Philosophy
All I can say is that we like exaggerations including the realms of science and such accurate cinema science would dilute the impact. Live with it, know the difference, and enjoy the film.
Those preposterously unscientific moments in science-fiction movies — laser guns that emit visible beams, spaceships that explode in flames, pretty much anything that happened in “The Day After Tomorrow” — that disrupt our glimpses into the future could soon be a thing of the past if a professor at Emory University has his way.
Sidney Perkowitz, a professor of physics at Emory and a member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, has proposed guidelines for these speculative films that would reduce the most flagrant abuses of scientific laws and let audiences suspend their disbelief without having to revoke it altogether, The Guardian reported.
Among the guidelines proposed by Dr. Perkowitz and supported by the Science and Entertainment Exchange is that only one major violation of the laws of physics should be allowed per movie.
He pointed to scientific errors in movies like “Starship Troopers” (whose giant alien insects were too big to support their own weight) and “The Core” (in which a nuclear explosion at the center of the Earth is supposed to resume the planet’s rotation) as examples of films that were undermined by their mistakes.
“I am not offended if they make one big scientific blunder in a given film,” Dr. Perkowitz told The Guardian. He added: “If you violate that, you are in trouble. The chances are that the public will pick it up, and that is what matters to Hollywood.”
- Science And Sci Fi Writers Meld
"A Place Where Science and Science Fiction Can Be of One Mind" by John Markoff September 24th, 2012 The New York Times As befits a meeting ground for scientists and science fiction writers, the new Center for Science and the Imagination grew out of...
- Deceased--amos Vogel
Amos Vogel April 18th, 1921 to April 24th, 2012 "Amos Vogel, Champion of Films, Dies at 91" by Bruce Weber April 28th, 2012 The New York TimesAmos Vogel, who exerted an influence on the history of film that few other non-filmmakers can claim, founding...
- Francis Ford Coppola’s Vision
Another novelty like 3D...doomed. "Coppola’s Vision for Twixt: Director as DJ" by Lewis Wallace July 23rd, 2011 Wired Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s unlikely vision for the future of cinema would turn directors into DJs, touring with...
- "monsters From The Id"--reinvigorate Interest In Science
An event coming mid March at South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas...David Gargani's Monsters From The Id...and attempt to visually recall the 1950's and 1960's push to get the youth of America interested in science and...
- Forget The Science, Enjoy The Movie
"Hollywood Physics" by Sidney Perkowitz Emory University Atlanta, Georgia physicsworld.com July 5th, 2006 From the 1902 production Voyage to the Moon to the recent What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?, physics has appeared in numerous feature films. Sidney...
Philosophy
Scientific accuracy of science in the cinema
All I can say is that we like exaggerations including the realms of science and such accurate cinema science would dilute the impact. Live with it, know the difference, and enjoy the film.
"Make Science-Fiction Movies More Scientific, Says Scientist"
by
Dave Itzkoff
February 22nd, 2010
The New York Times
by
Dave Itzkoff
February 22nd, 2010
The New York Times
Those preposterously unscientific moments in science-fiction movies — laser guns that emit visible beams, spaceships that explode in flames, pretty much anything that happened in “The Day After Tomorrow” — that disrupt our glimpses into the future could soon be a thing of the past if a professor at Emory University has his way.
Sidney Perkowitz, a professor of physics at Emory and a member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, has proposed guidelines for these speculative films that would reduce the most flagrant abuses of scientific laws and let audiences suspend their disbelief without having to revoke it altogether, The Guardian reported.
Among the guidelines proposed by Dr. Perkowitz and supported by the Science and Entertainment Exchange is that only one major violation of the laws of physics should be allowed per movie.
He pointed to scientific errors in movies like “Starship Troopers” (whose giant alien insects were too big to support their own weight) and “The Core” (in which a nuclear explosion at the center of the Earth is supposed to resume the planet’s rotation) as examples of films that were undermined by their mistakes.
“I am not offended if they make one big scientific blunder in a given film,” Dr. Perkowitz told The Guardian. He added: “If you violate that, you are in trouble. The chances are that the public will pick it up, and that is what matters to Hollywood.”
- Science And Sci Fi Writers Meld
"A Place Where Science and Science Fiction Can Be of One Mind" by John Markoff September 24th, 2012 The New York Times As befits a meeting ground for scientists and science fiction writers, the new Center for Science and the Imagination grew out of...
- Deceased--amos Vogel
Amos Vogel April 18th, 1921 to April 24th, 2012 "Amos Vogel, Champion of Films, Dies at 91" by Bruce Weber April 28th, 2012 The New York TimesAmos Vogel, who exerted an influence on the history of film that few other non-filmmakers can claim, founding...
- Francis Ford Coppola’s Vision
Another novelty like 3D...doomed. "Coppola’s Vision for Twixt: Director as DJ" by Lewis Wallace July 23rd, 2011 Wired Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s unlikely vision for the future of cinema would turn directors into DJs, touring with...
- "monsters From The Id"--reinvigorate Interest In Science
An event coming mid March at South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas...David Gargani's Monsters From The Id...and attempt to visually recall the 1950's and 1960's push to get the youth of America interested in science and...
- Forget The Science, Enjoy The Movie
"Hollywood Physics" by Sidney Perkowitz Emory University Atlanta, Georgia physicsworld.com July 5th, 2006 From the 1902 production Voyage to the Moon to the recent What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?, physics has appeared in numerous feature films. Sidney...