Neil Calloway speaks on the ‘Comic Book Guy’ mindset of some cinema-goes with film errors…
They’re out there, waiting. They’ve watched and dissected the trailer, they’ve worked out which opening day screening they’re going to, and they may even have booked their ticket. Then, the big day comes. They see the film. They power up their smartphone before they’re out of the multiplex. Straight away they’re onto a messageboard to complain about something.
The lead character’s hair changes between shots. The chase sequence starts in daylight but ends at night. The International Space Station is not in the same orbit as the Hubble telescope.
It would perhaps be obvious to compare them to The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, and also be cruel, but he’s such a good character because these people exist. They’re not watching the film, they’re just looking at the screen for something to complain about, desperate to be the first to point out a continuity error, an anachronism or a plothole.
Recently they’ve gone after the science of Interstellar, a film I thought was good, not great. Maybe, in this case, it’s partly the fault of the film makers – they’ve promoted the film on the back of its accurate science, but if the best you can do after coming out of the film is complain about how travelling through a wormhole in the way shown in the film would be impossible, then you really need to look at your priorities. It’s a film, guys. Matthew McConaughey isn’t a trained pilot, you know. Michael Caine isn’t a professor.
To be fair to those pointing out plotholes and errors in Interstellar, something about the film did jump out at me as being inaccurate; Jessica Chastain’s and Matthew McConaughey’s characters are supposed to be the same age. In reality, he’s the best part of ten years older than her, which didn’t really distract from the film, but it did make me wonder about casting for male and female roles in Hollywood.
The attitude of sneering at inaccuracies in films reaches its apogee whenever a Hollywood film slightly changes some aspect of history (usually involving the Second World War) for dramatic effect. This leads to a slew of newspaper articles about the truth behind the film. There are actually more Brits complaining about American films distorting British history than there are American films distorting British history. Maybe if Britain had a film industry they would be able to make films that told “the real story”. The Imitation Game is a British film, and that isn’t exactly accurate, either.
The people who complain about about inaccuracies, continuity errors, plotholes and anachronisms are the filmic equivalent of football supporters who would rather see their team lose so they can moan about the manager or the left back rather than see a win and be happy.
Maybe it’s just me, but half the point of going to watch a film is that you sit in a darkened room for a couple of hours and suspend disbelief. If we wanted films that were believable then the box office would be dominated by boring films about people slogging away in soul crushing 9 to 5 jobs. I know there is no Top Gun trophy, I know some Tatooine farmboy couldn’t destroy a a space station with nothing but a couple of proton torpedoes and zero training, but it doesn’t distract from the film. 12 Years A Slave is one of the best films of recent years. In it, a character uses the word “terraforming”. When I saw it, I thought “that’s a bit anachronist” but I didn’t walk out of the film disappointed. For some reason the one film I remember having continuity errors is Notting Hill. I’d still think it was awful if a pile of books didn’t keep moving in one scene. The error wasn’t the problem, the rest of the film was. A bad film could be accurate and a still be a bad film. A good film can be inaccurate and still be watchable.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have worked on a film, you’re sitting watching 24 frames a second flash before your eyes (48 if you’re watching a High Frame Rate film), relax, suspend disbelief and don’t worry about inaccuracies.
Neil Calloway is a pub quiz extraordinaire and Top Gun obsessive. Check back here every Sunday for future installments.
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