The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

“The Watchmen,” based off of the comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, portrays an alternate universe where exiled superheroes try to uncover a plot to murder superheroes, and attempt to stop nuclear warfare. Although the film is about fictitious characters, it portrays them in a very real way, referencing the darker sides of their personalities. However, the film interprets physics in a very unreal way. Characters in the Watchmen universe can manipulate their center of gravity, paths of action, and the speeds of falling and jumping characters are often variable depending on plot development. The unique physics of The Watchmen universe can be best analyzed by breaking down specific actions performed by The Comedian, Adrian (Ozymandias), Rorschach, and Laurie (Silk Specter). In each scene examined, it is clear that the Watchmen universe has different laws that apply to a person’s center of gravity, and to the basic principles of falls and jumps. Although each manipulation of these principles is repeated, they are highly noticeable and often appear awkward. Nevertheless, such manipulations help propel the story of the film, and they are entertaining.
Characters in the Watchmen universe appear to exhibit super strength. The Comedian, Adrian, Rorschach, and Laurie have the ability to lift heavy objects while still keeping their arms away from their bodies. Normally, people lift heavy objects near their center of gravity, picking things up closer to their torso. In the Watchmen universe, this would only be possible if these characters had the power to consciously shift their center of gravity so they could lift objects away from their torsos. The best example of this conscious shift would be when Adrian breaks into the Comedian’s apartment. The Comedian gets lifted several times and thrown by the much slighter built Adrian.
This also defies the principle of action and reaction in the real world. According to the lecture notes, an action is a force exhorted on one object to another object, and reaction is the force exerted by the second object back onto the first object (the inciter of the action). In reality, Adrian would fail to lift The Comedian. The Comedian’s reaction to Adrian’s action (an attempt to pull The Comedian off the ground) would be minimal. Adrian might feel his own pressure in the ground while the Comedian moved either very little or not at all. Nevertheless, even in this fictitious world, it appears visually impossible. However, it was essential to the story that a superhero like the Comedian could be defeated by another man, and the only way to portray that was through seemingly physically impossible actions.
In addition to the unique way characters exhibit their super strength, they also have a unique way of manipulating the parabolic arcs of jumps and falls to achieve dramatic landings. When Adrian throws The Comedian across a room, it looks as if the beginning and end of the throw are in a parabolic shape, but there is a pause in the middle where he is just travelling in a straight line. The Comedian reaches a terminal velocity, and hangs in the throw for a short while, then slows down and falls on the other side of the parabolic arc. This makes the hang time appear longer. Although it is not a believable throw in reality, and it looks awkward in the film, it is a dramatically effective throw and it fits the suspenseful feel of the scene.
Parabolic arcs are also distorted when Rorschach leaps from the roof of one building to another while breaking into the Rockefeller Military Research Center. In the leap, he easily clears a distance of twenty feet when the character himself looks as if he may not be an inch taller than 5’/8”. However, Rorschach’s jump could not be completed in the Watchmen universe as believably as the Comedian’s warped parabolic throw appeared. Rorschach’s stretched out arc is out of perspective, making it appear triangular rather than parabolic, whereas The Comedian’s was a warped arc, but it was in perspective.
Characters in the Watchmen universe have other ways of surviving dramatic falls and jumps. The paths of action in Watchmen jumps tend to be uneven, yet the characters survive. Furthermore, it often looks like they survive with the help of an invisible force balancing them. This invisible force would be the center of gravity, which shifts wherever it benefits the character most when they need to land effectively. For example; Rorschach runs straight up a wall of metal bars when trying to break Into the Rockefeller Military Research Center. The only way that this could possibly happen is if Rorschach suddenly concentrated his center of gravity to his feet and ran up the wall quickly. In the real world, people would die from such jumps and falls, but in the Watchmen, characters appear to have the ability to manipulate their center of gravity to survive. However, even through Rorschach leans towards his feet while making the climb, it’s still physically questionable in the Watchmen universe because he moves at such a slow speed.
Characters can also manipulate their paths of action when falling by shifting their center of gravity, enabling them to always land on their feet. This is referring specifically to Laurie when she lands through the burning brick building. For the fall, she travels more than five times her height to where she lands, breaking through a ceiling on the way. She lands in a squat with her weight on her heels, here center of gravity somewhere behind her left. In reality she would fall backwards, but in the movie, she stays standing. In the Watchmen universe, Laurie’s center of gravity would have to have shifted to her feet. She also slows down in the fall before she lands. This would only be possible if characters in the Watchmen universe were able to manipulate the rate at which they reach their terminal velocity at will. Interestingly, even thought Rorschach and Laurie were able to manipulate physics this way, The Comedian failed to do so in the opening scene.
The comedian exerts amazing physical strength throughout the movie. He is fully capable in the Watchmen universe of manipulating physics just as Laurie and Rorschach. Moreover, he died from a thirty-story foot drop when he could have changed his falling speed like Laurie. In the Watchmen universe, the manipulation of physics depends solely on the story. It was important in the story for the comedian to die, so he fell from the thirty-story building as he would in the reality. Instead of dropping straight down and slowing in before he lands, The Comedian falls very much like a cat, flipping over through the torso creating the reaction of matching his terminal velocity very fast. The transition from The Comedian’s more realistic fall to the fantastic ones performed by Rorschach and Laurie was jarring, but it made for effective storytelling. However, it did break away from the stylistic tradition of manipulating physics seen throughout the film.
The manipulation of physics in the Watchmen universe also alters the way bullets behave. However, their variability of speed solely on story progression. Such can be seen in the two scenes where Adrian catches a bullet, and when a secretary gets her leg snapped in half by a bullet. There are several ways Adrian could have survived catching the bullet. Adrian rolled with the bullet as he caught it. In the real world, Adrian would have to have been moving slightly faster than the speed of sound to survive this. However, since bullets can slow down in the Watchmen universe, the bullets must have moved slower and reached an easily predictable speed for Adrian to match with his roll. This was a completely different scenario than that of a secretary of Adrian’s earlier in the movie. Her leg was snapped in half by a bullet in one scene. However, her character was in the way of the main action in the scene, so her leg was sacrificed in order for the story to move forward.
Though manipulated, then abruptly realistic, it is clear that physics was used cleverly in The Watchmen. Characters could not possibly physically survive any of these actions in the real world, yet it’s acceptable when in the film. Weights, velocities, paths of action are variable and used as a means of support for the story. Although they would make little sense in reality, the manipulation of the laws of physics in the Watchmen serves two purposes; to move the story forward, and to entertain.


Rorscharch runs up a wall





Laurie balances