Movies are dumbing down science, along with everything else

In one of the least surprising bits of advice ever, college professors at the University of Central Florida are suggesting that you don't take physics lessons from Hollywood.<BR><BR>Read More

 

[dedsmith]

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<div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Fluppeteer:<br>The more tech-savvy the world gets, the more chance there is that the big guys in the film industry will notice that a lot of the audience is being distracted by stupidity. Surely ILM et al. must be full of people with some tech savvy - maybe they could be persuaded to overrule their artistic director occasionally? </div>
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<br><br>ROFL!<br><br>That's priceless! I can just see it now...<br><br>Director: "So the opening scene of this 100 Mill film is our hero jumping from the top of a six story building...backwards...shooting both his pistols and killing the bad guys with SMGs...he lands on the roof of his girlfriends speeding car..but he slips and is falling off...but manages to catch his foot on the roof rack, his face just inches from the speeding pavement...he then somersaults over the car, through the sunroof and lands in the passenger seat! Whadda ya think?"<br><br>VFX: "That could never happen."<br><br>Director: "What do you mean? What couldn't?"<br><br>VFX: "Everything. The impact would kill him and everything else is physically implausible"<br><br>Director: "So what"<br><br>VFX: "It would be more realistic if he was on the second floor and her car was parked."<br><br>Director: "But that's not very exciting"<br><br>VFX: "I insist"<br><br>Director: "You're fired."<br><br>-- View image here: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif --<br><br>If you don't like the recycled crap Hollywood shovels at you, then DON'T WATCH IT! They'll never change their ways if we continue to reward them by making "BigDumbActionMovie IX" just as profitable as "BigDumbActionMovie VIII".

 

[dedsmith]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by The Shadow:<BR>I've never been able to understand why most people don't seem to have a better intuitive grasp of the most basic Newtonian physics. Or more accurately, be able to apply that intuitive grasp - I mean, you HAVE to have an intuitive grasp of it to walk around and manipulate physical objects, so why is there such a huge disconnect for most people between the intuitive grasp they use in real life and their powers of observation? </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Because explosions and firearms ARE outside of most everyone's day-to-day experience, EXCEPT for in the movies, TV, etc.<BR><BR>Mythbusters is great, but I have to wonder if it isn't just preaching to the converted. Is it actually popular with Joe Six-Pack?

 

[dedsmith]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by The Shadow:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dedsmith:<BR>Because explosions and firearms ARE outside of most everyone's day-to-day experience, EXCEPT for in the movies, TV, etc. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Sure. But most people have thrown rocks, baseballs, basketballs, horseshoes, bowling balls, you name it. Used garden hoses, too. I'm not asking for a MATHEMATICAL grasp of Newtonian physics, here, but it shouldn't require a degree to see a guy one-handing a pistol that blows the target 5 feet back, frown, and think "that looks wrong."<BR><BR>As for the explosions and such - most people haven't been around a massive incendiary device, sure, but they <I>have</I> used ovens and barbeque grills. Again, I'm not expecting somebody to deduce an inverse-square relationship or exact convection patterns, but if you've ever flipped a steak on a grill how can you NOT know that it's by god HOT over the coals?<BR><BR>I'm actually a lot more forgiving of things like space mistakes. (Though I still think with hundred-million-dollar budgets, somebody could give a grad student some beer and pizza to come up with both believable AND cool versions of their dramatic scenes even there.) But EVERYBODY deals with basic Newtonian physics and simple thermodynamic transfer every moment of their lives. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Agreed. They SHOULD have an intuitive understanding from what they're familiar with and extrapolating to higher velocities and large fireballs, but they don't.<BR><BR>Why?<BR><BR>Perhaps because they're using movies to supplement their own first-hand experience. That's the way the bullets worked in Movie A, so why should they be skeptical in movie B? Repeat enough times and that's what 'looks right'. Why would they need to extrapolate? (which has it's own dangers when you're changing quantities by an order of magnitude)<BR><BR>Face it, most people are LOUSY observers. And being a skeptical observer certainly doesn't help the enjoyment of a movie.