NATS 1780 Assignment 3, Geostorm Movie analysis PDF

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Prof. Ian Lumb NATS 1780 Assignment 3: Geostorm Analysis Science fiction has long been the genre of film and storytelling that allows us to extend beyond the realms of reality and scientific limitations. For decades it has inspired audiences and fueled their imagination as to what is possible. Apart from taking place in the past or present, one of the characteristics that defines a science fiction is its closeness to reality based on scientific background. Often the most successful science fiction films are the ones that lie on either of the two extremes on the realism spectrum. On one side, a film may attempt to tell a story with scientific advancements that are currently out of reach, may be plausible to have in the future. On the opposing side, another film may contain scientific components that are intentionally completely outside the laws of physics and our understanding of the world, which are purely based on imagination. There are instances in which films try to find a balance between these two extremes, and in the case of Geostorm, it fails to accurately represent the parts of its scenes where at least some scientific knowledge should be applied. Geostorm is a film that takes place in the near future and depicts a time of extreme weather and catastrophic natural disasters. Its story centers around how a group of 18 nations collectively came together in order to find a solution to Earth’s climate problem. The solution was to build a global network of weather-controlling satellites. After years of operating successfully, the system begins to malfunction as the result of sabotage. However the problems are not necessarily about how such a system functions, as the technology can simply be deemed as undiscovered. The problems arise once the film attempts to visualize the malfunctions by displaying weather phenomena that simply can not happen considering what we know to be true about the atmosphere. In one of the more ridiculous scenes of the film, after a satellite situated over Rio de Janeiro malfunctions, the movie shows the Atlantic Ocean rapidly freezing over as the result of a cold front (1 hr, 6 min). The front then supposedly crosses over

onto the beach where visitors and everything else on land are instantly frozen solid. The film also showed birds as well as large passenger planes falling from the sky as a result of the cold front. Although it is understandable to exaggerate such events in order to make the film entertaining, it does however not coincide with understood concepts of a cold front. Firstly, the method of how satellites are able to control and modify global air temperatures and consequently air pressure as well as resulting winds is not explained in the film. There are no indications of source regions, and yet a cold front would not originate near Rio de Janeiro and its tropical location. Apart from that, the scene does not accurately represent vertical cloud development nor does it display precipitation that is typically associated with cold air masses replacing warm air masses. It is also wrongly assumed that the cold air mass travels in perfect uniform and is even across its entire length. According to this scene, there is no gradual or even relatively sudden crossover between temperatures as the tropical atmosphere is frozen over instantaneously. In another one of the film's scenes, tornadoes are greatly exaggerated to the point where dozens of large, violent tornadoes occur all at once and in the same location( (1 hr, 19 min). In this scene the tornadoes touched down in India, which is a location that very rarely experiences such phenomenon. The four key conditions for tornadoes are: moisture in the lower to mid levels of the atmosphere, large flat plains, a lifting force, as well as unstable air. When these conditions are present, humid air will rise to the atmosphere and cool and condense, forming clouds and potentially supercell thunderstorms. India's climate is very tropical and lacks the favourable conditions for tornadoes to form. Apart from its odd location, the scene does not provide any visual representation of a thunderstorm. Behind the dozens of tornadoes, the clear is clear and no indication of source clouds are shown. In the case of multi-vortex tornadoes, there is typically one large tornado with possibly smaller vortices surrounding it, however it is unheard of that such powerful tornadoes can occur at the same place and at the same time let alone such a great number of them.

In conclusion, Geostorm is a greatly exaggerated film with little scientific explanation regarding the events in its scenes. For the most part, it assumes any possible weather phenomenon imaginable can be accepted as long as it’s under the guise of science fiction. The movie’s attempt to provide plausible explanations to climate issues is hindered by its choice of location as well as severity when it comes to the weather phenomenon caused by malfunctions of the film’s network of satellites. Although such scenes were implemented to make the movie exciting, this ultimately limits it’s realism as well as believability.

References Andrews, Robin. “Here's How Disaster Flick 'Geostorm' Broke My Science Brain.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 Feb. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/robinandrews/2017/10/21/heres-howdisaster-flick-geostorm-broke-my-science-brain/#36df1374258d.

Devlin, Dean, director. Geostorm. Warner Bros. , 2017.

Wei-Haas, Maya. “The ‘Science’ Behind ‘Geostorm’, the Newest Weather-Fueled Doomsday

Flick.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 18 Oct. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-behind-geostorm-newest-weather-fueleddoomsday-flick-180965303/....