his mind in the process. |
| 1957 | The Incredible Shrinking Man | Jack Arnold | A man begins to shrink after being exposed to a radioactive cloud while on a boating trip.[8][9][10][11][4][5][12][2][6][13][3][7] |
| 1958 | Attack of the 50 Foot Woman | Nathan H. Juran | A wealthy heiress named Nancy Archer grows to gigantic size following an alien encounter. |
| 1958 | Attack of the Puppet People | Bert I. Gordon | The operator of a doll factory is revealed to have been shrinking humans down to the size of dolls.[9][10][5][3][7] |
| 1958 | The 7th Voyage of Sinbad | Nathan H. Juran | A princess named Parisa is shrunk by a magician.[13][7] |
| 1959 | The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock | Sidney Miller | An inventor's fiancée grows after being exposed to radiation in a cave. |
| 1961 | The Phantom Planet | William Marshall | Astronauts are forced to land on an asteroid and discover a humanoid species only six inches (15 cm) tall. The surviving astronaut is subsequently shrunk down to their size and is forced to deal with them.[9][7] |
| 1965 | Village of the Giants | Bert I. Gordon | A group of teenagers gain access to a substance that causes living things to grow to gigantic proportions. |
| 1966 | Fantastic Voyage | Richard Fleischer | A submarine crew is shrunken down and placed inside a scientist's body.[9][10][11][4][5][12][2][6][13][3][7] |
| 1976 | The Food of the Gods | Bert I. Gordon | |
| 1981 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | Joel Schumacher | A woman begins to shrink after being exposed to experimental perfume and other chemicals. Later, when she is microscopic, she falls into a puddle of spilled household chemicals, causing her to return to normal size.[10][11][5][13][3][7] |
| 1987 | Innerspace | Joe Dante | A naval aviator volunteers to be shrunken and inserted into the body of a rabbit, but is accidentally injected into the body of a hypochondriac and is pursued by those who want the technology that was used to shrink him.[9][10][11][4][5][12][2][13][3][7] |
| 1989 | Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | Joe Johnston | Four children are accidentally shrunk to a quarter of an inch tall.[9][10][11][4][5][12][2][6][13][3][7] |
| 1992 | FernGully: The Last Rainforest | Bill Kroyer | In a rainforest inhabited by fairies, a young logger named Zak is accidentally shrunk by a fairy named Crysta.[14] |
| 1992 | Honey, I Blew Up the Kid | Randal Kleiser | A two-year-old boy gradually grows to enormous size after being accidentally exposed to a growth machine.[7] |
| 1993 | Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman | Christopher Guest | Nancy Archer grows into a giant after having encountered a UFO earlier in the film. |
| 1995 | Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold | Fred Olen Ray | |
| 1996 | Body Troopers | Vibeke Idsøe | Eight-year-old Simon shrinks himself to microscopic size in order to travel through his ailing grandfather's body in search of a kidney stone. |
| 1997 | Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves | Dean Cundey | Wayne accidentally shrinks himself, his wife, his brother and his sister-in-law with his shrink ray.[5][13][7] |
| 2006 | The Ant Bully | John A. Davis | A boy is shrunk down to the size of an ant after attacking an ant colony.[7] |
| 2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | Conrad Vernon, Rob Letterman | After nearly being struck by a 'quantonium' meteor on her wedding day, Susan Murphy grows to a height of 49 feet 11 inches and is given the name Ginormica. |
| 2010 | Tooth Fairy | Michael Lembeck | A hockey player is forced to work as a tooth fairy.[13] |
| 2010 | Despicable Me | Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin | In an effort to become one of the greatest villains of all time, Gru uses a shrink ray to steal the Moon. |
| 2012 | Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader | Kevin O'Neill | |
| 2013 | Epic | Chris Wedge | One of the main protagonists is shrunken down to help a group of people called the Leafmen prevent their forest home from being destroyed.[15] |
| 2015 | Ant-Man | Peyton Reed | After stealing and trying on what he mistakenly believed to be a motorcycle suit, Scott Lang realizes that it is a shrinking suit and is recruited by Hank Pym to infiltrate the Avengers.[8][10][11][5][12][2][6][3][7] |
| 2017 | Downsizing | Alexander Payne | To solve overpopulation and environmental dangers, humans are shrunken to a height of 5 inches (13 cm).[8][12][2][6] |
| 2018 | Ant-Man and the Wasp | Peyton Reed | Lang helps Pym retrieve his wife from the Quantum Realm.[16] |
| 2022 | Turning Red | Domee Shi | 13-year old Meilin Lee discovers that she can transform into a giant anthropomorphic red panda when she expresses intense emotions. |
| 2023 | Ant-Man: Quantumania | Peyton Reed | [7] |
| 2023 | Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | Kirk DeMicco, Faryn Pearl | The protagonist Ruby Gillman learns that she can transform into a giant kraken when exposed to water. |
Television
editResizing is a recurrent theme in television programs. The list below covers television series for which resizing is central to the premise and direction of the plot and setting.
| Start date | End date | Title | Creator(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 1968 | Micro Ventures | Hanna-Barbera Productions | In each episode, Professor Carter and his two teenage kids use a shrinking machine to shrink themselves and their dune buggy and explore and experience the world from the perspective of an insect. |
| 1968 | 1969 | Fantastic Voyage | Characters go on missions in which they board a submarine and get miniaturized. | |
| 1969 | 1969 | The Secret Service | Gerry and Sylvia Anderson | Father Stanley Unwin's missions involve frequent use of the Minimiser, a device capable of shrinking people and objects to facilitate covert operations. |
| 1980 | 1981 | Mighty Man and Yukk | Ruby-Spears Productions | A millionaire uses a machine to reduce himself to a few inches in height and give himself superpowers, taking on his role as Mighty Man. |
| 1980 | 1981 | The Wonderful Adventures of Nils | ||
| 2008 | 2013 | The New Adventures of Nanoboy | A 9-year-old boy named Oscar deals with issues by shrinking down to microscopic size and saving the day as a superhero named Nanoboy. | |
| 2010 | 2018 | Adventure Time | Pendleton Ward | Jake the Dog is able to magically stretch or shrink himself to various sizes. |
| 2012 | 2016 | Tree Fu Tom | Daniel Bays | In each episode, Tom uses a power belt to shrink to insect size and fly into a tree to enter the world of Treetopolis. |
| 2017 | 2017 | Ant-Man | ||
| 2018 | – | Polly Pocket | The eponymous character Polly uses a magical locket to shrink herself and her friends down to tiny sizes. | |
| 2021 | – | Gabby's Dollhouse | Traci Paige Johnson, Jennifer Twomey | |
| 2021 | 2022 | Kid Cosmic | Craig McCracken | One of the main characters, Rosa (also known as La Nina Gigantica), can enlarge herself to a height of 40 feet when she uses the blue Stone of Power. |
Video games
edit| Year | Title | Developer(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Super Mario Bros. | Nintendo R&D4 | One powerup, when obtained, causes Mario to double in height and gain the ability to break bricks above him. |
| 1987 | Palace of Magic | Martyn R. Howard | The player character finds himself in a palace after being shrunk by an evil wizard. |
| 1989 | Incredible Shrinking Sphere | Foursfield | Players control a ball that can change size in order to tackle traps in mazes. |
| 1993 | Harley's Humongous Adventure | Visual Concepts | A man in a green suit shrinks himself down to the size of a bar of soap. |
| 2004 | Ben's Game | Eric Johnston | A child patient is shrunk to microscopic size and goes on adventures inside their own body to collect seven shields against symptom of chemotherapy, each guarded by monster representing their respective symptoms. |
| 2004 | The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap | Capcom, Flagship | Using portals throughout the world, Link can shrink down to "Minish size". |
| 2006 | Tasty Planet | Dingo Games | Players control a grey goo which gets bigger when it eats items that are smaller than it. |
| 2008 | Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune | Big Blue Bubble | Players assume the role of Private Timmy Reynolds, who shrinks down to participate in a war amongst toy soldiers. |
| 2010 | Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds | Dingo Games | The Goo travels through time after eating a time machine in the laboratory. |
| 2014 | LittleBigPlanet 3 | Sumo Digital | One of the player characters, Toggle, can switch between two sizes. |
| 2014 | Tasty Blue | Dingo Games | Set in the ocean, the player navigates one of three aquatic creatures in different marine biomes. |
| 2018 | Tasty Planet Forever | Dingo Games | Players control eight characters, each in a different storyline. |
| 2018 | Marble Marcher | CodeParade | Players navigate a sphere through various courses that are 3D fractals. |
| 2019 | Superliminal | Pillow Castle Games | Players can rescale objects by picking them up and moving them around. |
| 2021 | Fractal Block World | Dan Hathaway | Players navigate through a procedurally-generated fractal landscape of voxels and can can shrink and grow endlessly through it. |
| 2022 | Grounded | Obsidian Entertainment | Four protagonists are shrunk and must survive in a backyard. |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Lovell-Smith, R. (2004). "The Animals of Wonderland: Tenniel as Carroll's Reader". Criticism. 45 (4): 383–415. doi:10.1353/crt.2004.0020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ulaby, Neda (December 22, 2017). "In 'Downsizing,' A New Addition To The Large History Of Tiny People In Film". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zarracina, Javier (July 20, 2015). "From the Devil-Doll to Ant-Man". Vox. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Edwards, Graham (July 22, 2015). "Ant-Man and the History of Miniaturization in Movies". Tested.com. Whiskey Media. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kaye, Don (July 22, 2015). "The Incredible Shrinking Movies". Den of Geek!. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Luxford, James (January 24, 2018). "Honey, we shrunk the history of movies about shrinking people". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Theme – Shrunken People". Allmovie. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Watercutter, Angela (January 5, 2018). "A Brief History of Putting Small Things on the Big Screen". Wired. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Schuster, Mike (April 17, 2015). "Shrunk History: The 5 Greatest Shrinking Movies of All Time". ifc.com. IFC Films. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sullivan, Kevin (July 19, 2015). "These Films About Shrinking Are 'Ant-Man' Forerunners". Uproxx. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Evans, Claire L. (July 16, 2015). "Honey, I Shrunk the Hero: 'Ant-Man' and a Brief History of Tiny Action at the Movies". Grantland. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Dixon, Hannah (December 13, 2017). "Downsizing: 6 shrinking movies that hit new heights of awesome". cineworld.co.uk. Cineworld. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Swinney, Jacob T. (July 16, 2015). "A Tiny History of Shrinking Humans in Movies". Slate. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
- ^ Hinson, Hal (April 10, 1992). "FernGully: The Last Rainforest Movie Review". Washington Post. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (May 23, 2013). "'Epic' movie review". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
- ^ Hogg, Trevor (July 11, 2018). "Working for Scale: 'Ant-Man and The Wasp' Ups the VFX Ante". Animation Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2018.