The Laws of Physics in the world of “ James and the Giant Peach”
James and the Giant Peach is a
stop-motion movie that was made in 1996, based on a British novel written by
Roald Dahl in 1961. The movie tells the story of a boy named James, who lives
with his two evil aunts and wishes to escape to New York. He accomplishes his
dream by traveling in a magical giant peach across the Atlantic where he
encounters human size insects such as Mr. Grasshopper, Mrs. Ladybug, Mr.
Centipede and other bugs. The style of “James and the Giant Peach is very
similar to another stop-motion movie “ The Nightmare Before Christmas” because
Tim Burton worked on both productions, meaning that shapes, characters, and
actions are exaggerated. Due to the style of the movie, many laws of physics
were broken and dramatized to create this magical world even though, the story
takes place in real locations such as England and New York.
James and the Giant Peach has a
distinguishable dark and humorous appearance to the settings and characters.
Just like Tim Burton’s other movies, buildings are distorted, dark and disproportioned,
and seem as if they would collapse if they existed in real world due to laws
weight in Physics. Characters as well are elongated, stretched or diminished
making them look inhuman. For example, the house that the two evil aunts live
in would not be able to exist in real world because first of all, it is an old
house on the edge of a cliff, the walls are crooked, and the base of the house
is much smaller that the 2nd floor, thus creating an unbalance of
weight.
The Peach slowly growing. The distorted House in the background.
Bending the laws of weight is a
common element found in other scenes in this movie, such as the weight of the
peach itself. When the peach slowly grows into a giant fruit, the tree that it
is attached to does not seem to break like a regular tree. With the weight of
the peach, the tree should’ve cracked or have some branches broken off.
Instead, the tree looks as if it was made of rubber or plastic and slightly
bends along the peach. Another mistake that the producers made was the scene
where James and the insects get silk cords made by the spider and then used to
capture the seagulls so they can fly across the ocean. Yet looking at the size
of the seagull, they are as big as James’s head. Such small creatures, even in
large numbers could not lift the whole peach due to the size of their wings and
body.
Seagulls carrying the Giant Peach
Weight is not the only law of
physics that has been ignored in James in the Giant Peach, but also gravity.
Since this movie is stop-motion and all props and characters are handmade, and
therefore it is difficult to control gravity by hand. In one of the scenes when
the shark attacks the peach, some strings were cut loose releasing some
seagulls so Mr. Grasshopper jumps up high just like a Rocket and catches the strings.
However when he falls back, his speed is even, and does not accelerate, as it
should when an object falls. Mr. Grasshopper seems to be descending as if he
was attached by a cord. A similar problem happens when James dives in the ocean
to save Mr. Centipede, but the way he is swimming looks like he is gliding in
the water, as if there was no water pressure or gravity. Another obvious scene where gravity was
not applied was a part when Mr. Grasshopper pulled a chair for Mr. Centipede to
sleep on. Interestingly the chair is on the top edge of the peach, where the
surface is curved and tilted but yet the chair does not fall. In real life,
gravity pulls objects downwards so if this chair was in real life, Mr. Centipede
would probably fall off both the chair and the peach.
Mr. Grasshopper jumping for the seagulls
Mr. Centipede (left) sleeping on the edge
Aside from weight and gravity being
ignored in the movie, the path of action is another example of rules of physics
that was not properly followed. The reason why some paths of actions were
changed was to exaggerate the actions and to add humor to the story. A good example to illustrate the
mis-use of path of action can be seen in the whole sequence where James and the
insects are inside the rolling peach, and the fruit travels downhill towards
the ocean. After Mr. Centipede cuts off the stem of the peach, it starts to
roll and heads towards the aunts car. It then rolls over the car and crushes
the vehicle. In real life, the peach would have stopped because of it’s speed
and because of the car being in the way, and then it would bump into the car
roll back and change directions. After rolling over the car, the peach
continues it’s journey downhill towards a village and does not crush or bump
into the buildings. Then, the fruit bumps into a tomb, flies upwards towards a
church and stops at it’s highest apex above the church’s tower for 5 seconds
then safely lands on the ground. It’s path of action is suggesting that despite
it’s large size, it will crush the evil aunts but yet avoid the kind people
(village, children, church). Finally, towards the end of the story, James lands
by miracle on top of the Empire State building, even after a storm, the peach
fall perfectly towards the building.
The Giant Peach rolling on it's journey
Many laws of physics are being
applied to create James and the Giant Peach; some are more or less noticeable,
while weight, gravity and path of actions have been dramatized to create this
magical world. Because it is a movie produced by Tim Burton, viewers will know
that those rules of physics will not be the same as in real world. Buildings
and objects are being distorted, characters are moving in space as if there was
no gravity, and path of action does not lead where people expect to be. Rules
are meant to be broken, and James and the Giant Peach movie clearly proved that
it could be used for entertainment.
