Title
Cosmic Catastrophes In Movies
Abstract
The cinematic appeal of a cosmic catastrophe is clear. First, it opens up a treasure trove of exciting and exotic visual effects opportunities. The threats are generally unfamiliar, and therefore potentially more scary, than mere terrestrial hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and storms. The converse, of course, is that making the familiar scary (think about birds in The Birds or the beach in Jaws) can also make for particularly potent drama. But the unknown gives the filmmaker a particular liberty to invent and to change the rules of the game mid-stream by introducing new aspects of the unfamiliar threat. Hollywood versions of threats from space have taken plausible scenarios and exaggerated them to various degrees. To the extent that the stories excite the imagination, their scientific accuracy, or lack thereof, is secondary to their ability to make us think about our place in a hazardous universe. © 2013 American Chemical Society.
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Publication Title
ACS Symposium Series
Volume
1139
Number of Pages
153-162
Document Type
Article; Proceedings Paper
Personal Identifier
scopus
DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2013-1139.cho13
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
84905492720 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84905492720
STARS Citation
Colwell, Joshua, "Cosmic Catastrophes In Movies" (2013). Scopus Export 2010-2014. 7735.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2010/7735