“Scientists to Hollywood: Please Break Only 1 Law of Physics Per Movie.”
Perkowitz, a member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange set up to advise Hollywood, singled out the giant space bugs in the film Starship Troopers for special scrutiny. He pointed out that if a real bug was scaled up to the size of the on-screen insects, it would collapse under its own weight. Perkowitz has come up with a set of scientific guidelines for Hollywood, and also encourages filmmakers to fact-check their scripts in a more deliberate manner so that audiences don’t dismiss a movie as absurd and stay away from the box office.
Angels and Demons gets an F, as does The Core, whose science is “out to lunch.” To which I must answer: But that’s what makes the movie so awesome. Stupidly, squee-inducingly, laugh-so-hard-I-nearly-faint awesome.
One of my good friends – who was enrolled in a physics Ph.D program at the time he made this comment – said that the first time he watched The Core, he was appalled. Then he watched it again and loved it – after all, it’s just a movie, and who wants to analyze equations while watching a movie?
Personally, I think the scientists are objecting to the best line in the film.
“Do this, and I will sign your doctorates blindfolded.”
“Blindfolded?”
“Blindfolded. Do not pass go, go directly to Ph.D.”
“who wants to analyze equations while watching a movie?”
That’s the spirit!
Don’t get me started on films that include ANYONE interacting with computers…
Oh, go on. Please, do go on.
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My favorite law of physics being broken is when Superman sweeps Lois Lane off her feet and flies her around the earth in the first movie. He would have returned with an armload of cinders at that speed and height.