The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Physics of Rise of the Guardians

          As children, we believe and look up to heroes whether they be real or imagined. They give us hope allow us to dream, and fuel the imagination. These heroes can be all sorts of different characters ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Superman. One story revolves around the Guardians, a circle of magical beings that watch over children and protect their dreams. Dreamworks Animation’s 2012 film, Rise of the Guardians, is a fantasy film based on William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood book series. The films tells the story of Jack Frost, who has been recently chosen as the new Guardian to join Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman to battle the ever-increasing threat of Pitch, the Nightmare King. Even though the universe is home to these magical beings, the world is still very similar to our own real world. In short, the laws of physics apply in this world, however, in order to portray the magical power of the Guardians, the film will often break it’s own laws to do so.

         One of the firsts to be broken, nearly right from the star of the film, is movement. The character of Jack Frost is introduced, and while his outer appearance is that of a young teenage human boy, he is actually a Guardian. Because of his Guardian status, he is able to do various things most normal people cannot. Some of his feats include jumping to great heights and landing ever so softly on rooftops and telephone poles. First off, humans do not have the capability to jump to such great heights that reach  rooftops. Second, even if humans were able to do so without any assistance and they land on the ground, they would not be able to slow down the falling speed. Most likely, a human would injure themselves gravely if they attempted to do so. 

Look out below!

         Although some of the film’s characters are magical beings, they all generally move as they are supposed to. For example, Santa Claus is a magical being, yet is also a large individual, therefore he moves like one. On the other hand, Jack Frost once again breaks physics in another way. Jack is able to freely fly through the air, essentially being carried by the wind. He moves effortlessly, spinning and swerving a fast speeds at times. This wind also carries throughout his normal movement as when Jack jumps or lands on buildings, there is a sense of floatiness to him. This makes it feel like Jack is lighter than the air and the wind picks him up easily. Typically if flying through the air, a normal human would not be able to change his or her direction without any outside force. Jack can also instantly create a trail of ice for a sled to slide on. The sled itself breaks a few laws as well. The sled slides along the trail over cars and such with no signs of slowing down. In the real world, sleds will slow down on ice unless there is a steady incline, which the scene lacks. In the film, it is shown that Jack can walk on water, which causes every step he takes to turn into ices. Even if the water did not turn to ice, there is no doubt that Jack would be able to walk solely on water breaking physics even more. As far we know, humans cannot walk on water, even with the necessary equipment, it is difficult to do so. Alone Jack breaks a few laws already, however this is to portray Jack’s role as a Guardian, and as such is necessary for the film.

The Need for Speed

          Speaking of Jack’s ability to turn water to ice with his steps, the Guardians have magical powers that allow some of them to freely control various materials. One example previously stated, was Jack Frost and how he is able to manipulate ice and snow and use them to his advantage. He can make snowfall in an instant, and even while indoors. He can create ice to frost up on a window, or as previously stated before, turn water to ice with just his footsteps. A few of the other characters are able to freely manipulate various properties as well. The Easter Bunny, also a Guardian, can form instant tunnels to his destination with the tapping of his foot. Not only are these tunnels through the ground, but they already lead to the preferred destination. In the real world, not only would it take years upon years to dig a tunnel that deep into the earth, the travel through the tunnel alone would most likely lead to instant death. 

Physics = No

           Likewise, the Sandman, yet another Guardian, is known for his ability to send children good dream by sprinkling dream sand over their eyes. This “dream sand” behaves very much like real sand, however the Sandman, is able to manipulate it in an extremely imaginable and unrealistic way. The Sandman is able to use his sand not only for giving good dreams to children, but as weapons and full-working vehicles such as whips and a biplane. In the real world, we can create sculptures out of sand, but we cannot actually use them. A real world sand sculpture of a whip will look like a whip but cannot and will not act like one. The antagonist of the film, Pitch controls the darkness. In real life, darkness is just the absence of light. It cannot be freely controlled or take a corporeal form as we know it. Pitch, being the Nightmare King, blows the physics of this out of the water, able to freely control and bend the darkness to his liking. The darkness will also take the form of corporeal creatures to represent its threat. Of course, for the purpose of the film, these properties are meant to break the laws of physics as they are supposed to portray beings of magical power and if the properties of sand (magical or not), ice, and the like behaved like it does in real life, it is unbelievable to the audience.

The Nightmare King

Sandman doing his thing

Riding in style

          In addition to breaking the laws of physics, the characters also break the laws of time and space. They are able to travel across the earth in mere moments, traveling across continents  and different dimensions even. A previously stated example was the Easter Bunny and the tunnels he made. These tunnels can take him across the globe in seconds with no harmful effects on him. Santa Claus can either use his sleigh or create portals to travel freely between the North Pole and anywhere in the world. The film indicates this with a lack of passage of time. If it is daytime while they’re at the North Pole, it is still daytime when they arrive in a small town in the United States. They travel to destinations instantaneously in only a matter of seconds. In the real world, we cannot bend the laws of time and space. When we travel it will take time and sometimes a lot of time to do it as we must also travel across different terrain which can be dangerous or even uncrossable. Even the fastest transportation currently available to us is unable to travel at those speeds. Not only that, but the speed of the movement alone would most likely cause death to normal humans as we are unable to withstand the amount of force that it must take.

Who could that be?

          Interestingly enough, as mush as the film portrays and invokes a sense of magic to the audience. there is still a sense of realism amongst the film’s characters. The children in the film act normally and do not have any magical properties at all. When they interact with snow, the snow is normal and there is nothing magical about that as well. However, there is one particular scene where a girl, Cupcake, lifts a rather larger-than-normal size snowball. While it is possible to create a snowball of a large size, it is uite difficult to carry it, let alone throw it. Just as well, aside from the manipulations of the Guardians, everything in the world of Rise of the Guardians is fairly standard with the laws of physics not being broken. 

Snowboulder?

          Ultimately, the world this film takes place in is one that is actually very similar to the real world. Children play in the snow, and hunt for eggs, and sleep at night. It is the characters of the Guardians who break the laws of physics in this world. They are able to bend space and time, freely manipulate various properties of matter, and even break the laws of gravity. You can say that physics just doesn’t apply to the Guardians. The magical powers of the Guardians give them a position as people who protect children. They must be portrayed as powerful beings, but also warm and loving characters as well. In a film such as this, the laws of physics are required to be broken, as doing so allows the film the portray a unique set of characters that stands above the rest. Animation is sometimes about exaggerating what’s real to portray a fictional world as realistically as possible.This film is one of my favorites, not just because of the art style but because the concept of a group magical, benevolent beings that protect children is unique and appealing to me. The sense of wonder the film invokes sort of forgives the shattered physics present in the film and makes it much more entertaining to the audience.