Resizing (including miniaturization, growth, shrinking, and enlargement) is a recurring theme in fiction, in particular in fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction.
In Literature
An early example of resizing is the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has repeated resizing themes, where Alice grows or shrinks as she eats foodstuffs or drinks potions. According to Rose Lovell-Smith, Alice's size-changes continually reposition her in the food chain, serving as a way to make her acutely aware of the "eat or be eaten" attitude that permeates Wonderland.[1]
The novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H. G. Wells describes a kind of food that can accelerate and extend the growth process, which when introduced to the world causes great upheavals. In Wells' novel, giants have great powers, and they seek to continue growing and improving; only the small people with their small minds stand in their way. This is a symbol of social groups with great potential suppressed by mainstream society, and an expectation for them to eventually change the world in a radical way. Though one of Wells' lesser-known works, many of the features of the novel have been incorporated into other works.
Each of the five monsters in DreamWorks 2009 science fiction film Monsters vs. Aliens can be traced to sci-fi/horror B movies from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.[2] The heroine, Susan, who grows to be 49 feet 11 inches tall, was inspired by Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Shrinking is often accomplished with a machine of some kind, as in the films Fantastic Voyage, Innerspace and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In some works, the machine can enlarge as well; in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, a shrinking machine makes a toddler 100 feet tall. Both types of machine normally have the ability to reverse the shrinking process (though sometimes, as in Fantastic Voyage, the reversal happens automatically after a certain period).
In the 1999 science fiction film My Favorite Martian, Tim shrinks to tiny size.
In the 2010 film Tooth Fairy, the main character is given a shrinking paste which he uses to shrink to a tiny fairy size.
In the Japanese film Big Man Japan, the protagonist is the latest in a dynasty of heroes who can grow to enormous size to fight equally huge monsters.
In the 2001 animated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, the teacher and Jimmy Neutron shrink to ant-size.
In the 2010 animated film Despicable Me, Gru steals a shrink ray.
In the musical Babes in Toyland, a shrink gun is used to shrink items and people to tiny toy size.
In the 2014 animated film Penguins of Madagascar, a character is trapped in a snow globe.
Television
In the Doctor Who episode "The Invisible Enemy" (4th Doctor), the Doctor uses a component from the TARDIS called a Relative Dimensional Stabilizer (RDS) to shrink a clone copy of himself and Leela for injection into his own brain. Later, the RDS is used to increase the size of a micro-dimensional virus so that it can interact with the macrocosm.
In 'Dr. Shrinker', a segment of the mid-1970s children's show The Krofft Supershow, the eponymous doctor uses his invention to shrink three young adults to six inches tall.
The Schoolhouse Rock episode "Unpack Your Adjectives" includes a scene where a girl grows into a giant size and a boy shrinks into a small size, just before the girl steps on the boy.
In the animated series Adventure Time, Jake the Dog, one of the series' two main characters, is able to magically stretch or shrink himself to various sizes.
In the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Terratin Incident", a ray of unknown origin strikes the Enterprise and causes everyone aboard to begin gradually shrinking. Spock explains this as the gaps between molecules reducing, though only in organic material such as flesh and the crews' algae-based xenylon uniforms. When Captain Kirk beams down to the planet from which the ray emanated, the effect of the transporter restores him to normal size.
In the Mega Man cartoon episode "Incredible Shrinking Mega Man", stolen gems are used in a shrink ray to miniaturize cities and the protagonist.
In the The Powerpuff Girls episode "What's the Big Idea", Mojo Jojo uses his invention to make Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup grow to gigantic sizes. However, he is foiled when Professor Utonium uses his own machine to reverse the effects by making Townsville bigger.
In the television series Ally McBeal, the main character name Ally McBeal is shown shrinking to about six inches in height.
Oyayubihime (Thumb Princess) is a Japanese work based on the fairy tale "Thumbelina". This story centers around the main character Saeko, who splashes a red liquid on individuals to shrink them to about three inches tall.
Minami-kun no Koibito is a Japanese manga which has been adapted into a television drama four times. The story centers around the main character, Chiyomi, who is shrunk by a magical curse when she and her boyfriend briefly went their separate ways. The caring boyfriend must do all he can to keep her condition a secret from inquisitive classmates and a relative who is a teacher at their school.
The protagonist of the magical girl manga and anime series Hime-chan's Ribbon is able to transform and resize herself by using a magic ribbon.
In Touhou Project, a Japanese video game series, the character Suika Ibuki has the power to grow to giant size by manipulating her density; Suika can turn into a giantess about 50-feet tall and create smaller versions of herself.
The music video to the Bis song "Sweet Shop Avengerz" features Bis, having been miniaturized to only a few inches tall, performing next to a mouse hole. During the video, the band are nearly crushed by a man with a pen and later, are nearly eaten by a cat.
Similarly, the video to the Kerbdog song "Mexican Wave" portrays the band members as only one inch tall, performing the song on a woman's necklace.
On the opposite side of the resizing spectrum is the band Silver Sun. Several of their album and EP covers, including the cover to their self-titled debut album, include giant insects thousands of times larger than their typical size.
In the anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, miniaturizing cloning technology known as micloning (maikuro-n ka in Japanese) plays a significant role in the coexistence of a giant alien race called Zentradi and humanity.
In Marvel Comics, "Pym particles" (invented by character Henry Pym, variously known by the superhero identities Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket) cause physical matter to shrink or enlarge by shunting mass into, or drawing mass from, another dimension. In addition to Pym, a number of other superheroes have used Pym particles to change their size, including the Wasp (Pym's ex-wife), the second Goliath, Black Goliath, the second Ant-Man, and the second Yellowjacket. Pym also designed a prison for supervillains that was dubbed "the Big House", in which superhuman criminals who could not be normally incarcerated were shrunk to six inches in height.
In DC Comics, the equivalent characters are the various individuals who go by the name The Atom. In particular of these people, Professor Ray Palmer is the foremost authority in size and molecular-density-changing technology. The DC Comics super-heroine Elasti-Girl also has the power to shrink and grow at will.
In the videogame Harley's Humongous Adventure, the title character is miniaturized, justifying fighting against giant rats and other such odds and relying on thumtacks as weaponry.
See also
Miniaturization – the redesign of products to make smaller ones
