Outline of First Term Paper

The Laws of Physics in Summer Wars (2010)

Introduction

Thesis: Most of Summer Wars takes place in a virtual world, but obeys the laws of physics to create an emotional connection and dramatic gravity.

Body

1. Size and scale

• In the real world, one of the uncles brings a large boat to the property and puts it in a pond next to the house. A large amount of water is displaced to show how big the boat is in real life. The water moves slowly and it feels large.
• When Love Machine assimilates its 1,000,000,000 (check number) accounts stolen, it takes the form of all the separate avatars standing together. We know it’s huge because it moves slowly, but its true scale is revealed when a stream of fast-moving avatars are sent at Kazma.
• The avatars are moving at a speed of (measure this using frames from the movie)
• Therefore the larger avatar is (measure the height based on how quickly avatars are moving in the shot with Love Machine)
• In general, smaller creatures are jumpier, squishier, and zip around more frantically.

2. Gravity and flying

• We have a sense of how the real world works, which is by all the normal laws of physics.
• In the virtual world, gravity is established by certain scenes such as characters falling off of platforms; however, when the rules of the universe change, the characters are able to fly, seemingly without consequence.
• Flying seems to have no rules, the characters have full control over when they go, stop, and move but follow believable timing. When they stop, there is still a bit of movement, like a rock floating through space.
• Helps support the fantasy factor of the virtual world

3. Squash and Stretch

• Love Machine jumps on Kenji’s replacement avatar and it squishes to show his character as weak and squishy. The character, though cartoony, does bleed and shows the feeling of damage and possibly death in OZ.
• There are fighting scenes between King Kazma and Love Machine that establish them as solid beings. They fight like human fighters with strong/solid bones.
• During the final scenes of the movie, King Kazma delivers a final blow to Love Machine. We have already established that Love Machine’s head is solid, but in this scene Love Machine’s head is stretched beyond any physical realm due to the force of King Kazma’s punch.
• We believe this because as the audience feels tension and disdain build-up against the antagonist, we want justice to be served in a way that is beyond reality.

Conclusion

• The contrast of the real world’s physics to the virtual world’s physics establishes a feeling of reality and therefore dramatic tension to the situation.
• When the laws of physics are broken it is either to create a feeling of fantasy in the virtual world or to accent plot points in the movie.
• Some characters in OZ are cuter or more cartoony than others, and they follow equally cartoony physics to accent their character traits (and vice-versa for realistic characters).