Questions tagged [realism]
The general attempt to depict things accurately in films and tv shows.
435
questions
7
votes
0answers
120 views
Why isn't Robin Williams in Sean's military photo?
In Good Will Hunting (1997) during the scene where Will and Sean have their first session, Will notices a photo of Sean and his buddies in Vietnam. The photo is shown below. My question is why Robin ...
1
vote
0answers
74 views
Did The Wire invent the “Jump 5” cipher?
This is a version of a question I asked on Security.SE, this time with a focus on the TV side of it.
In S01E05 of The Wire, at around the 45:00 mark, it's revealed that:
In more detail:
Each digit ...
32
votes
1answer
4k views
Did the actors in All Creatures Great and Small actually have their hands in the animals?
During the holidays I started watching the old BBC show, All Creatures Great and Small again. Some scenes in the Yorkshire stables seem a little strange. Did Christopher Timothy actually have his hand ...
0
votes
2answers
180 views
Is Jack and Rose's love story real?
In the film Titanic, did the story of Jack and Rose actually happen in real life?
1
vote
2answers
155 views
How realistic is it for a democratic decision to be concluded by listening to aye and nay?
In House of Cards, there are several occasions that a democratic decision is reached by asking people to yell out Aye in agreement or Nay in disagreement.
There is a particularly occasion in Season 4, ...
18
votes
4answers
5k views
Did they allow smoking in the USA Courts in 1960s?
This is the scene from The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020):
Did they allow smoking in the USA Courts?
8
votes
0answers
359 views
Are public speeches in The Crown accurate?
The Crown tries to present a dramatisation of Queen Elizabeth's rise into power (or rather, the early years, at least in the first two seasons, I am aware that it will jump into a later period in ...
1
vote
1answer
175 views
How did Jack get the boom to swing across and hit Will?
In the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, when Will and Jack are having a debate about whether Will's father was a pirate, Jack turns the ship's wheel, causing the boom to swing across and hit Will,...
9
votes
1answer
443 views
Why do people show their backs to The Queen all the time in The Crown?
I've heard that you should never show your backside to the Queen. That means that leaving the room you walk backwards, and so on.
Yet in The Crown the vast majority of characters, and not just the ...
4
votes
0answers
163 views
How real is to have Muscovites gather on the doors of the tournament center to see the chess players after their matches?
In the 6th and 7th episode of The Queen's Gambit, Beth plays the Moscow Invitational, an important chess tournament (that is fictional) in Russia. Some of the best players from around the world play ...
1
vote
1answer
162 views
Do people really open wine bottles with an army sword?
In Hannibal, season 3, ep 1, Antipasto,
There is a scene where waiters open sealed wine bottles with an army sword by cutting them open.
Do people really do this in real life? I am not even sure this ...
3
votes
1answer
404 views
Is it true that police only do an outline of a body with chalk if that person is alive and taken to hospital?
Season 1, Ep 3, Hannibal, Abigail returns home after waking up from her coma and sees the word "cannibals" painted on their garage door.
Then Abigail asks Will if a place is where her mom ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
Would messmate really be helping gun crew during the battle?
In the Greyhound movie, we can see a black messmate (or is it "messman"?) Cleveland regularly bringing food to the captain. When the U-boats attack, there is a moment, when we can see ...
2
votes
1answer
184 views
Colonizing Mars with Crops
In The Martian, after Mark Watney reestablishes contact with Earth, he says this:
I’ve gotten e-mail from rock stars, athletes, actors and actresses,
and even the President.
One of them was from my ...
24
votes
1answer
7k views
Why was this sailor painting a Swastika on a US Destroyer?
In the WWII movie Greyhound (2020), at about 25:00 we can see a sailor painting a Swastika symbol on the ship. This happens right after they have sunk a Nazi U-Boat.
Why was this sailor painting a ...
1
vote
0answers
105 views
How realistic is the bear attack in Walker: Texas Ranger?
In the episode "The Bachelor Party" there is a bear that attacks the two campers who are fishing, then goes after the rangers. How realistic is that in real life and what would make a bear ...
3
votes
0answers
88 views
What would the penalty for this be? [closed]
In the beginning of Scarface, when he realizes the Miami authorities have figured out he did time in Cuba, Tony says he was imprisoned for "buying dollars"- someone on Movie Mistakes told me ...
3
votes
1answer
278 views
Do astronauts really have to pay for pillows and blankets as shown in Ad Astra?
Is it really true that astronauts actually have to pay for pillows and blankets during space-flights as shown in Ad Astra?
I would rather say it sounds like paying for drinking water or maybe at best ...
8
votes
1answer
8k views
Why weren't Hitler's actual facial features used in The Man in the High Castle?
I've started watching The Man in the High Castle (2015) and became quite impressed with the overall idea and presentation of the post-WWII alternative reality. It looked like the producers chose to ...
-4
votes
1answer
196 views
How can KGB officers, born and bred in USSR, speak perfect accentless American English?
I know Matthew Rhys's (who portrays Phillip Jennings) first language is Welsh, and speaks English with a Welsh accent, so he's imitating the US accent in The Americans. But US-born actors with ...
-3
votes
1answer
132 views
Is this rifle, that can pivot 90° around corners, real?
I don't know if this is a rifle or SMG. 0:11.
10
votes
3answers
755 views
In 1917, would a British Army Colonel truly have told a Lance Corporal to “fuck off”?
At 2:07 of this clip from the 2019 movie 1917, Colonel MacKenzie (of the Second Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment), whose "decorations indicate he's a veteran of the Boer War as well", ...
5
votes
2answers
260 views
Lost: Can People Use Stadiums for Exercise?
In Lost seasons 1 and 2, Jack Shepherd (and later Desmond) are seen running the steps in a stadium.
One could assume this is either a university or local city stadium of some sort. Usually those are ...
0
votes
0answers
167 views
If Japan won WWII, why would they write from right to left and in kyujitai form?
Can someone please expound the following comment based on the screenshot below? I don't speak Japanese, so please forgive my benightedness. How does Japan's imaginary winning World War II affect ...
3
votes
0answers
148 views
Do US private schools ask Chinese students to get referral letters from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association to join them? [closed]
In Ip Man 4, the principal of an American private school asks Ip Man to get
references from the CCBA so his son can be considered for enrollment in the school.
Do US private schools ask Chinese ...
19
votes
6answers
9k views
Can there be sunlight in Australia and Texas at the same time?
In the third season of The Leftovers, episode 3, there is a scene where Kevin Garvey, Sr. calls Matt Jamison from a pay phone outside of Melbourne, AU. Matt is in Miracle, TX, however both locations ...
8
votes
0answers
224 views
Does the red flag scene in Ozark make any sense?
In Ozark episode S3:E4 Boss Fight, Marty Byrde fixes a red flag (frozen funds) on a Panamanian bank account. He says:
You have a red flag on a Panamanian deposit account. That happens. All you have ...
0
votes
0answers
56 views
Why are the operators so sloppy in hiding themselves?
In the movie, Sicario - Day of the Soldado, the American operators set up a surveillance team above the high school campus where they would kidnap a cartel's boss's daughter.
but we can see form this ...
6
votes
1answer
177 views
Is total television air time takeover feasible?
We've all seen the trope from films, TV series, books, and so forth about the evil villain (or dark hero in the case of V for Vendetta) who manages to take over all TV network broadcasts (cable/...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
In The Politician season 2 - is the controversial method for deciding an outcome real?
In season 2 of The Politician, the vote ends in a draw. Patton and Deedee are told that they can decide the outcome with a coin flip (or a similar method).
Is this actually the way it would be decided?...
4
votes
1answer
171 views
Does the 3D sculpting machine in Mission Impossible III exist?
In Mission Impossible III at 48 minutes in there is a scene in which they make one of the signature Mission Impossible latex face masks using a portable sculpting machine to create the pattern. Does ...
6
votes
1answer
346 views
What authority did the Department of Defense have to seize Iron Man's suits?
A major plot element of Iron Man 2 is that the Department of Defense (presumably) is trying to seize his Iron Man suits, one of which they get their hands on via Colonel James Rhodes. However, the ...
0
votes
2answers
167 views
In Rocky IV how does the Creed vs Drago fight go on?
I know it is a movie. But I was a fighter just years after Rocky IV was made. My kids were watching tonight and ask me about the fight and have me pause the movie.
Four different times during the ...
20
votes
2answers
6k views
Why is everyone so focused on the black box in LOST?
Ok maybe not everyone, but in two examples after the crash of Oceanic flight 815 we see survivors claiming that the rescue planes will find them and the reason the give is "the plane had a black box". ...
1
vote
2answers
133 views
Does the sound of a gun fired in a large room actually take time to “die”, as told in “Prison Break”?
In Prison Break SE1E5 "English, Fitz or Percy", Attorneys Veronica Donovan and Nick Savrinn bring a video tape of a murder, in where the suspect is seen on tape shooting another man with a gun in an ...
5
votes
1answer
316 views
What's the meaning of the performance of I Will Survive at the end of Man On The Moon?
Man On The Moon is the story of the career of Andy Kaufman.
One of the personas that Andy sometimes adopted was Tony Clifton, an obnoxious and terrible lounge singer. Tony is an alter-ego for Andy. In ...
5
votes
4answers
877 views
Why didn't the Army Rangers use scoped rifles?
I refer not to weapons that usually has default iron sights like the M249. I'm uncertain if the M16A4 could've been mounted with a forward scope in 1993.
If yes, why didn't the Army Rangers scope ...
23
votes
2answers
6k views
What does this exercise do in the movie “The Fighter”? Is it realistic?
In the movie The Fighter,
Micky is seen drilling into a bucket of rice with his fist. I have seen speeding ball exercise, rope jumping, running, but this is the first time and only time I have seen a ...
4
votes
1answer
163 views
How accurately is the vision of an elephant depicted in the movie Dumbo 2019?
This is a PoV [Point of View] shot, during Dumbo's initial flight round the Medici Circus.
How realistic is this impression of what an elephant might see?
6
votes
2answers
4k views
Is it realistic to build a well in the basement?
In the movie, The Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill imprisons his victims in a well located under the house he lives in. That well could have been there before Buffalo Bill starts living in there.
I ...
2
votes
1answer
232 views
How accurate is IP Man's story?
Recently I watched the Ip Man film series. The 4th one specially got me thinking.
How accurate could the story be?
I am thinking, since it's a Chinese movie, perhaps they have exaggerated a little ...
20
votes
4answers
5k views
Does the FBI keep track of people's library records?
In the movie Se7en, the detectives get the records of people who have read certain kinds of books (like nuclear weapons etc.). So that they can narrow down their list of suspects/can find them.
Is ...
3
votes
0answers
96 views
How realistic are the drone live feed in Homeland
I'm currently watching Homeland season 4, a TV show taking place in Pakistan. The U.S. intelligence services and army forces make heavy use of drone imagery in the series, with huge consequences on ...
11
votes
3answers
747 views
Did people not wear seat belts in 1970s?
In the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the characters played by Leonardo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt never wear seat belts.
I do not think characters such as Planski and Sharon wear seat belts ...
-2
votes
1answer
171 views
Would the villain's testimony be usable in court?
In the movie Knives Out (2019), the villain is brought to justice by his testimony recorded secretly on the detective's phone. The Fifth Amendment protects people from self-incrimination, so would ...
0
votes
0answers
76 views
Are the quotes in Dave Gorman's “Found Poems” real?
In Dave Gorman's show, Modern Life Is Goodish, he has a segment called a "Found Poem" which is a funny presentation of quotes from "the bottom half of the Internet" relating to a trivial scandal.
Are ...
3
votes
1answer
10k views
How much was 1 pound worth in 1918 England?
In the tv show, Peaky Blinders, season 1, money is mentioned over and over again:
Tommy gives Polly 200 pounds for Ada and Freddie to get away to America and start a new life.
Tommy gives 1 pound and ...
6
votes
1answer
122 views
What war was shown at the beginning of Outbreak?
At the beginning of Outbreak, American scientists visit a camp in the middle of a jungle to assess a disease and take blood samples. There were also American soldiers at the camp. Was this a depiction ...
0
votes
1answer
166 views
Sound-proof, anti-Soviet spies room
In the movie "The Coldest Game" (2019), taking place during the Cold War, a special room of the Polish embassy is shown. The room contains a sound-proof glass box, raised from the floor, inside which ...
3
votes
1answer
305 views
Exactly what kind of illness/disorder was Arthur suffering from?
In Joker (2019), we know that Arthur suffered from mental trauma in his childhood which affected his personality throughout his life. One of the consequences that we see is his unusual laughter; ...
