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Physics in fiction

 Physics in fiction 


      You may think what does physics in fiction

may refer to. It is how the laws of physics are acknowledged in the literature, movies, Web series and TV shows and in most cases what we get is just an imagination which is completely irrelevant to laws of science and merely there are some cases which justifies physics. 


            What will you get to see when you watch SCI-FI movies or series or if you read sci-fi novels? Mostly the theme of it will be time travel, space exploration, Aliens, robots and water, a dangerous communicable disease  that's all you will get to see. Might it be Christopher Nolans 'Interstellar' which shows a group of astronauts travelling through black hole and exploring space or James Cameron who has nothing to show except Aliens. And all of those things in the movies are not even proven scientific theories and just a hypothesis or imagination. A question might pop in your mind  then Why  Hollywood always makes those kinds of movies and the answer is money. Yes, those movies are very fascinating and everyone is interested in the topics mentioned above hence they are always at the top of most grossing movies. Also , the novels are also in the same  race. 'The dispossessed' a popular sci-fi novel by writer Ursula K. Le Guin and it only talks about different types of inhabited planets where the main character, a physicist, is trapped in two worlds: an anarchist and a capitalist one. 'Solaris' by one of the best sci-fi writer stains lawlen is also completely based on aliens and how humans fight with them. 


     Sidney Perkowitz, a scientist and well known science writer, in his novel 'Hollywood science' talks about how Hollywood has shown us physics. He mentions if the movies are to be believed the physicists are not only smart people but also courageous, one who saves humans, freely giving their valuable research results. He also states that if one is to believe in movies, physics is full of new discoveries within a short span of time. And the hard work the scientists do are not even acknowledged in the movies and are often killed after the discovery. He has also mentioned that most movies only involve aliens, destructive asteroids, and advanced robots. From the words of great science writer we can guess that how Hollywood is portraying physics to us

  

  One of the other major problems of movies and novels  are  their limit of content. Only time travel, disease epidemic, aliens, space-exploration and apocalypse and that's all you will get in Hollywood movies and novels. There are many other things that can be shown in sci-fi movies. For example, why not show a movie about life before the light bulb was invented and after it was found the change in life of peoples it has brought, and how tough it was for Thomas Alva edison during the time of invention. That's just an example: Hollywood movies and novels should try to be as realistic as possible and try to focus on some creative topics, not only on orthodox sci-fi movies. 

   

   Only focusing on things that are not even discovered or are just an imagination and are miles away from real life applications. For example, how can a scientist make an antidote of a destructive disease in 24 hours and here in real life, We are still trying to make a vaccine for COVID-19 for the past 4 months and it seems like Hollywood is not trying to make a vaccine for it. It takes multiple years of hard work to reach the moon but in Hollywood you can pass through black hole and go to another planet in just a few days. Chris Hemsworth is having an Alien girlfriend and here people are still searching for the fossils of aliens only if there are only humans in Area 51.


    Although there are a lot of movies and novels that mislead normal people about the laws of physics, there are some movies that try to portray physics as accurately as possible. A movie called 'Martian' is one of those, this movie is about Mars exploration which is also the next terrestrial destination of humans to reach after the moon. And the visualisation of Mars is very realistic and precise. The movie has also given attention towards realistic problems that might occur during its exploration. And it does not have any imaginable things like aliens, time-travel and it also takes care about minor details such as the gravity of Mars. And the other kind of movies that are realistic are biopics, as they are dependent on history so they should be accurate. 

    

   To conclude, Movies are not only a source of entertainment but it should give some knowledge and an important lesson to people. Especially the sci-fi movies which are the most popular and fast growing part of the movie industry should be accurate and realistic. The content  of movies should be diversified and should provide some important knowledge to viewers. 






Refrence

 "Hollywood science" by Sidney Perkowitz 

Comments

  1. morfeas11 August 2020 at 09:02

    The vastness of space and our sheer curiosity of the unknown drive us to understand more about the universe, to seek answers to age old questions, and to explore.

    ReplyDelete

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