Monday, February 2, 2009

Details

I recently saw a movie in which the main character would have died a pretty terrible death had not his captors tied him to a pipe hanging from the ceiling, which he was able to forcibly pull down, break the bolt supporting it, and thus earn his freedom.  So, if one thinks about it a little too carefully, that bolt supporting the pipe is a crucial element towards the resolution of the plot.  Of course, the movie doesn't dwell on this, because it isn't really crucial at all.

However, I want to stay on that topic.  There are endless movies where a major plot point occurs because of the character's ability to do something pretty incredible.  Not past the limit of physics in many cases, but venturing into the real of really damn lucky.  So, what if they weren't?

What if instead there was an alternate universe, of which there could be an infinite supply, where something didn't go so right.  Like in this movie, we see a couple of engineers arguing over the size of the bolts used to support a certain pipe.  One says that a size 8 will do, as it will support the weight of the 3-inch pipe with no problem.  But the other pleads, "Yes, but let's say someone is goofing around and hanging off of the pipe.  It can't support the weight of a, say, six-foot five-inch guy.  And if he pulls the pipe down, lots of pressurized steam could likely spray in some innocent bystander's face, all the while filling the catwalk with dense steam.  It would be hard to see through and anyone else in the area would be confused and might easily run into someone blindly and accidentally push them off the catwalk onto the dangerous machinery below.  All because some guy was horsing around."  

Of course, the other engineer wouldn't even listen to the whole thing.  That's crazy.  They certainly don't have to over engineer things for these movie eventualities.  But if I was the first engineer, I would say, "You know, I bet that would totally happen.  Let's reinforce it."  Then the time comes when our protagonist is chained to the pipe and needs to pull down real hard, kick some faces and spray some steam.  But it won't work.  Panic comes across his face and a knife goes into his belly.  Cut to the two honest engineers, giving a thumbs-up because their pipe didn't break.  The end.

1 comment:

Jon said...

This is the best blog post EVER. Bravo, Bravo.