Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

          In entertainment today, it is not uncommon for our television screens to be bombarded with over the top action. The movies, television series and video games that we consume are avenues of escape from our mundane everyday lives. A lot of the times it may not be blatantly obvious that these forms of entertainment are constantly breaking the rules of physics. However, there are times where physics have some glaringly obvious errors, but we as viewers buy into it without question. In this sense, 2D and 3D animation are highly pliable mediums that allows for intense distortion of real world physics in order to create an entertaining experience for the viewers. Many times in animation there are instances where there is a disproportionate relationship between the amount of acceleration applied to an object and the resulting force of the object. It is a violation of Newton's Second Law of Motion, that states that as the acting acceleration upon on object is increased, the force is increased. As mentioned before, while sometimes these inaccuracies are subtly hidden, there are other cases where it is thrown to the forefront and emphasized to create a serious or comedic effect.

         In Asura's Wrath, a video game developed in 2012 by Capcom, this disproportionate relationship between force and acceleration is used to create comedy. Asura's Wrath is a game that is notorious for being completely over the top while mimicking the style of a Japanese super hero anime. So in this case, the distortion of real world physics is used to create a colorful world for the player to experience. Asura, the game's titular hero, is a demi-god, who wields enormous physical power. Power that is enormous enough for him to uppercut another character from the face of Earth all the way to the Moon. Logistics aside, such as both characters even surviving a trip to the moon without any sort of protection, it is not possible for a normal human being to have enough force in his one punch to launch someone to the moon. Furthermore, Asura's fist does not bounce off the other character upon impact and the resulting lift off is more akin to a rocket taking off rather than punch to one's chin. In this case, the believability of the action takes the backseat to the entertainment factor presented by the ridiculous premise of the game. By this point in the game, the audience has already been desensitized to the over the top nature of the game, and they will most likely suspend their disbelief and sit back and enjoy a corny action sequence for the sake of entertainment.

          In the 2013 cult hit anime, Attack on Titan, by Hajime Isayama, the universe is mostly grounded in real world physics. However, in areas where the Isayama wants to lift some of the tension off the viewers, the characters are allowed to break the rules of physics. This sort of idea is very common in 2D animation in order to create comedy. There is a scene where Sasha Braus is being punished for disobeying the rules of the military academy and as such she is forced to run laps around camp for 5 hours without any meals. However, Sasha is a glutton archetype character and after serving her punishment a friend comes to her aid and sneaks her a loaf of bread. In this moment, Sasha darts across the screen about 20-30 feet to snatch the food from her benefactor. If one classifies this as a hero jump, then her short push time (around 2 to 3 frames) corresponds with the believability of the lunge. However, in reality, a lunge of this magnitude would not be possible due to the enormous leg strength needed to pull of the maneuver thus creating a disproportionate reaction between what is presented and what could actually occur in reality.

         Perhaps the biggest offender of the laws of physics is Square-Enix's 2005 CG film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. During the climax of the movie, the hero, Cloud, is fighting a colossal dragon thousands of feet in the sky above a futuristic city. Cloud breaks the limits of human movement when he jumps about 10 stories high in a single leap. Cloud performs a super hero jump with a short push time, however, the resulting jump is much too lofty and feels more akin to an actor being pulled into the air by a wire. Furthermore, in order for Cloud to chase the dragon as it ascends higher above the city, his friends come to lend him their aid. However, this comes in the form of them jumping insanely high as well, and then throwing Cloud higher into the air with only their arm strength. There are assisting characters that appear to just be giving Cloud a boost with their hands, but when they release Cloud, he disproportionately shoots into the sky. With the amount of acceleration needed to toss another human 5 to 10 stories into the air, it is surprising that the cast of characters are not breaking their arms, throwing out their shoulders, or inflicting some other sort of bodily harm to themselves. Finally, to top it all off, when Cloud falls hundreds of feet from the sky, he lands as gracefully as a cat with zero regard for the accompanying G-forces acting on his body. If a normal person fell from the sky at the height that Cloud did, they would reach their terminal velocity on the descent, and perish from the impact. As silly as this scene ended up appearing, the audience already expects this kind of action from the cast and they do not question the scene on their initial viewing of the film.

        In conclusion, there are many instances in animated mediums where the physics are pushed to the limit, but the viewers do not question it. Of course there is always the risk of pushing the boundaries too far, this ruining the experience for the viewer. But as mentioned before, animation is a powerful medium that allows creators to surprise their viewers with the unexpected. It has the unique ability of pliability that allows the warping of real world physics in order to evoke a feeling that can be serious or comedic in nature. Whether it is Asura punching someone to the moon, Sasha doing an impossible lunge for her bread, or Cloud and his friends taking to the skies to defeat the colossal dragon, the worlds that are created are so fantastic and wondrous that we can often accept these blatant inaccuracies in real world physics simply because the result is so entertaining.