Outline of Second Term Paper

Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction:

Gravity, not as important as looking cool

A. Introduction

i. Discuss why gravity is so awesome to ignore in movies (falling/flying = cool)

ii. Brief synopsis of *real* gravity (where it comes from) vs. cinematic "gravity" (aka "down")

iii. Hypothesis: Gravity gets no respect in any fictional medium.

B. Live Action: Star Trek

i. Artificial Gravity - Why is there a "down" on the Enterprise (contrast with 2001)

C. Animation: Tarzan

i. One-armed throwing of full grown human females is easy (when Tarzan rescues Jane)

ii. Relatively slow vine swinging and branch sliding = big air.

D. Videogames: Ninja Gaiden

i. suspended air combo attacks, double jumps, wall running, and other ninja-ly things

E. Conclusion (Gravity is cool, but not as cool as having less of it)