if only organic objects can be shrunken, electronic devices such as smartphones, computers etc. wouldn't be possible in the miniature world. even if they created an own miniature industry landscape (which they hadn't in the movie), it would be a stretch to believe that it works like that.
shareLet me get this straight...
You're able to accept the premise that several full grown human beings can be put in a room-sized machine that miniturises them with some unknown process, yet the idea of miniture devices is too much to ask you to suspend disbelief? ... Right... Ok...
In the 1960s a supercomputer would fill a large floor in a commercial building... Now it fits in the front pocket of you skinny jeans and you can use your wrist watch control it...
I don't think the problem is with the writing... It seems you're too literal minded for such films...
have you even seen the movie? obviously not.
the movie spends a great deal of time explaining how their fictional world works (hence, what works and what doesn't) - with details such as that dental fillings have to be removed before the shrinking, as they wouldn't shrink and blow the person's head. so yes, i'd expect similar issues such as how they get their electronic devices in the miniature world to be addressed in the same way. if they start detailing their fictional world, they have to detail it consequently.
if they didn't want the audience to ask such questions, the writers could have just simplified their own premise by saying they invented a device which shrinks anything, regardless if it's organic or not.
I've seen it... it's conceivable that a civilisation that can create a technology capable of shrinking full grown human beings into 5 inch minitures is also able of making small TVs and such... They make them small, they don't shrink the TVs 😉
You have a small TV... it's in your pocket! 😁
small tv devices created in the big world would have a terrible picture resolution seen from a miniature person's perspective. and the computing capacity of their smartphones etc. would be insufficient as well...
shareComputing capacity can be overcome by using a client-server architecture with today's technology (it's trivial, many gamers do it in their homes)... Not to mention what is possible with the kind of tech we would have in a world where we have the technology to shrink full grown human beings!
Anyway, it's not as if using smart phones was a huge part of the movie's plot...
How did the writers manage to "convince" you to buy into the idea of shinking full grown humans into miniture?
You are being too literal minded about this... I suggest these kinds of films simply aren't for you...
good point with client-server architecture, that would at least have been an attempt at an explanation.
shareYou're like the guy who worried about never seeing Jack Bauer going to the bathroom. The minutiae of everything is just that, minutiae.
I saw the movie, they actually cover your point. If you recall, before the miniaturizing procedure, they are scanned for artificial implants and dental work must be removed before they get shrunk. Afterwards their dental work and implants are replaced with the small work equivalents. They even have to be fully shaved because HAIR is said not shrinkable. I believe they are given new electronics.
of course they are given new electronics. but how got these miniature electronics created?
to create functional miniature electronics would take a technological leap almost as spectacular as the organic shrinking invention. and even then, these small computer chips would instantly become the new standard in the big world. so if you're used to a certain computing capacity in the big world, you won't be able to have the same computing power in the miniature world when your device is 15 times smaller. see the logical issue?
Well, the technology in this film is advanced enough to reduce people to 5 inches tall.
Jack Bauer used the bathroom, just not on camera.
hard to say how it would all work in real life but I don't think it really has to say, just produce something interesting from the concept, which unfortunately it does not do.
I'm trying to go for an entertaining, informative youtube channel so, if you have the time, take a look. Hope you enjoy what you see and if you have any thoughts or criticisms, i'd love to hear them. Thanks in advance. Review right here- https://youtu.be/tn12vJcJawY
I don't see how this relates to the size of the device. As long as the raw materials are available, they can be scaled down to work within the downsized infrastructure.
Or maybe scientists developed a different process for shrinking inorganic material. Or maybe this movie takes place at a point where microprocessing technology has advanced enough to support extremely tiny iterations of consumer devices. Or maybe you have not fully thought out this argument.
that's what i suggested earlier by saying "...would take a technological leap almost as spectacular as the organic shrinking invention."
it would be like jurassic park with aliens: "look, we can clone dinosaurs, oh and by the way, we also just discovered aliens". see what i mean?
Dudestein!! 👋
Nice to see you. Where've you been? Are you still living in SF?
I just saw this board on Trending and thought I'd take a peek. The trailer looks like fun! Worth seeing?
HI,good to see you too. I don't go on these boards much because there is nothing on TV worth being passionate about. Movies are even worse, I have no inertest in Super Heroes.
Yes, this movie is worth watching. Not great cinema or groundbreaking work, but an interesting exploration in the way we value our existence. It is both a-political while being political.
I live in LA.... East Hollywood to be specific. I had been working in Studio City but am moving on to a different job.
I haven't found any new show that I'm passionate about either. None since HACF. Can't even remember the last time I've seen a newly released movie, although there are a few newer ones I'm waiting to arrive on Netflix.
I use these boards as a social thing. Have met a number of people here I really like. And to read about shows or movies that are new to me. Or to find ones that are new to me that I might like. Or when I rewatch something and want to read what others had or have to say about it, and to participate in a discussion.
I'll see if Downsizing is on Netflix yet, and give it a watch if it is. I'm not expecting anything great. Sometimes all you want is something entertaining, that also doesn't insult your intelligence.
How are you liking it in East Hollywood?
I like East Hollywood. Where I am in the middle of Thai Town, the choices range from Thai Food to BBQ Thai. But its good!
share"choices range from Thai Food to BBQ Thai. "
😄 A thing like that! (Have you done any Mad Men rewatches? I'm in the midst of one.)
I'm glad you like it there.
I just might do a mad men rewatch soon.I did an 'Elementary' rewatch recently all the way up to present. I'm inclined to a 'West Wing' rewatch as an antidote to the $#!T Show of Trump.
shareNever seen Elementary. Wonder if it's on Netflix.
I've heard the praises of West Wing sung, but am not a fan of politics -- even less so now -- so it's not a show for me.
Elementary is on HULU, but HULU does offer free access to most content. West Wing is political, but not bombastic, and is so well written. It is less about the politics and more a celebration of what being American is to me.
shareI keep getting "Hey, come back to us!" email from Hulu, but honestly I didn't enjoy the place. Too many ads, not enough content I'm interested in seeing to want to pay for it.
Thought about rejoining to see Peggy in The Handmaid's Tale, since I'd read the book, but even that wasn't enough motivation.
But it all revolves around politics and DC. That's enough right there to put me off.
I watch Handmaids tale but mostly to keep up. It is very overrated. On the West Wing her characters name was 'Zooey' and for the 1st season of seeing her as Peggy, I thought of her as Zooey. I really loved her as Zooey in West Wing, but she was never a main character.
The problem I have with Handmaids Tale is that I find it hard to suspend disbelief. It is set in the near future and we are expected to believe America has become a Christian version if Iran's type of theocracy. I don't buy it.
And when I say near future, it appears to be only a couple to a few years in the future at the most.
Yeah, it worked well enough in the book, but that came out back in 1985. Then I could suspend my disbelief well enough.
shareMeh... if you want to get that picky there were all sorts of scientific or inconsistent elements in this movie. For example:
i. We eventually see miniaturized sheep, cattle, dogs... Did they shave these animals too? It would be expensive and/or impractical to shrink animals. And to what purpose? Just to support some sort of idealized agricultural/farming lifestyle when all their needs could be met through technology anyway?
ii. Hair doesn't shrink, so they shave it off. But what of the hair root below the surface of the skin? Why not fingernails too since they are biologically similar to hair?
iii. Water. We see people swimming in a pool at the party. In fact, the viscosity of water would probably prevent them from being able to swim underwater at all since their weight also scaled down.
iv. Related to iii. above, at one point the explanation for the process informs us that weight and size scale down at the same rate. That's not accurate either... size scales down proportionately, weight scales down exponentially. A person scaled down to 1/10 their original size would weigh only 1/1000 of their original weight.
Etc, etc...
I think the point is that when something is called 'satire' scientific inaccuracy isn't the most important element of the story. Even Jonathon Swift understood this when he wrote Gulliver's Travels.
The hair thing is really bugging me.
And I thought of the finger and toe nails, too.
Why is hair non-shrinkable?
And isn't our skin covered in hair?
Was everyone sheared like a sheep?
Indeed the movie itself could have done with some downsizing of about 30 minutes. Also when they first talked about going to the Norwegian settlement in a plane, I literally thought they meant there was another small person world (like Leisureland) on the other side of the world in the actual country of Norway. I thought that meant they needed to apply to the outside world to be put in a box placed on a plane and flown to Norway to be taken there. But confusion abounded when they never communicated with the outside world or ever left the confines of Leisureland to get to this Norwegian settlement. I'm confused as to how gigantic this Leisureland complex was now because the jet airplane they traveled home in (inside the leisureland dome) was probably the size of a roll of carpet and one wonders how big the complex would have to be for it to have to travel so long.
shareSuspension of disbelief, feh. It's much more fun to be a nitpicky arrogant asshole.
share