Education is ruining my entertainment. Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and felt that you were thoroughly entertained only to learn more about the subject and find that the entertainment was full of misinformation? I was watching a favorite movie of mine recently when I realized that the scenario I just viewed was implausible. The movie was Demolition Man with Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone. The scene was a confrontation between Snipes' character and Stallone's where Snipes dared Stallone to come closer as he held a lit blow torch over a floor covered in gasoline. When I first saw this I thought it was very intense as a kid. When I viewed it as an adult with slightly more than a cursory knowledge of gasoline I realized that the fumes would have ignited that close to a flame source and that the scene was total bullshit. I'm sure when the stunt coordinator set up the scene he told the director that, along with the danger of asphyxiation, there was a danger of explosion if real gas was used and they substituted water for the scene. At what point did the director say that the general public wasn't smart enough to pick up on that fact?
In general, most factual goofs in movies are due to the writer(s) lack of information. This usually occurs in scenes involving military, medical or science scenarios. There is usually an advisor on set to make sure it looks and seems real but they sometimes skimp on the experts and get people who are less qualified. Sometimes in military movies they get a low ranking NCO (Non-commissioned Officer) and get the Officer info mixed up. It happens all the time. You would never see some of the things the movies portray in real life but it looks good for Hollywood. Well, I say somebody needs to get their act together because all these facts are messing up my favorite movies.
