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

Socpus ID

84905492720 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84905492720

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