Monday, March 21, 2016

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction


Science Facts or Cinematic Fiction?

In this paper I would like to address a very important principle that a lot of movies, animated films and video games neglect to add. That principle is gravitational force in the law of physics. Often times they would leave out gravity on certain motions or objects that are humanly impossible to do unless you are trained as a yoga master or the world's strongest man alive. Just because the character grunts and exerts all his force towards that object or perform a stunt that looks really cool doesn't mean he or she would actually be able to move or pull it off. Gravity is the force that weights on you so you don't float into space or just simply fly around the earth. Gravity controls a lot of elements around our Earth. Like Newton's third law, "Whatever goes up must come down" because of gravity. Unless you're an airplane or an elevator. Then you are defying gravity to the maximum. Of course Gravity doesn't apply in space either until you move towards the earth's atmosphere. There are three different types of films and video games I would like to address that completely defies gravity, the first would Matrix, where Neo dodges bullet. Second would be Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner. I am absolutely in love with this cartoon when I was younger. This animated cartoon is the father of all physics destroyers. Last film would be a video game called Resident Evil 5, it involves the main character bunching a boulder. It's quite hilarious. All these films forget to apply gravity into their films, which is somewhat funnier at times.





 
In the film Matrix, Neo was being chased by all kinds of bad men known as the agent smiths. He ended up on the rooftop and have nowhere to go. The agents pointed the gun at him and fired While the bullets are going toward him he arches his back in a 90 degree angle while feet planted on the ground to dodge those bullets. Is it possible you ask me? No it is not possible to have your body in a 90 degree angle while dodging the bullets. Your center of gravity standing up is around your chest. Gravity would still be on around your chest but the amount of gravitational force apply to it as well and your weight will cause you to fall back or break something. Not to mention your legs won't be able to hold you up like that, its humanly impossible to do and you will wobble and fall. Unless of course you are a limbo champion and have years and years of training to form your back and gravity to support you up. In the end Neo did fall but it's because bullets have gravity apply to them too so as it falls it grazed his leg and cause him to fall. They sure didn't forget about applying gravity to bullets huh. I also didn't particularly like when they are doing combat and he kicks someone and he goes flying up and hits the wall. That's not possible with gravity and law of physics. Sure he might fly backwards but he won't go ascending up and then hit the wall.







I am sure you have seen this famous cartoon called Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner. Its every 90s kids favorite law breaking cartoon animation by Warner bros. In this cartoon, it breaks so much law of physics it's almost impossible to remember and count them all on the top of my head. But I remember Coyote trying to use a tub of water and a sail then use a fan to make him go forward. Coyote strapping himself with a rocket and trying to shoot himself forward, with gravity he would most likely get grazed up against the floor while moving forward. The most famous one is when he goes off a cliff and he hovers there for a few seconds then he tries to touch the ground but it's not there. He looks down and looks at the audience and then he falls. Whenever I watch those moments I can't help but laugh and watch him fall down. I wanted to try doing that but knowing the law of gravity, you won't be able to even wait a second and you are already falling down to your doom. I read somewhere someone wanted to do the bridge jump when there is a gap in between but sadly even with so much acceleration his car went down the river bank. 








My third and final animation that defies the principle of gravity is from a video game called Resident Evil 5. In this game, the main character Chris is attempting to move a boulder forward so he can get across to the other side and save his partner from falling into the lava. So with all his might he push and push and he ends up being able to push the boulder by punching it several times. Normally in a real life situation its physically impossible for someone to push a 5 ton boulder and make it move forward, let alone punching it. The force planted on your feet with gravity is the same as you exerting the force onto the boulder, which still wouldn't be possible to move it.  When you punch it you are only exerting temporary force and its like a blow of force for a few second that it. Keep on pushing it would be more wise and healthier for your knuckles. Also the way the boulder bounces into the lava is just unreal its like gravity doesn't apply to it at all. The boulder looks like it was made out of rubber. This is similar to the Kung Fu Hustle movie when the woman pushes a car sideways to park it. Normally you won't be able to do that in real life because first the car is heavy with gravity and second the woman was just giving it a one two push to slide it into place. It's not possible in any sort of way. Regardless of how buff and strong Chris is, its not possible to move that boulder out of his way. Even Brian Shaw the world's strongest man can't punch a boulder to make it move, or can he? He's done some crazy world breaking record things. So I wouldn't doubt him to try it, but he's not a normal human. 







Overall all these three films, cartoon and video game shows that a lot of developers and film creators don't remember there is something called realism and the principle of gravity. But in their defense I understand why they choose not to put gravity into consideration to make the movie more interesting. Its suppose to defy gravity to make the audience more interested and like it. People love unreality situations and it grasps their attention, if everything is base on physics and reality in movies, video games and cartoons then it will be very boring and lots of people will die in movies. While we are on the topic of gravity,  I also want to point out the movie gravity with Sandra Bullock, there are a lot of things that are not right. When they go from one place to another and then meet back together so quickly. According to actually NASA professionals its not that quick and it takes some time to go from point A to point B. Also china's space station is not next to ours, so she would of been dead long ago. Just some food for thoughts facts. All in all,  Gravity is bringing us down! 


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