Science
Fact or Cinematic Fiction
Countless films manipulate the laws of physics
to communicate worlds of unbelievable proportions. Science fiction films
involving worlds outside of our own are compelled to stretch the truth, as
their world does not exist in our physical world. However, to accomplish this
rule breaking, one would need to solve the action in a way that could be
believable by giving the action some weight of believability. To give weight
would mean to adhere to certain laws in the most basic form so as to not leave
the audience butchering the action with analysis. The film industry gains
respect when a moment is believable in our world as well as world that we have
never experienced. Adhering to the law of inertia in every sense would be believable,
however, to the thrill-seeking moviegoer, believable is not always impressive
or entertaining for the world introduced.
Special effects are no stranger in the movie Wanted, directed by Timur Bekmambetov.
Wesley, an account manager frustrated with a presumably dead-end job is taken
for a whirlwind when Fox, a trained assassin, informs him that his father, also
an assassin was killed and the man who committed the murder has a new target.
Frequent panic attacks plague Wesley’s daily life but when he is told that
these attacks are actually uncontrolled expressions of a superhuman ability,
training unleashes a powerful force to be reckoned with. Curving a bullet’s
path is the reoccurring skill throughout the film and the topic of this
discussion in ignoring the law of inertia and actually playing on another
principle of physics.
The movie Wanted portrays a cult
of assassins possessing the mystical power of shooting curving bullets around
objects and infrastructures to kill their targets. However, curving a bullet is
impossible. Only a spherical object can be curved through a fluid due to Magnus
forces causing pressure differential. A bullet, a cylindrical object, does
occur Magnus forces through a fluid but produces a lift force rather than a
curved motion. Therefore, the bullet in motion will stay in motion and not
deviate from its path.
Star
Wars is a movie franchise that encapsulates a grand story of galactic good and
evil. The current saga, spanning over six films, portrays the battle between
the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Two factions support these two
larger forces: The ancient
Jedi
order (galactic peace police) and the Sith (anti-jedi war criminals). These two
factions fight on land, sea, air and in space. The space battles consist of
hundreds of fighter crafts of all shapes and sizes. They are a pivotal part to
the story. However, the space battles themselves will be the point of focus for
which we discuss another movie that breaks Newton’s First Law.
During the Battle for Endor, the X-Wing star
fighters have the ability to perform agile maneuvers and acrobatic tactics to
avoid their enemies. The X-Wings contain four propulsion engines on the rear of
the fighter craft that are facing the same direction. With just these four
engines, propelling in the same direction, the X-Wing cannot perform such
movement. Outer space is a vacuum, meaning it is devoid of the structures and
properties of matter. There is no wind and so these fighter crafts do no
experience the same drag or have the sane ability to change directions as an
aircraft would in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The battles are entertaining because the
actions simulate movement that is more recognizable to the average Joe living
on Earth. If the film chose to obey the laws of physics in outer space, the
known mechanics of the fictional spacecraft and the absence of air would allow
only for the fighter crafts to go straight in a constant motion. Therefore, the
fighter would need propulsion engines directed in all directions allowing the
fighter to change paths. In our universe, an object in motion stays in motion.
The fighter craft, given the standalone force of the propulsion engines, would
remain going straight unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Speed begins with a terrorist attack involving an elevator along with
a witnessed bombing of a bus. The terrorist bomber tips off his next plan of
attack to Jack Traven, an officer on the case. Jack is burdened with the
horrible truth that a bus is rigged with explosives that will detonate if the
vehicle reaches 50 miles per hour.
In the movie Speed the bus under
pressure must jump a gap in a highway because stopping is not an option. The
opposite ends of the highway gap are relatively flat, allowing for little to no
vertical ascension. When the bus begins
to jumps the gap, the front end appears to have a vertical lift before the rear
end of the bus even leaves the paved highway.
This would not happen due to the angle of the paved highway .The front
of the bus would continue off of the cliff and descend due to the acceleration
of gravity.
Also, upon surviving the jump, the shot of
the rear end of the bus seemed to have been above the ground plane of the
highway. This contrasted with the first shot of the bus lifting off the cliff,
where the rear end of the bus descended the ultimate height of the highway.
These
two factors mentioned defy the law of inertia because the action of the bus in
the movie would call for additional help to make it happen for the final shot.
For
the sake of story, laws of physics, such as the law of inertia could be
deviated from in an effort to impress. However, without careful planning, the deviation
could offend viewers because the sad attempt to trick the viewer could go
horribly wrong. Films across the board, including science fiction, horror films
and even romantic comedies may face the challenge to create a believable moment
without the chance to physically carry it out. Whether the medium be computer
graphics or props being hung by wires, the challenge relies on the careful
observation of what actually happens in our tangible world.
