I’ll never trust movie violence again. From the first chapter of Collin’s book Violence: One reason that real violence looks so ugly is because we have been exposed to so much mythical violence. … Contemporary film style … may give many people the sense that entertainment violence is, if anything, too realistic. Nothing could be farther from the truth. … [They] miss the most important dynamics of violence: that it starts from confrontational tension and fear, that most of the time it is bluster, and that the circumstances that allow this tension to be over come lead to violence that is more ugly than entertaining. …
One of the interesting effects of this is that Reality is Unrealistic.
There's a ton of stuff about this. See also Only A Flesh Wound, Instant Death Bullet, and Blown Across the Room, among others.
All of these are mostly part and parcel of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, with a particular focus on the Rule Of Cool, Rule Of Drama, Rule Of Funny, and Rule Of Scary, as goes violence in stories.
There is a long tail of resistance to physical damage, and ability to dish it out. If you're not experienced at throwing punches, and your target is experienced at taking them, you're not even going to slow him down.
Of course, given the accuracy of this post's subject, you're unlikely to ever have the chance at a throat punch if you're in real danger; it'll be a knife from behind or an overwhelmingly intense onslaught from a few experienced people. If you do have a chance to do anything, remember you're likelier to be able to match an experienced attacker's sprinting ability than his fighting ability.
I've been interested in Collins' book every since Tyler mentioned it, but it was always so expensive. I just checked it out on Borders' site though, and apparently its now in paperback for much cheaper.
There was a collection of movie scenes called "Ultimate Fights", one of which was from "Crossing the Line". That one seemed to aim for an unusual degree of realism in that the fighters get really worn out a while before the fight ends. They only go on because, in accordance to what Collins said about such organized bouts, there is a surrounding fight infrastructure which compels them to continue.
Unforgiven was pretty accurate. And commented on the unrealism of literary depictions. Also: the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Speeding bullet releases energy and forms temporary cavity. Instant unconsciousness occurs. Intracranial bleeding,and edema quickly raises intracranial pressure, causing respiratory arrest. Some brain gunshot wounds are survivable,especially if small low energy bullet used. If delayed brain death supervenes it is principally due to due to intracranial pressure.
But it would seem like most shots through the cortex (which seem to be the majority in movies) would knock you unconscious, but then simply leave you with lots of brain damage. (I believe this is born out in attempted suicide statistics.)20% of the blood circulation is through the brain. A liter a minute.
Also, how much trauma is caused by the bullet’s shockwave tearing up brain tissue, and how much by the simple puncturing of the bullet?Consider ejection of brain tissue if the bullet penetrates the skull out. If it doesn't exit, it ricochets.
Robin, you said that the final scene in Unforgiven was total fantasy. Perhaps, but I found it more realistic than most Westerns. Eastwood beats them not because he is so fast and so great a marksman; he is just able to keep his cool better, being a very experienced gunfighter. Most of them are scared off or too surprised to act fast. Let me put it this way: if one man can beat so many others, maybe this is how it would be done.
Again, the problem is assuming that everyone is like you and has your same experiences, or lack thereof.
Anyone who has bow hunted a deer, shot it, tracked its blood trail, slit its throat, hung it up, gutted and field dressed it is less likely to have such a reaction to real violence. At least that's been my experience.
I suspect that most urban folk are so far removed from the natural world that pretty much any encounter with nature, red in tooth and claw, is likely to cause more than just a little shock.
Here's a video of a real street fight. If you blink, you'll almost miss it (around 1:15 or so). http://conditioningresearch...
Before antibiotics a small cut could kill a person.
One of the interesting effects of this is that Reality is Unrealistic.
There's a ton of stuff about this. See also Only A Flesh Wound, Instant Death Bullet, and Blown Across the Room, among others.
All of these are mostly part and parcel of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, with a particular focus on the Rule Of Cool, Rule Of Drama, Rule Of Funny, and Rule Of Scary, as goes violence in stories.
There is a long tail of resistance to physical damage, and ability to dish it out. If you're not experienced at throwing punches, and your target is experienced at taking them, you're not even going to slow him down.
Of course, given the accuracy of this post's subject, you're unlikely to ever have the chance at a throat punch if you're in real danger; it'll be a knife from behind or an overwhelmingly intense onslaught from a few experienced people. If you do have a chance to do anything, remember you're likelier to be able to match an experienced attacker's sprinting ability than his fighting ability.
Try Rashomon? A bandit gives an account of a sword fight that he won. A peasant who secretly witnessed the fight paints a very different picture.
I've been interested in Collins' book every since Tyler mentioned it, but it was always so expensive. I just checked it out on Borders' site though, and apparently its now in paperback for much cheaper.
There was a collection of movie scenes called "Ultimate Fights", one of which was from "Crossing the Line". That one seemed to aim for an unusual degree of realism in that the fighters get really worn out a while before the fight ends. They only go on because, in accordance to what Collins said about such organized bouts, there is a surrounding fight infrastructure which compels them to continue.
Will a group of male chimps ever carry off or take possession of the females of a group of males they have vanquished?
According to this book chimps do try to kill all the males of a rival group and bring the females into their group (p31 at the bottom).
Unforgiven was pretty accurate. And commented on the unrealism of literary depictions. Also: the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Speeding bullet releases energy and forms temporary cavity. Instant unconsciousness occurs. Intracranial bleeding,and edema quickly raises intracranial pressure, causing respiratory arrest. Some brain gunshot wounds are survivable,especially if small low energy bullet used. If delayed brain death supervenes it is principally due to due to intracranial pressure.
But it would seem like most shots through the cortex (which seem to be the majority in movies) would knock you unconscious, but then simply leave you with lots of brain damage. (I believe this is born out in attempted suicide statistics.)20% of the blood circulation is through the brain. A liter a minute.
Also, how much trauma is caused by the bullet’s shockwave tearing up brain tissue, and how much by the simple puncturing of the bullet?Consider ejection of brain tissue if the bullet penetrates the skull out. If it doesn't exit, it ricochets.
Robin, you said that the final scene in Unforgiven was total fantasy. Perhaps, but I found it more realistic than most Westerns. Eastwood beats them not because he is so fast and so great a marksman; he is just able to keep his cool better, being a very experienced gunfighter. Most of them are scared off or too surprised to act fast. Let me put it this way: if one man can beat so many others, maybe this is how it would be done.
Just keep wearing your bra anyway, John, it looks good on you.
The first rule of fighting:
Grab a weapon.
Again, the problem is assuming that everyone is like you and has your same experiences, or lack thereof.
Anyone who has bow hunted a deer, shot it, tracked its blood trail, slit its throat, hung it up, gutted and field dressed it is less likely to have such a reaction to real violence. At least that's been my experience.
I suspect that most urban folk are so far removed from the natural world that pretty much any encounter with nature, red in tooth and claw, is likely to cause more than just a little shock.
There's a chapter on soccer hooligans and how the violence gets started in the book.
Will a group of male chimps ever carry off or take possession of the females of a group of males they have vanquished?