Oh no, say it isn't so!
But alas, I've written (by request) two articles for internet sites over the past four days about the scientific inaccuracies in the movie "Gravity."
I saw the movie last weekend and really liked it. Not only is it a poignant story, beautifully filmed, but it is going to make my life A LOT easier. If this movie is going to be the blockbuster that is expected -- $55.5 million on opening weekend, the biggest open ever in October -- lots of people will be seeing it, people who are often in audiences that I speak to about space. Once they see it, it will be much easier to explain why blowing things up in space is not a good idea, and about something called the Kessler Effect, where one event causing space debris sets off a chain reaction and pretty soon -- kaboom (or in space, poof) -- lots of spacecraft are gone. Additionally, the movie has got people talking about space again, and as a space development advocate, I think that's a good thing.
Recently, scientist Neill deGrasse Tyson -- the closest thing space has to a rockstar -- apparently had a Tourette-like episode while on Twitter, right after viewing "Gravity." He sent out 12 tweets to his over one million followers, bemoaning (spoiler alert) scientific and technical errors in the movie. Geeeeeeeez, Sandra Bullock's hair didn't float freely in zero-gravity, and all the space stations were in the same orbit, and (hand wringing) why was a medical doctor a mission specialist, and blah, blah, blah. So what?
This is not the first space movie that I've had to listen to geeks rip apart. In Apollo 13 the astronauts were looking at the Moon while on the dark side of the planet! Can you imagine? And in "Armageddon," the Shuttle was used to get to an asteroid and who doesn't know that couldn't happen?! (And who doesn't know that NASA isn't going to send a bunch of ragtag oil drillers to save the world?)
Space geeks aren't alone in their refusal to suspend reality.
I watched a really stupid movie about a bank scam with a former banker, who nearly went apoplectic pointing out the errors made and screaming "that couldn't happen" at the screen!
My military students who are fighter pilots talk about how they can't watch Top Gun because of too many mistakes. (Others call it Military Porn)
And many years ago I watched "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" with my friend Janice. During the scene where the kids are running through blades of grass to escape -- I don't remember, a dog, a bug, whatever -- she looked at me and very seriously said "I'm not buying that." Really? Does that mean you've bought everything up to this point -- including the kids being accidentally shrunk by their father!
I've mentioned before my particularly pretentious colleague who, when asked what he thought about Leonardo DiCaprio's movie "Inception" in the theater lobby afterward, thought for a moment and then replied "A bit of a stretch." What, you thought it was a documentary?
Get over yourselves people! You got to a movie for escapism!
OK here's the real kicker. Apparently there is a fine line between when people expect the laws of physics to be applied, and when they don't, and perhaps the movies people rip apart just didn't go far enough. Nobody seems to have any problem with, for example, Zombies! And vampires! Superheroes. My guess is that few people will be critiquing the engineering principles behind Thor's hammer or Iron Man's suit. Movie goers think 007 parachuting off a mountain in a tuxedo is okay. And lord knows, I have heard nobody complain that Harry Potter's flight paths were not aerodynamically correct, that Hobbits would be complaining of chronic back pain because of their size and weight distribution, or that Quentin Tarantino portrayal of Hitler's death in "Inglorious Bastards" was inaccurate.
And, OMG, does anybody think there are politicians like Mike Myers' Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies? I'm mean who could think a politician could be that crazy?!)#* (Oh wait, I just reread that. Considering the current situation in Congress, maybe that's not the best example...)
Movies make things up.
Frankly, I'm glad they do. Movies aren't bound by the laws of physics. They aren't bound by any laws.
I do realize that there are some people who need to look for errors -- you know, the OCD types who obsessively straighten pictures, return home to check to see if the iron was on and count the stairs when they walk up -- they should be focusing on continuity errors.
Things like....the infamous red mark on Uma Thurman's chest before John Travolta hits her with the adrenaline shot, and is gone afterward, in "Pulp Fiction"; the iron that goes from sitting flat, to sitting upright in Robin Wright's apartment when Tom Hanks comes to meet his son in "Forrest Gump;" and why can't competent prop people be found to make shattered windshields stay shattered in movies like "The Godfather" and "Terminator 2"?! I'm just sayin'! That's important! (To those, um, OCD types, that is....)
I think I'll go watch "Shrek." (pssst -- green ogres are made up)
***I hope you will consider "Following" this blog at Itsnotmeright.com for email notification of new weekly posts, or "Liking" the It's Not Me, Right page on Facebook. Thank you!