Gravity

[cokebabies]

2) What was pulling Clooney's character when he untethered himself?

I assumed it was some sort of centrifugal force, since they were spinning around the space station.

 

[Maglor]

Not nessesarily. People have split the genre in a few different ways. Science Fiction and Serious Science Fiction. Films like 2001. It's all screwy, but go with it. Gravity is Science Fiction. The science is real....ish, not counting te angry scientists...and it's a fiction.

I still don't get it.

So anything that happens to be a fictional story while also having some scientific aspect to it fits into the genre of science fiction? Personally I think this should be considered part of the Survival Film genre, just like Apollo 13, The Grey, 127 Hours, and Cast Away. Is The Grey Science Fiction? Surely it has science in it. Are not climate, meteorology, and zoology all the study of many scientists? I would argue that The Grey strains credulity every bit as much as Gravity, if not more, but no one is calling The Grey "Science Fiction". I honestly think people see space and they think Sci-Fi. I just see it as another setting. The Grey took place in Alaska. Cast Away took place on an island. Gravity takes place in space.

Just because people study space and there is such a thing as a rocket scientist means that this is Science Fiction? I don't see it.



Regarding 2001: That is Science Fiction if for no other reason than HAL. There is no such thing as AI. The fact that it takes place in space has literally nothing to do with the fact that it is science fiction. The fact that it portrays commercial space flight however could contribute to it being called Science Fiction, as that was (and for the most part, still is) speculative and "futuristic".

so, does that mean Iron Man is NOT a Science Fiction.

Perfect example. Is there such a thing as a suit that can make you fly?

No. At this time that is clearly speculative science. Therefore Ironman IS Science Fiction.

I assumed it was some sort of centrifugal force, since they were spinning around the space station.

Well that's what started it, but once the straps and rope were pulled taught wouldn't that immediately neutralize the force? Why would he continue to be pulled?

 

[Batty]

Why so concerned about how a movie is classified? Why does it have to be classified at all? It's just a great film.

 

[fosing]

@mags
to simply put. you missed out on the FICTION bit for this movie to be classified as science fiction.

Spoiler

the science behind it IS the fiction

well, some of it.

 

[Maglor]

Why so concerned about how a movie is classified? Why does it have to be classified at all? It's just a great film.

Because a wrong classification is misleading to potential viewers, for one. Many people do not like Science Fiction, but would love this movie.

Before seeing the film I glanced at the Rotten Tomatoes consensus which refers to it as a "tense sci-fi thriller". It's certainly tense, and easily a thriller, but I went into the movie expecting there to be some big bombshell reveal that was not hinted at in the preview - such as aliens or wormholes or something.

Thankfully, the movie didn't have any of that. It didn't need it. It was just a great tense survival thriller with a deeper psychological meaning.


I was talking about it with a friend afterwards and I mentioned that it was called science fiction by some and he said, 'I didn't think that at all. I thought everything shown could have happened'. That's clearly the reaction the movie makers were going for. Yes, it stretches the likelihood of certain events but so does every Bond movie ever made. When you watch Gravity you feel like it could really be happening with what we currently know about science.

When you watch true Science Fiction you know you are seeing things that are in no way possible (time travel, AI, etc.) and you suspend a lot of disbelief.

 

[Maglor]

@mags
to simply put. you missed out on the FICTION bit for this movie to be classified as science fiction.

You missed out on reading my posts clearly. I know it's fiction. So is When Harry met Sally. Is that science fiction?

Spoiler

the science behind it IS the fiction

well, some of it.

Care to elaborate? I'm not interested in picking the accuracy of the movie apart. I don't care that the likelihood of the space debris hitting the chinese station 100 miles away from its last pass would be like trying to hit a bullet with another bullet. And I don't care if the laws of physics are stretched for effect. As I've said, that happens in all genres of fiction.

Do you have any evidence that this movie displays truly speculative science?

 

[cokebabies]

Well that's what started it, but once the straps and rope were pulled taught wouldn't that immediately neutralize the force? Why would he continue to be pulled?

But what they were attached to wasn't stationary. In fact, I'd assume the straps being taut would increase the centrifugal force.

 

[Maglor]

But what they were attached to wasn't stationary. In fact, I'd assume the straps being taut would increase the centrifugal force.

Ah, I may need to watch it again as I didn't catch that. Well, I plan to buy it on BD day one, but I'll definitely look for that on next viewing. Thanks.

 

[cokebabies]

Ah, I may need to watch it again as I didn't catch that. Well, I plan to buy it on BD day one, but I'll definitely look for that on next viewing. Thanks.

No worries. And I'm not trying to act like I'm a science whiz - that might not even be a correct theory, it just seems to make the most sense.

 

[Batty]

Because a wrong classification is misleading to potential viewers, for one. Many people do not like Science Fiction, but would love this movie.

Before seeing the film I glanced at the Rotten Tomatoes consensus which refers to it as a "tense sci-fi thriller". It's certainly tense, and easily a thriller, but I went into the movie expecting there to be some big bombshell reveal that was not hinted at in the preview - such as aliens or wormholes or something.

Thankfully, the movie didn't have any of that. It didn't need it. It was just a great tense survival thriller with a deeper psychological meaning.


I was talking about it with a friend afterwards and I mentioned that it was called science fiction by some and he said, 'I didn't think that at all. I thought everything shown could have happened'. That's clearly the reaction the movie makers were going for. Yes, it stretches the likelihood of certain events but so does every Bond movie ever made. When you watch Gravity you feel like it could really be happening with what we currently know about science.

When you watch true Science Fiction you know you are seeing things that are in no way possible (time travel, AI, etc.) and you suspend a lot of disbelief.

The whole classification thing doesn't matter to me. And if people don't go strictly because they don't like sci-fi, they're stupid and it's their loss.

 

[Maglor]

Fair enough.

For some reason it sticks in my craw when people call this sci-fi and I haven't heard one good argument for why it should be classified as such.

 

[cokebabies]

if people don't go, they're stupid and it's their loss.

Agreed .

 

[SnakeDoctor]

If Armageddon or Space Camp are Science Fiction, this would probably make the cut too. MGM seems to think Space Camp is Sci Fi ...

The Space Camp Solution. Sounds like a Big Bang Theory Episode.

SnakeDoc

 

[marker2037]

Movie. Was. Awesome. I was totally immersed in the film. It's truly haunting too in that I keep thinking about it.

 

[cokebabies]

I want this movie back in my eyes and ears right now.

 

[CelticPredator]

Why would 127 Hours, and The Grey be science fiction? Please show me the point where those movies had space in them.

 

[CelticPredator]

Fair enough.

For some reason it sticks in my craw when people call this sci-fi and I haven't heard one good argument for why it should be classified as such.

Because it's set in space, and deals with science. It's as simple as that. It couldn't get any more simpler if you wanted it too.

Any movie set in space that isn't a documentary or based off a true story, Science Fiction.

 

[hoodonit00]

****ing deleted.

 

[CelticPredator]

Alright, so call it Space-Fi. . Sp-Fi

 

[darthviper107]

So Battlestar Galactica isn't science fiction because it takes place in the past?