Questions tagged [realism]
The general attempt to depict things accurately in films and tv shows.
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Is it realistic for an actor to act in four movies in six months?
Watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which, as I understand it, is mostly a pretty realistic portrayal of Hollywood in 1969.
One thing that doesn't feel right, though: the part where the actor is ...
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Does anything like this toy vinyl record topper featured in Season 3 of Evil exist in the real world?
During multiple episodes of the third season of the TV series, Evil, Leland Townsend gifts Dr. Kurt Boggs with a vinyl record of the French children's song, Aloutte.
(...
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Are the computers in Severance real?
Is this computer, as in hardware, fictional? It has a very strange keyboard layout.
Everything with the computers is wrong, given the high-tech background of Lumon Industries.
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Prince Philip's knife holding
In S5 E6 of The Crown, ca. 23m44s, Prince Philip (played by Jonathan Pryce) is shown eating with the handle of his knife resting on top of his hand, as opposed to 'inside', covered by his hand.
I ...
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How can someone readily know the sky Rose saw when the Titanic sank?
When Neil deGrasse Tyson went to the Joe Rogan Experience, he told the story of how he noticed the sky was wrong, and also the left side was a mirror reflection of the right side.
To know the sky you ...
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Is NYC taxi cab number 86Z5 reserved for filming?
I was just watching Jessica Jones and noticed the cab she was riding in was number 86Z5. Immediately afterwards I watched an episode of The Leftovers set in NYC, and one of the characters also hailed ...
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Is the character Johnny based on a real person?
According to the film's Wikipedia page, Armageddon Time by James Gray is "inspired by his childhood experiences".
In the movie, there is a character named Johnny Davis, a rebellious African-...
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What is supposed to be ominous about the 1976 Philadelpha Flyers?
In The Simpsons episode 1F04 "Treehouse of Horror IV", Devil Flanders summons the "Jury of the Damned" to sit in judgment of Homer. The jury consists of "Benedict Arnold, ...
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How can Joey hold his weight and Ross's weight at the same time?
I am talking about this scene in the TV series, Friends
when Joey and Ross were stuck on the roof of the building and they wanted to go down the building another way.
In this scene, Joey was holding ...
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Why have there been no birth defects to all children born of close relative marriages?
It is well known that children born of close relative marriages are very likely to have birth defects.
But all children in the Game of Thrones universe do not suffer any birth defects, given they are ...
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Why wouldn't soldiers eat meat of cows killed by their enemies?
In the movie 1917 (2019), there is a scene in which Schofield takes a ride with a group of fellow British soldiers in a truck/lorry.
When they see dead cows lying around the road they are travelling ...
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Can you drive anything on the roads in the U.S.?
In many American reality TV shows about fixing, modifying, or restoring cars, one can see the mechanics just taking a half-built car on the road for a test drive.
For example, in the first episode of ...
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Vader is immune to laser beams?
Ok, I just noticed this: Han Solo shoots laser beams at Darth Vader who apparently is completely immune. Ok, so if Jedi are immune to laser beams, why even bother to deflect them with a light saber? ...
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Why use a slide rule and not an electronic calculator?
In Season 2 Episode 2 of The Wire at around 31:30, we see a guy (forensic medical examiner?) use a slide rule. Why not use a normal electronic calculator? I'm not really familiar with the show - is ...
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Is it plausible that Walt was hit without feeling it?
In the final episode, he notices the blood and this seems to be the first time he knows he has been hit.
Is there a way a huge round like that could hit a person anywhere without them feeling some ...
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In S3 of Veronica Mars, Wallace buys previous exam papers & answer keys. Is his subsequent treatment consistent with realistic university policies?
In season 3 of Veronica Mars when Veronica and Wallace go to university, Wallace buys previous exam papers and answer keys. Apparently, this is cheating.
In my alma mater, this was being resourceful: ...
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How realistic is it to have maggots to remove dead flesh?
In House of the Dragon, S01E02, the maester is giving King Viserys I a very unique treatment for his pinky finger.
By burying it into a swamp of maggots.
The purpose is to allow maggots to eat away ...
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Do prisons offer electricity to inmates 24/7?
In the TV show, Black Bird (2022), Jimmy is given the case file of a serial killer in prison and he starts reading it during one evening in his cell.
I am not really sure how realistic this is. I ...
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How realistic is it for OJ to ride his horse the way he did with the horse hooded and its eyes covered?
In the final act of Nope (2022), OJ covered his horse with a hood to prevent it from looking at the alien. Can you really ride a horse like that with its eyes covered? Or did I read the scene wrongly?
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Why did the electric bike flip in "Nope"?
Why did the electric bike flip when its power got cut off by the alien in Nope (2022)? Wouldn't its wheels continue spinning as it loses speed until it comes to a stop?
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Is the device Beca uses in Pitch Perfect 3 a real musical device?
In the Pitch Perfect 3, Beca creates sounds "Ah~ Oh~" with this loop pedal device that don't have labels. I don't know what's name and I haven't been able to find anything by searching for ...
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How realistic is it for Gus Fring to dig a tunnel between two houses across the road?
In Batter Call Saul, season 6, we have seen multiple times that there is an underground tunnel between Gus Fring's personal residence and the house opposite to his house across the road.
The two ...
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How do buried land mines really work?
This happens in many movies. A guy steps into a mine then does a clever trick and escapes. It seems bad design if you have a land mine, and it doesn't explode.
A similar thing happens with Claymore ...
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Would police answer a girl's call based on her dream?
In the horror movie The Black Phone, Gwen keeps having dreams about her brother's abduction and finally she decides to call the detectives to inform them about the house she sees in her dream.
How ...
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Ruth's motive to steal from Marty?
In Ozark (2017-22), Ruth gets waterboarded by Helen and her associates when it appears she may have been an informant.
After this, Ruth (with the urging of her father) attempts to steal "Marty's ...
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Does the concept of bribing the whole FBI in Ozark season 4 make any sense?
In Ozark season 4, the plot relies on the fact that the FBI top officials want to keep the seizures happening, apparently as a source of money benefiting the FBI itself. In the story the Cartel boss ...
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How realistic for jet fighter pilots to communicate via gestures instead of wireless comms?
In the movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Maverick and Rooster are intercepted by two enemy fighters one of whom communicates with Maverick and Rooster using gestures, trying to identify friends from ...
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Could Michael have used the e-mail surveillance program to stop the distribution of his photo?
In the episode Email Surveillance, Michael is given the ability to monitor e-mails. We can clearly see Reply, Reply to All Foward and the X for delete.
He's monitoring Stanley's inbox when these ...
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Is living inside the Matrix actually a bad thing? [closed]
I have to create a video essay in school about a topic of my choice, and I have decided to talk about why living inside the matrix is actually not that bad.
In my opinion living inside the matrix is ...
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Is it realistic for Beck to chew out Roman in the beginning of The Negotiator? [closed]
The Negotiator (1998) begins with a short hostage situation unrelated to the film's main plot. Once the crisis is resolved, the lead tactical cop (Beck / Morse) chastises the hostage negotiator (Roman ...
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Is tinfoil possible to prevent missile tracking radar?
In the beginning of The Bourne Legacy (2012), Aaron Cross was in training in Alaska, and met with another agent. There's a scene when Aaron ran out of the cabin, and the missile destroyed the cabin. ...
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Is it realistic for so many planets to have breathable atmospheres?
Lost In Space showed many planets as having breathable oxygen in their atmospheres. How realistic is it for all these planets to have breathable atmospheres?
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How can Beth call in sick for school when she is a national celebrity?
In episode 3 of The Queen's Gambit, Beth and her adoptive mother travel the country to compete in many chess tournaments. During their travels, Beth is acquiring more and more fame all the while she ...
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How much of Twister is true?
Obviously I know that it's a story but . . .
Has anyone actually successfully placed an instrument package into a tornado and received scientific data?
In this respect, was the film Twister (1996) ...
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How is the "light" trap at the beginning supposed to work?
In the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones encounters a trap where blocking a shaft of light with his hand causes spikes to shoot out of the wall next to him:
...
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How realistic is Flash of Genius?
I recently watched Flash of Genius (2008), and I'm curious how close it stays to the real-life story of Robert Kearns, the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper in 1969 before having the ...
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If you pour buckets of gasoline on mattresses and shoot one pistol bullet at mattresses, will mattresses fire up?
In The Enemy Below (at 1:21:18/1:37:35), the USN XO fires one round from his pistol into mattresses that sailors have poured gasoline on. Next these mattresses fire up. Is this scientific?
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Why did US Navy sailors apologize for swearing, even in front of C.O.?
USN sailors apologizing for swearing, accurate? Why apologize? Don't sailors cuss?
USN sailor said "Son of a bitch ricocheted off the surface" in front of Commander Ernest Krause. Then ...
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Apple TV "See" series - are the knots a real form of communication?
In the Apple TV Series "See", are the strings they read real? I think the last episode or 2 I heard them called knots.
Just curious if it's a real way of communications or made up. Doesn't ...
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How does the ending of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" make sense?
From movie mistakes:
Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) loses her case and Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) is found guilty. But as the judge is about to tell Father Moore his sentence, one of the jury members ...
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Would a Royal Navy submarine Commanding Officer be OF-5 or OF-4?
I fully hrok the distinction between the RANK of OF-4 (Commander) v. Commanding Officer, the official title of the skipper of a ship.
BBC's Vigil, Season 1, Episode 4 has a continuity error that ...
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Could Hank really have pulled footage of Jesse's RV from the ATM?
In Season 3 Episode 4 ("Green Light") of Breaking Bad, Hank is able to determine what Jesse's RV looks like by pulling footage from a gas station ATM camera:
It was my understanding that ...
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Can a lone gunshot flip over a moving SUV?
In The Marksman (2021), Liam Neeson's character fires two gunshots at a Chevrolet SUV. The first penetrates the windshield and kills the driver.
Where exactly does he fire the second shot at? The ...
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What is the programming language seen in The Martian?
In the "systems shutdown" scene in The Martian, they show some code. Is that a real programming language (best guess Haskell) or just some hacking-movie-fake-code-with-random-math thing?
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Do they really have apartments that vibrate with trains in New York?
In the movie, Se7en, Detective Mills and Tracy live in an apartment that vibrate when a train comes by.
How realistic is it? I would imagine building quality inspector would have disapproved its ...
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Between Frasier and Niles who can actually afford their lifestyle and dwelling?
So after doing a little digging and taking a look at the possible earnings for both Frasier and Niles I'm still not sure as to who can actually afford the standard of living shown in the show. Frasier ...
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Does this method really work to catch rats? [closed]
In Manu (2018), Manu use this method to catch rats:
A strong rope, three tomatoes, a cycle bar, some oil and an iron box.
It's the only trap to catch rats safely. They smell the tomatoes,
crawl onto ...
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Why do the agents knock on the doors?
While watching The Mentalist I observed that whenever the agents went to the families for interrogation, they always knocked on the door of the house to declare that they were there. In some of ...
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Ending of Cruella
At the end of Cruella (2021):
Is this according to the law? That is, does a woman who murders her daughter, go to prison and lose her fortune to her daughter's heir? According to Wikipedia, the movie ...
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Why do the children not cry when they are taken from their homes?
Some spoilers may be found ahead
At the end of season three, when the kids are walking to the plane, it appears to me as weird that none of the kids are crying or protesting, because they were ...