In
our world, the laws of physics cannot be broken. Day to day, we must live by
the laws of nature observed by Isaac Newton and countless other physicists. The
world of animation, however, does not have to abide by these rules. Being able
to casually break these laws allow story tellers and animators to tell a story
in a way that allows for more fun, more comedy and more drama. A great example
of what breaking these laws can do for comedy is Walt Disney's The Emperor's New Groove. In it,
arrogant Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his scheming advisor, Yzma and
her thick headed sidekick, Kronk. Aided by an adversary-turned-friend peasant,
Pacha, Kuzco must humble himself and use teamwork to get back to the palace to
face his enemy. Among many other instances, Disney writers and animators play
with the laws of inertia, gravity and path of action to aide in the comedic
story telling of this adventure.
The
law of inertia states, "An object moves with constant, uniform motion
until acted on by an unbalanced force." This means that an object that is
in motion will continue that motion until another force slows or stops it.
During one scene in the movie, Yzma is tricked into a wheelbarrow that goes
barreling down the steep hill where Pacha's village is built. During this, she
is doused in honey and feathered. At the end of the hill, Yzma hits a rock and flies
out of the wheelbarrow. Mid flight, she stop abruptly as she replaces a piñata
tied to the end of a rope that a group of children are about to hit. This
particular instance breaks the law of inertia. Yzma could not abruptly stop
midair unless another force came along to stop her. Secondly, even if she was
tangled by the rope and caught, she would still swing past the point where we
stopped and slowly swing and settle into place. The animators chose to have her
abruptly stop for comedic effect. It aided in surprising the viewer with an
ending to the fall that the viewers would not expect. A second example of this
come two other times in the movie. Both pairs of characters find themselves on
a roller coaster ride that ends abruptly, casting them out of the seat. They
are left standing upright. According to the law of inertia, they would be cast
out must further than they are in the movie because they wouldn't have a force
present to abruptly stop them just so.
The
animators and story tellers at Disney also played with the laws of gravity. For
example, in one scene, Kuzco throws a snack in Kronk's direction. Kronk tries
to catch it in his mouth and steps backward off of a high platform serving as
Kuzco's altar. As he falls off the platform, he hesitates for a moment before
falling. In a real life scenario, Kuzco would just fall to the ground.
Animated, the hesitation add a comedic level, as well as gives the viewer an
opportunity to see Kuzco's face as he falls. In another instance, Yzma and
Kronk are mid-chase with Pacha and Kuzco. They take flight over a gorge using
Yzma's flying contraption. Mid way through the flight, they are struck by
lightning, the contraption is burned up, leaving Kronk and Yzma unharmed, and
they fall into the gorge. Aside from their miraculous survival of both a
lightning strike and a very high fall, they stop mid air and hesitate for a few
second before they fall. Again, they would fall without the hesitation.
Finally,
Disney played with the characters' path of action. In one scene, Pacha and
Kuzco fall from a rope bridge that has broken. As they fall, Pacha is able to
catch himself on a ledge with one hand while holding Kuzco with the other.
Kuzco swings and hits the canyon wall, lodging his mouth and nose in a small
hole. This action causes a colony of sleeping bats to awaken and fly out of
their little cave. Since Kuzco's mouth is blocking their exit, they fly into
Kuzco's mouth and then out, propelling him upward. The bats dislodge him from
the hole and rather than falling down, the bats change his path of action so
that he swings upward to the top of the canyon. He pulls Pacha with him and
they land safely at the edge of the cliff on their feet. First and foremost,
while the bats may have the force to dislodge Kuzco, in a real world situation
they would not have the force to propel him upward, let alone with enough force
to carry not only Kuzco, but a character the size of Pacha, who is about three
times bigger than Kuzco. More importantly, the bats would not have the force to
change his path of action from falling due to gravity, to flying upward due to
their flight. The animators chose to use this to move the story along. After the
characters miraculously live after their impending death, Kuzco laughs. As
Pacha is standing on the ledge, the ledge gives way beneath him. Kuzco grabs
Pacha by his poncho and drags him back to the ledge mid fall. Kuzco celebrates
that he saved Pacha's life, thus inadvertently proving that he is capable of
caring for others. In terms of physics, the force of gravity should have taken
both Pacha and Kuzco over the ledge, taking into account that Kuzco's teeth
could properly grip Pacha. In the real world, with real physica, Kuzco could
not change Pacha's path of action enough to save him from falling off of the
ledge.
One
of the best parts of animation is being able to change the way we view the
world. Part of this is being able to play with the outrageous things that could
never happen in our environment. This allows animators to create a more fun,
playful or dramatic story for the viewer and keep their audience engaged in the
story they are trying to tell. The
Emperor's New Groove is no exception. The animators and writers of this
movie were able to tell a great story in a believable world while bending the
rules of physics to create a fun, comedic story line.
