Science Fact of Cinematic Fiction?

                Animation is a medium based on the bending of reality to get a more real look, or sometimes just goes for the dramatic effect and throws realistic physics out the window. Often in animation, objects gain and lose energy, appear from thin air, and can grow and shrink in size. All of these break the law of Conservation of Energy, which is fundamental to our world. Without it, every law or principle in physics would make no sense, because energy could come from nowhere. In animated worlds this is fine, and often can be rationalized, though most times it is just to serve the purpose of the filmmaker; to tell the story.

                Sometimes seemingly realistic scenes are actually breaking the Law of Conservation of Energy. In the beginning of Rango, the title character’s home, a reptile tank, falls out of the back of a moving car. The car had just run over an armadillo and was swerving around a highway. When the car swerves, the tank flies up off the junk it is placed on, and out the open back window. This would not normally happen. As the car slows down and swerves, the tank’s inertia would keep it moving forward instead of backward.  In order for this to happen the car would have to be speeding up considerably, which it doesn’t, because later it is clear that the car pulled over, and would have been slowing down. Either that, or there is a very high speed wind blowing through the car at that moment, and the tank gets blown out the window. The scene after shows there is no wind on this desert highway, and the air moving through the car, which is probably going about 80 mph and decelerating, would not be enough to push a whole lizard tank out of the car while it should be moving the opposite direction. Somehow the tank inexplicably loses kinetic energy. Similarly, when the tank hits the ground and shatters, the hero does not have a reaction to hitting the ground. He does not bounce, but simply lands on a piece of glass and lays there as it slides down the road. The character loses energy somehow when landing on a hard surface. If it was something more pliable like marshmallow this would be understandable, but he is landing on glass, which is also landing on pavement. Now, all of this was shot in slow motion can be used in film to disguise the physics of a situation. It was barely noticeable on the first watching of the movie, which means it succeeded, as well as the cinematographer focusing more on the feeling of the character in free fall. We are led to connect more with the character than think about the physics going on in the scene.

                In a more fantastical setting the Law of Conservation of Energy is consistently broken, often times attributing such happenings to “magic.” This happens abundantly in Adventure Time, but there is a character that breaks it simply by existing. Flame Princess is a being made of fire. She can grow and shrink in size and is constantly burning. Combustion requires fuel, oxygen, and heat in order to react. When growing to sizes of three or four stories she does not consume any fuel. She is noticeably hotter, which causes things around her to burst into flame. A larger reaction requires more of each ingredient, meaning more fuel, more oxygen, and more heat. When growing to large sizes Flame Princess is outdoors most of the time, meaning there is a large enough supply of oxygen. The heat generated by the reaction meets the minimum requirement for heat in a larger reaction. The only thing missing is more fuel. Growing up she was imprisoned until the age of 14 and has no concept of eating. Without consuming anything she is constantly burning, which means she is not conserving energy, but somehow creating it. Adventure Time does not explicitly explain this, but as with many of the creatures in the Land of Ooo, there is magic, which makes sense in an animated children’s show. The creators of the show are taking advantage of the medium to create interesting characters to interact with Finn.

                Sometimes physics goes out the window just to get a laugh. While a gag may not be physically possible, it follows the logic of that world and gets the point of the story across. The Reward is an animated short film that centers around two young treasure hunters who travel for years following a map. In the end they reach their destination to find only a large mirror reflecting their older and more awesome selves. They two friends execute a high-five so epic it creates an explosion seen from space; larger than any manmade nuclear blast. The amount of energy needed to create this is huge, and again there seems to be no fuel for this reaction. No noticeable chunks of their hands were missing, which could have been the fuel. While this could be explained by magic, because one of them is a mage, it is much more likely a flare for dramatic effect, and to get a laugh. It comes at the climax of the film, as the two have just realized the true treasure was their friendship all along. The theme of this film is clearly demonstrated in this dramatic, but not even remotely possible, animated sequence.

                Animation is a world of extremes. The stretching of reality can create a more believable experience that makes us feel the characters. These examples tie in themes, moods, and the overall world consistency to further the story and get the creator’s point across. The most successful of these moments are done in a way that follows the logic of that film, while pushing the boundaries of our suspension of disbelief a little bit. The laws of the universe are not broken often, but are in moments when it is most needed to get to that crucial point of the story.