Hollywood accused of silly science

[ST-One]

I'm glad to see that my favourite guilty pleasure film of the last decade, "The Core" was featured in that article. This is my favourite quote from the article:

The film is so bad, Prof [Sidney] Perkowitz thinks "it's almost deliberately wrong just to irritate the scientists in the audience."

I wish people could know more about real science to truly enjoy silly science in movies!

More seriously, I have no problems with silly science except when, as Lindley wisely said, it interferes with the entertainment. The Core has some really bad science, but it's so hammy that I can't help but love it ("unobtanium"? ). Worse offenders are movies like Mission to Mars, that try at real science (in the first half of the movie) and fail miserably, without even knowing why.

I'm glad I'm not alone in liking The Core

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'm glad I'm not alone in liking The Core

It's one of the few disaster movies that depict an Italian monument destroyed (when it's Europe, it's usually either London or Paris). Not only that, but it was actually the Colosseum, a large building made entirely of stone exploding due a giant electromagnetic thunderstorm!

You can't get more silly than that.

 

[PlixTixiplik]

As a geologist, I love The Core! I also am a big fan of the TV miniseries 10.5 (and it's even-more-hilarious sequel 10.5 Apocalypse), movies like Volcano (lava flowing down L.A. streets!) or 10,000 BC (although the latter didn't have enough scientific inaccuracies to overcome the general terrible-ness). The stupider the science the funnier they are!

 

[cardinal biggles]

Just curious, Plix... as a geologist, could you address the whole "evil plot to trigger ginormous earthquakes by nuking the San Andreas Fault" thing? Specifically, I'm thinking of Superman: The Movie and A View to a Kill (though that might have just been a conventional bomb inside a cave under/near the fault). Is this even remotely plausible, or is it just an excuse to throw together some neat-o visual effects?

 

[The Borg Queen]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch

As long as it isn't going to end up on that page, it can be excused.

 

[RegFan]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch

As long as it isn't going to end up on that page, it can be excused.

I think the examples on that page are understandable. Those scientific facts are not common knowledge. If it ends up on the Critical Research Failure page that can't be excused.

Sometimes silly science is necessary for drama. It would look boring if there wasn't sound in space in movies.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Ah, yes, that's the page I meant to link to.

 

[Deckerd]

The scientists in the article weren't calling for the end of silly science. They just (somewhat poignantly, I thought) wanted it limited per film.

 

[Neroon]

There's always Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy page to use a reference on these discussions.

 

[PlixTixiplik]

Just curious, Plix... as a geologist, could you address the whole "evil plot to trigger ginormous earthquakes by nuking the San Andreas Fault" thing? Specifically, I'm thinking of Superman: The Movie and A View to a Kill (though that might have just been a conventional bomb inside a cave under/near the fault). Is this even remotely plausible, or is it just an excuse to throw together some neat-o visual effects?

It's potentially plausible, although it has never been observed and wouldn't be predictable. Nuclear explosions do produce seismic waves and it is known that the short-lived strain produced by passage of seismic waves can alter the regional stress to produce another earthquake - called stress triggering (the North Anatolian fault in Turkey is the best example of one earthquake triggering a later one). However, it is impossible to predict how one earthquake will affect later ones (if at all), where the triggered earthquake will occur, and when the triggered quake will occur. For example, the 1999 Hector Mine quake in California was likely triggered by the 1992 Landers earthquake. Stress triggering simply increases the likelihood of a particular fault failing in a given time interval, it doesn't guarantee it.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

If the scientist doesn't like silly science, he can buy himself 10 copies of 2001: A Space Oddysey and pretend they're different movies.

 

[T'Girl]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch

Thank you The Borg Queen, I'm seriously loving this link.

 

[Silvercrest]

I just watched "The Day After Tomorrow." I'm going to sue Emmerich to pay for my ocular reconstruction. My eyes are bleeding.

 

[knine]

If you take away the silly science, then the MythBusters will have nothing to do!

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

The Core has some really bad science, but it's so hammy that I can't help but love it ("unobtanium"? )

In all fairness, The Core did not invent the idea of unobtainium.