Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguSwYTRXAFmDm-r3gZgMtWBjB2rCchGU5t8hpQRj6bShERz7mCE2SGQS3pbbdZ7gOIZKX3OW8uai26_cwgCTcAh5AZYWaXSR6X9BB2SOQbo5Y-qv_F3-sajGZ6-X8reTgH-3h6vZzh9s/s320/The-Incredibles-movie-image-Pixar-2.jpg)
This picture contains a variety of different super heroes with a vast
range of powers. The different powers each character has add to the physical
laws in the film to be portrayed as believable and applicable to each
individual. Some of the powers the characters have are unexplainable, or do not
have a law that can compete against it because of the fact that they are super
heroes; this allows for the movie to rid itself of limitations. For example Violet,
the daughter and oldest sibling, can make herself turn invisible and can create
force fields powerful enough to repel bullets out of thin air. The baby, Jack Jack,
can morph into different objects and become different elements and materials. Mr.
Incredible’s best friend Fro-zone materializes ice out of moisture in the air,
and water. Some of the more simple ones to explain and understand would be
Elastigirl’s, Mr. Incredible’s, and Dash’s super powers. Elastigirl, Mr. Incredible
wife, can stretch to infinite lengths and deflate to make herself as flat as
paper. The middle sibling, Dash can run as faster than a speeding bullet and
the speed of light. Mr. Incredible, the main lead and father, has the super
power of supernatural human strength. He is able to lift anything that is more
than several times his own body weight. The villain Syndrome is someone who
pops up from Mr.Incredible's past. He does not have super powers he was born
with so he invented his own. Syndrome can freeze people and move them around
(like a laser pointer) and fly with his rocket boots. Even though syndrome is
practically an average human being it is still rather difficult to depict how
he can freeze people with the pointer and move them.
There are several different examples where the laws of physics were
broken in the real world, but were dismissed because of the fact that the main
characters were super heroes so things played out correctly; however there were
times that even though they were super heroes it did not.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao5e5wDayInTbO6KH6VJDlos1X8g98HK8h2Egp6DFW8SA7mLukB_2glIRnI6XBpaA0YBMelT3nnNzHLuSSBVDQauzuFrB7lu7bH_de_fXY0raEiDjd73bC5b6G042OQ_IrpB0dfTwjTM/s320/boss.jpg)
A second instance where the laws were not applicable was when Mr.
Incredible is playing catch with dash near the beginning of the movie. Mr.
Incredible and his son Dash are throwing the football in the park and Mr.
Incredible passes the ball to dash. Mr. Incredible fully extends his arm for
the pass, implying that he is doing so with full force. If Mr. Incredible was
throwing the football with all his might the ball should have either went much
further, he would have had to extend his arm less to imply that he was only putting
in the half effort, or Dash would have had to have been running much faster
than he was and he would be waiting for the ball to fall directly into the
palms of his hands.
A third example would be when the incredible family is traveling from
the secluded volcano island to go back to the city and save the people from
Syndrome (the main villain) and the machine he invented. Their method of
transportation is suspending a RV in the air using propellers Elastigirl wraps
her arms around and stretches her body to hold onto. During this sequence
because of the aero dynamic lift law the RV should have been tilted up the entire
time; through landing and while flying. In the scene the RV is at a 90 degree
angle and completely horizontal.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqdnQCKFQiL7PSXlP33l6xWFDlpZnAdtxWX4LDrS-JKttS2sQmfie7RR5ZioEKqbI6dmQnWmmWAeUApngEvJsKBljDSr0F3SEmldlshWsqr9YHGGq6C4nI14b6juYK4DVnO-95relTGo/s320/dash.jpg)
There are several physics laws that would be
broken if performed by regular people, however, considering they are challenged
by supers the audience lets it slide or finds it even more believable that the
supers have powers because of that fact.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HgLGGklMVRPoUUMps9YV10bcD0Jku4cLrnijQuRMhdX0EU-Jthsr5m89W9-0psc5lgLKW76Bgj61efwiBVCfaebltNooN0Efwh1i0NTHVWPbpYAXG5WYVd0r62ZPae9-2dkG9WnqBQ4/s320/Untitled-3.jpg)
An alternate example would be when Mr. Incredible saves a ton of people
on a subway. Mr. Incredible notices that the track is disconnected and if the
subway goes over it will fall and smash into the ground, taking all its
passengers along with it. In order to prevent this from occurring he uses the
Action Reaction Principle. The principle states that for every action force
there is an equal force in the opposite direction. Mr. Incredible uses the ground of the track
and his arms to exert force on the object (the subway), while the object is simultaneously
exerting an opposing force back. This results in Mr. Incredible stopping the
train from going over the edge.
One last law that can be applied is
Odd rule and forces. This law stated that the force remains constant; its
support by (water) ground balances the weight, leaving only friction force.
This would be applied in two separate occurrences with Dash. The first one is where
the plane crashes and in order to get to land Elastagirl stretches herself to
form a boat and Dash treads his feet in the water at rapid speeds to act a
motor boat. The second one would be when Dash is running so fast to dodge
bullets and creating so much friction that he can actually run on top of the
water in the ocean.
There are a numerous laws that are defied throughout the entire film. The
fact that the movie takes place in the real world, yet its physics laws are
altered to adapt to the main characters, which happen to be super heroes,
really takes it to the next level. There are a few times throughout the film
where the super heroes try to hide their identities however their powers make
it rather challenging. If the movie was filled with superheroes and there was
not a comparison of the ordinary human, the superheroes would not be super
because no one would be. Each of the different abilities the characters had helped
them survive and work together as a team well. There were several situations
where if the character was not there or they did not have the ability the
others would have died. All of these factors aided in moving the plot along
nicely. The entire message of the story/ plot promotes being an individual and
utilizing what makes up each person. Syndrome tries to enforce there being no
supers so that way no one is special and everyone is the same however this
would take away the point of having an identity and everything else that comes
along with each person being their own person. The plot fed off of being able
to bend the laws of physics for the supers and it benefited greatly from that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)