Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

Newton's Third Law in Animated Films

   Ever since the early days of film, animation has allowed filmmakers to stretch the laws of physics to their hearts desire. They can create characters that can't exist, situations that can't happen, actions that defy the limits and abilities of the human body, all for our entertainment. For these movies to be believable and relatable, however, they need to be rooted in recognizable physics so the audience feels a sense of familiarity with the film, or they can be taken out of the experience. Newton's Third Law, which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, its constantly bent and broken or flat-out ignored for effect in movies, to huge or subtle effect. For my paper, I chose to examine the films The Croods, Princess Mononoke, and The Incredibles and how the 3^rd Law is treated in them.

   My first example of a false portrayal of Newton's 3^rd Law is from “The Croods”. The film is a computer animated movie produced by Dreamworks Animation, released in 2013 and written and directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco. The film is a colorful comedy set in a fictional prehistoric world populated with wild beasts and fearful cavemen, threatened by a brainy new traveler who challenges and changes their way of life as they search for a new place to live. The films universe is (very) loosely based on our own, and the distortion of physics in this films is used primarily for comedic effect and to heighten the action. The film breaks Newtons Third Law often, and the example I chose is the "log kick" scene. 

The scene occurs about halfway through the movie, where Grug and Guy are negotiating Guys continued presence and aid on their journey, which entails: no more trapping Guy in the log, and it ends with Grug kicking away the log at Guys command. The scene escalates when Grugs kick sends the log flying miles away, with only the effort and force of a average soccer kick. Now, it is set up early on that the family of cavemen are stronger than average, but it is also established that Guy has strength more similar to the average human. Newtons 3^rd Law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, the action is the kicking of the log, which would more accurate if the kick were to cause very little motion in the log, rather than hurling it with the power of a trebuchet, as well as more effect on Grug himself. This case of ignoring the law by the filmmakers is, upon examination, an intentional comedic punctuation mark to offset how “serious” the standoff is, but even so, is impossible.

   My second example of a false portrayal of Newton's 3^rd Law is from Princess Mononoke, a traditionally animated film released in 1997 from Studio Ghibli and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set in Feudal Japan, it follows the story of Ashitaka, a young man on a quest to break a curse placed upon him, who gets caught up in a battle between humans and animal spirits battling over the forest realm of the Forest God. This film, like most Ghibli films, is set in a world that is familiar to our own, with physics that resemble ours. My example of where Newton's 3^rd Law is broken occurs early on, after Ashitaka is cursed, when he is riding by a village being raided. He is pursued by the raiders himself, and he threatens them to keep away; his curse has given him strength and powers that frighten him and others. 

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   He draws his bow and fires on one raider, and the arrow severs the raiders head from his body. In this case, the action is the draw of the bow, the opposite reaction being the force of the release. In this example Ashitaka doesn't pull the bow with enough force to even knock a rider from his horse, let alone sever their head. A more accurate reaction would be for the rider to be struck, and to slip and fall off their mount when their grip slackens, not from the force of the arrows impact alone. This example of a clear breaking of the 3^rd Law was a conscious decision by the filmmakers to increase the narrative impact of Ashitaka's curse; the action is sudden and violent enough that it drives home to the audience just how serious our protagonist's situation is.

   My third example of a false portrayal of Newtons 3^rd Law is from The Incredibles. One of Pixars early greats, The Incredibles is a 3D animated film, written and directed by Brad Bird, about the secret lives of a family of superheroes, whose abilities defy the laws of physics simply by existing. My example is early in the film, when Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) becomes angry with his bosses constant jabs and cruelty, until Bob finally snaps and punches him with such force he is hurled through several walls. 

This action is inconsistent and unbalanced in several ways when related to the Third Law. The force of the punch is great enough that walls are broken easily by a human body, which is stopped only by metal cabinets, but all things combined, do not kill the boss. If a punch from Mr. Incredible can move a giant robot, surely an average person would be killed. In this case the outcome of this action does not match up with what has been established as a massively destructive force. In the context of the story, this is a conscious decision that death is avoided so that the levity of the movie is not lost, and Mr. Incredible is not made a murderer in the first act.

   The Croods, Princess Mononoke, and The Incredibles demonstrate how Newton's 3^rd Law can be bent, broken, and in many cases completely ignored in many animated films to the point where actions can be so jarring it makes us, the audience, sit up and take notice, or laugh harder for how ridiculous it may be.