http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_UbDSlwAME
Physics in Terry Pratchett’s "Hogfather"
The movie “Hogfather” was originally a TV movie based on the book by the same title. The movie is not well known so here is a short description of the plot. The movie is about beings know as the Auditors whose job it is to count everything in the universe and make sure “gravity is working correctly.” They hire the assassin Mr. Teatime and ask him to assassinate the Hogfather (a type of Santa Claus), because he is an unknown variable in the universe. He goes into the Tooth Fairy’s dimension and collects all the children’s teeth he can find. He then has a wizard cast a spell so that all children stop believing in the Hogfather. The legend of the Hogfather is that the Sun will not rise if the he ever dies. Wanting to stop him is Death and his half-human granddaughter Susan. The book itself is part of a series that all revolves around a strange land mass known as the Discworld. The movie opens with the Discworld, a flat land mass, on top of the backs of four gigantic elephants. These elephants in turn stand on a large sea turtle (Atuin) that is swimming through space. As a land of fantastical magic there are various events in the movie that break with common physics because of its world. However the Discworld is not the only aspect that breaks with the rules of gravity. The Tooth fairy’s dimension, another place in the movie, has extra attributes than that of the Disc because it is a place created by children. Lastly the supernatural beings themselves each carry abilities that compromise the Laws of Physics around them.
The author, who also takes part in the movie, has said on several occasions that because the Discworld is a place that has a 1 in a billion chance of existing in the universe everything that happens on it has the same odds. The most obvious physics defying CG of the whole movie is the sea turtle known as Atuin. The turtle and the elephants are roughly the size of planets. Of course there are dozens of questions about how they survive in space with no air. Another question that arises is how the turtle propels its way forward. In the first scene he doesn’t appear to be just floating in space but “swimming” forward. There is no force acting on the turtle. At least there appears to be no evidence of any type of gas or air pushing the turtle forward. Additionally, a sun and moon can be seen orbiting the flat land mass. The sun and moon rise just like earth even though they have no reasonable orbit. Normally, for example, the earth’s moon is on an orbit around the earth due to the earth’s gravity. Yet, the elephant’s legs should disrupt the unconventional orbit, but instead both sun and moon seem to snake around their legs. However, for most of the “normal” people living on the Discworld gravity and physics seems to be working just the same as Earth’s. For example in the bar scene the people fighting in the Mended Drum seem to fall and get hit at a normal rate and when Banjo gets hit in the face he falls straight to the floor unlike some of the more supernatural creatures. In contrary when one of the wizards is making a potion and it explodes everyone around him gets blown back by the blast but he remains in front of the potion. Overall the viewer is assured that despite appearances the Disc is most normal just like our Earth.
The Tooth fairy’s dimension is a more fantastical world than that of the Discworld. In the movie Mr. Teatime, the assassin, describes the place as a world that resides in the mind of every child. Therefore the rules of gravity are as children understand it. The greatest example is when Mr. Teatime first enters the dimension and kills the guards. Instead of falling to the floor the guards disappear in mid fall (people do not die in a child’s world). They are shown to reappear in the “real” world about one story above the roofs of homes. Some of the dead guards land on the roofs with a loud crash that would seem too much impact for the few feet that they fell. Other dead guards are thrown from at least 20 stories in the Tooth Fairy’s dimension only to land lightly on the snow of the “real” world. This detail is most evident when Mr. Teatime himself falls about 50 stories in the Tooth Fairy’s dimension only to land lightly on a table in the real world still alive. The fall itself appeared to take only 3 seconds when he should have taken 5-6 seconds to fall from that height. From the film it appears that this was a budget decision because the actor seems to be on a green screen and added into the shot instead of having a stunt man do the fall.
Finally the most notable CG in the movie revolves around how the Laws of Physics are usually always compromised by the supernatural beings. Of course the main characters seem to show the most supernatural powers, that being Susan and her grandfather Death. The viewer first becomes aware that Susan is extraordinary when everyone thinks she is “pretending” to scare away a boogeyman in the basement. She comes back out of the basement with an iron rod dented into a large semicircle. A little later, after she discovers that her grandfather is pretending to be the Hogfather she suddenly stops time. She walks outside where snow flakes remain suspended in air. To emphasize her extraordinary power, as Susan walks towards the snow flakes they drift away from her while remaining in suspension. Another example of her powers is when she is at the Wizard’s University and she is talking to the god of hangovers, Baleous. As she speaks she suddenly walks through a wall while Baleous comically slams his head into the wall, apparently unable to do the same.
However, Susan only has a fraction of her grandfather’s powers. In his first scene Death is walking in a hall filled with hourglasses. He picks up a few that are clearly running out of sand. He stares at them for a few seconds and when the camera goes back to the hourglass it seems that the sand has lasted longer than it should for dramatic pause rather than for a supernatural reason. In a more magical scene he rides his horse across the sky. The horse still jostles up and down as if he is absorbing the impact of hitting hard ground. The Hogfather (Santa Claus) seems to exhibit the same type of CG when he flies his boars across the sky. His sled seems jerky as if the boars are dragging him across hard rocky ground.
The wizards of the movie are supposed to be the gap between “normal” people and the supernatural. They seem to always be the most confused about supernatural events but at the same time enjoy pushing the rules of physics. In the first scene with the wizards they are working on a new invention they call a “particle accelerator” made from a steam engine and magic. The head wizard of the project asks another wizard for money to buy radiation suits because their machine has already exploded once. The other wizard suddenly panics at the word radiation. The movie is supposed to not only be supernatural but also comic. As the shot pans away the viewer sees a part of the wizard building suddenly explode. For the sake of the supernatural aspect of the movie it is assumed that the wizards can some how buffer a nuclear explosion to just a room and that they can mostly survive the explosion.
The most vexing character to really understand is Mr. Teatime. He is not technically magical but his assassin skills seem supernatural for dramatic and comical effect. In his first scene he appears to the head of the Assassins' Guild in the far end of the room, by the fire place. Dr. Downy looks down at a paper and when he looks back up Teatime has moved across the room and is sitting across from him. All this happens in 2 seconds. Later on in the movie Mr. Teatime repeats this action when he threatens a man with a knife. The man runs a few steps in the opposite direction and suddenly Mr. Teatime appears in front of him and stabs him in the stomach. Additionally, he is very difficult to kill. As mentioned earlier in this paper he survives a 50 story fall. After landing on a wizard’s dinner table he sits up, grabs a sword, and walks out the door. Although he is one of the few “normal” characters in the movie, as the villain Mr. Teatime is given villain abilities. These abilities all defy physics for the sake of giving him a sinister element.
The purpose of the movie “Hogfather” is to parody our world with the use of magic. Despite the strange shape of the Discworld, for normal people living on the Disc the laws of physics are that same as Earth’s. In this way the story is not completely alien to the viewers. The plot implies that the supernatural occurrences are happening without the general public’s knowledge, behind closed doors. Only when people were in another dimension, such as the Tooth Fairy’s world, or were supernatural beings themselves, did the laws of physics change to accommodate the magical intent of the characters.
Physics in Terry Pratchett’s "Hogfather"
The movie “Hogfather” was originally a TV movie based on the book by the same title. The movie is not well known so here is a short description of the plot. The movie is about beings know as the Auditors whose job it is to count everything in the universe and make sure “gravity is working correctly.” They hire the assassin Mr. Teatime and ask him to assassinate the Hogfather (a type of Santa Claus), because he is an unknown variable in the universe. He goes into the Tooth Fairy’s dimension and collects all the children’s teeth he can find. He then has a wizard cast a spell so that all children stop believing in the Hogfather. The legend of the Hogfather is that the Sun will not rise if the he ever dies. Wanting to stop him is Death and his half-human granddaughter Susan. The book itself is part of a series that all revolves around a strange land mass known as the Discworld. The movie opens with the Discworld, a flat land mass, on top of the backs of four gigantic elephants. These elephants in turn stand on a large sea turtle (Atuin) that is swimming through space. As a land of fantastical magic there are various events in the movie that break with common physics because of its world. However the Discworld is not the only aspect that breaks with the rules of gravity. The Tooth fairy’s dimension, another place in the movie, has extra attributes than that of the Disc because it is a place created by children. Lastly the supernatural beings themselves each carry abilities that compromise the Laws of Physics around them.
The author, who also takes part in the movie, has said on several occasions that because the Discworld is a place that has a 1 in a billion chance of existing in the universe everything that happens on it has the same odds. The most obvious physics defying CG of the whole movie is the sea turtle known as Atuin. The turtle and the elephants are roughly the size of planets. Of course there are dozens of questions about how they survive in space with no air. Another question that arises is how the turtle propels its way forward. In the first scene he doesn’t appear to be just floating in space but “swimming” forward. There is no force acting on the turtle. At least there appears to be no evidence of any type of gas or air pushing the turtle forward. Additionally, a sun and moon can be seen orbiting the flat land mass. The sun and moon rise just like earth even though they have no reasonable orbit. Normally, for example, the earth’s moon is on an orbit around the earth due to the earth’s gravity. Yet, the elephant’s legs should disrupt the unconventional orbit, but instead both sun and moon seem to snake around their legs. However, for most of the “normal” people living on the Discworld gravity and physics seems to be working just the same as Earth’s. For example in the bar scene the people fighting in the Mended Drum seem to fall and get hit at a normal rate and when Banjo gets hit in the face he falls straight to the floor unlike some of the more supernatural creatures. In contrary when one of the wizards is making a potion and it explodes everyone around him gets blown back by the blast but he remains in front of the potion. Overall the viewer is assured that despite appearances the Disc is most normal just like our Earth.
The Tooth fairy’s dimension is a more fantastical world than that of the Discworld. In the movie Mr. Teatime, the assassin, describes the place as a world that resides in the mind of every child. Therefore the rules of gravity are as children understand it. The greatest example is when Mr. Teatime first enters the dimension and kills the guards. Instead of falling to the floor the guards disappear in mid fall (people do not die in a child’s world). They are shown to reappear in the “real” world about one story above the roofs of homes. Some of the dead guards land on the roofs with a loud crash that would seem too much impact for the few feet that they fell. Other dead guards are thrown from at least 20 stories in the Tooth Fairy’s dimension only to land lightly on the snow of the “real” world. This detail is most evident when Mr. Teatime himself falls about 50 stories in the Tooth Fairy’s dimension only to land lightly on a table in the real world still alive. The fall itself appeared to take only 3 seconds when he should have taken 5-6 seconds to fall from that height. From the film it appears that this was a budget decision because the actor seems to be on a green screen and added into the shot instead of having a stunt man do the fall.
Finally the most notable CG in the movie revolves around how the Laws of Physics are usually always compromised by the supernatural beings. Of course the main characters seem to show the most supernatural powers, that being Susan and her grandfather Death. The viewer first becomes aware that Susan is extraordinary when everyone thinks she is “pretending” to scare away a boogeyman in the basement. She comes back out of the basement with an iron rod dented into a large semicircle. A little later, after she discovers that her grandfather is pretending to be the Hogfather she suddenly stops time. She walks outside where snow flakes remain suspended in air. To emphasize her extraordinary power, as Susan walks towards the snow flakes they drift away from her while remaining in suspension. Another example of her powers is when she is at the Wizard’s University and she is talking to the god of hangovers, Baleous. As she speaks she suddenly walks through a wall while Baleous comically slams his head into the wall, apparently unable to do the same.
However, Susan only has a fraction of her grandfather’s powers. In his first scene Death is walking in a hall filled with hourglasses. He picks up a few that are clearly running out of sand. He stares at them for a few seconds and when the camera goes back to the hourglass it seems that the sand has lasted longer than it should for dramatic pause rather than for a supernatural reason. In a more magical scene he rides his horse across the sky. The horse still jostles up and down as if he is absorbing the impact of hitting hard ground. The Hogfather (Santa Claus) seems to exhibit the same type of CG when he flies his boars across the sky. His sled seems jerky as if the boars are dragging him across hard rocky ground.
The wizards of the movie are supposed to be the gap between “normal” people and the supernatural. They seem to always be the most confused about supernatural events but at the same time enjoy pushing the rules of physics. In the first scene with the wizards they are working on a new invention they call a “particle accelerator” made from a steam engine and magic. The head wizard of the project asks another wizard for money to buy radiation suits because their machine has already exploded once. The other wizard suddenly panics at the word radiation. The movie is supposed to not only be supernatural but also comic. As the shot pans away the viewer sees a part of the wizard building suddenly explode. For the sake of the supernatural aspect of the movie it is assumed that the wizards can some how buffer a nuclear explosion to just a room and that they can mostly survive the explosion.
The most vexing character to really understand is Mr. Teatime. He is not technically magical but his assassin skills seem supernatural for dramatic and comical effect. In his first scene he appears to the head of the Assassins' Guild in the far end of the room, by the fire place. Dr. Downy looks down at a paper and when he looks back up Teatime has moved across the room and is sitting across from him. All this happens in 2 seconds. Later on in the movie Mr. Teatime repeats this action when he threatens a man with a knife. The man runs a few steps in the opposite direction and suddenly Mr. Teatime appears in front of him and stabs him in the stomach. Additionally, he is very difficult to kill. As mentioned earlier in this paper he survives a 50 story fall. After landing on a wizard’s dinner table he sits up, grabs a sword, and walks out the door. Although he is one of the few “normal” characters in the movie, as the villain Mr. Teatime is given villain abilities. These abilities all defy physics for the sake of giving him a sinister element.
The purpose of the movie “Hogfather” is to parody our world with the use of magic. Despite the strange shape of the Discworld, for normal people living on the Disc the laws of physics are that same as Earth’s. In this way the story is not completely alien to the viewers. The plot implies that the supernatural occurrences are happening without the general public’s knowledge, behind closed doors. Only when people were in another dimension, such as the Tooth Fairy’s world, or were supernatural beings themselves, did the laws of physics change to accommodate the magical intent of the characters.
The movie sounds interesting and I'm hoping to watch it soon. A film like this almost has too much to choose from with regards to bending the physical laws. Your essay would have been more cohesive if you'd limited it to fewer effects and gone into more detail analyzing them.
ReplyDeleteScore: 100 points
Introduction and Conclusion 20
Main Body 20
Organization 15
Style 20
Mechanics 25
The grading rubric is on the course website at the bottom of the "Grading" page.