Sometimes My Brain is Annoying...
I can’t say exactly when it happened, but over the last few years my brain has made it nearly impossible to just sit back and enjoy a movie or story.
Because even as I’m trying to enjoy the epic space battle or badass fight between the hero and the bad guy, a little voice in my head is going:
“Ten minutes ago they were complaining about how hard it is to fly the Klingon ship they stole because they can’t read the controls…and now the communications officer is able to manipulate them to fine-tune an alien signal and adjust for what it would sound like if it were being broadcast through water without any hesitation…”
Or
“This character has just been stabbed with a foot-long blade, thrown over a cliff, landed on rocks and broken his arm…but when his partner is pushed off the cliff as well, the hero manages to grab his partner’s arm and pull him to safety…” I understand the need to physically traumatize the protagonist to show how heroic they are…but can the limitations of the human body be taken into account just a little?
Or
“They walked into the house in the daylight, there’s been one conversation and no indication that any other time has passed, but now it’s dark???”
Or
“Yes, that spaceship looks impressive, but it makes no sense from a practical standpoint why you would have what looks like miles and miles of twisty corridors that you have to run through to get from the bridge to the engine room…”
Or
What reasonable person would, upon being told the bar they’ve entered is a cellphone-free zone, complacently drop their cellphone into a basket full of other cellphones without asking for a receipt or at least reassurance their phone is secure? I know, the hero needed to not be accessible by phone for the story to work, but come on, there are other, more believable ways to do that!
Yes, I know that these are visual and storytelling tropes to make the story more exciting and that I’m not supposed to think about it…
But I can’t help it.
Would it be so hard for the writers and filmmakers to take a minute to look at their stories from a logical perspective and throw in a line or two so it makes sense given the reality of physics and the human body? Or look at the set they are building with a modicum of consideration for what would be a practical layout and not just put in design elements because they look cool even though they make no sense? (And yeah, I’m looking at those ridiculously complicated spaceships in all the Star Trek movies.)
Conversely, could my brain just shut up and let me enjoy the story without pointing out all the implausibilities???
Of course, I was the kid who, whenever I got involved in a good book, would wonder in the middle of it when did the main character take time to go to the bathroom.
Maybe it’s not such a new problem…
Because even as I’m trying to enjoy the epic space battle or badass fight between the hero and the bad guy, a little voice in my head is going:
“Ten minutes ago they were complaining about how hard it is to fly the Klingon ship they stole because they can’t read the controls…and now the communications officer is able to manipulate them to fine-tune an alien signal and adjust for what it would sound like if it were being broadcast through water without any hesitation…”
Or
“This character has just been stabbed with a foot-long blade, thrown over a cliff, landed on rocks and broken his arm…but when his partner is pushed off the cliff as well, the hero manages to grab his partner’s arm and pull him to safety…” I understand the need to physically traumatize the protagonist to show how heroic they are…but can the limitations of the human body be taken into account just a little?
Or
“They walked into the house in the daylight, there’s been one conversation and no indication that any other time has passed, but now it’s dark???”
Or
“Yes, that spaceship looks impressive, but it makes no sense from a practical standpoint why you would have what looks like miles and miles of twisty corridors that you have to run through to get from the bridge to the engine room…”
Or
What reasonable person would, upon being told the bar they’ve entered is a cellphone-free zone, complacently drop their cellphone into a basket full of other cellphones without asking for a receipt or at least reassurance their phone is secure? I know, the hero needed to not be accessible by phone for the story to work, but come on, there are other, more believable ways to do that!
Yes, I know that these are visual and storytelling tropes to make the story more exciting and that I’m not supposed to think about it…
But I can’t help it.
Would it be so hard for the writers and filmmakers to take a minute to look at their stories from a logical perspective and throw in a line or two so it makes sense given the reality of physics and the human body? Or look at the set they are building with a modicum of consideration for what would be a practical layout and not just put in design elements because they look cool even though they make no sense? (And yeah, I’m looking at those ridiculously complicated spaceships in all the Star Trek movies.)
Conversely, could my brain just shut up and let me enjoy the story without pointing out all the implausibilities???
Of course, I was the kid who, whenever I got involved in a good book, would wonder in the middle of it when did the main character take time to go to the bathroom.
Maybe it’s not such a new problem…