Outline of the Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction?

Introduction

• Gravity - "the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass. For most purposes Newton's laws of gravity apply, with minor modifications to take the general theory of relativity into account."
• 8 miles in diameter is roughly the smallest a planet would need to be to sustain a running human.
• Thesis: Gravity is often re-imagined in movies and video games to create a satirical or fantastic universe.

Body

1. Family Guy

• S4 E17 "The Fat Guy Strangler" - Brian throws an apple and a TV at Peter to show that he has his own gravitational field.
• Objects don't begin to display a gravitational field until 
• Escape velocity would be ridiculously low.
• Ridiculous, but funny.

2. Katamari

• A Katamari is described as a "sticky" ball, but displays properties that is more likely to be gravitational pull due to super-density. As the ball gets larger it can attract larger items, and sometimes items can be knocked off.
• The Prince and his Cousins are also inexplicably unaffected by the Katamari even though they are small and remain small.
• Escape Velocity would change depending on the size. 

3. Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

• Travelling through space, you can land on smaller planets, some not much bigger than your own ship sometimes, yet they display all the same gravitational properties as bigger planets.
• Jumping animations are the same when Ratchet should be able to push off from the planet more easily.
• The jumping and walking animations are also the same when Ratchet is using his magnetic boots, but it should be more difficult to lift his feet if it is truly supporting his weight
• Escape velocity of the smaller planets would be very low.

Conclusion

• The physics in animation is often broken, and what better way to break it than with an invisible force of the known world? Games and movies may not always be accurate, but sometimes they are accurate to how we feel. When we jump it's usually not that high-average adult height is about 16 inches-but sometimes we feel as if we're flying 16 feet in the air. Sometimes we really can feel so obese that objects begin to gravitate towards us.
• It doesn't matter if the physics are real as long as we believe the story, because without an audience, media has no purpose. So we push that reality, that fantasy, and that feeling to make the audience laugh, keep them immersed, keep them entertained.

Reference:

• http://www.askamathematician.com/2010/04/q-how-big-does-an-object-have-to-be-to-gravitationally-attract-a-human-or-have-a-molten-core/