# electric fans in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200 "2006-01-09T19:27:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![theresaholenme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@theresaholenme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theresaholenme)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/1 "2006-01-09T19:27:22Z")
Hi, I have seen fans in every movie I have ever watched. Why are they always included in some fashion in movies? From big wind turbines to antique electric fans. What movie showed the first electric fan? Is this some symbolism? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/2 "2006-01-09T20:19:17Z")
> [@theresaholenme](#): > > Hi, I have seen fans in every movie I have ever watched. Why are they always included in some fashion in movies? From big wind turbines to antique electric fans. What movie showed the first electric fan? Is this some symbolism? :rolleyes: Why the rolleyes? I can’t answer your question, but want to say I’ve noticed also that that there always seem to be little streamers or ribbons on the fan so you can see that it’s turned on, from a distance. Same with old-fashioned airconditioners. ---
**Author:** ![theresaholenme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@theresaholenme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theresaholenme)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/3 "2006-01-09T20:52:45Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Why the rolleyes? > > I can’t answer your question, but want to say I’ve noticed also that that there always seem to be little streamers or ribbons on the fan so you can see that it’s turned on, from a distance. Same with old-fashioned airconditioners. i made the roll eyes because i know there are more important questions to be answered, but i really would like to know. I have done some research an dfound out that Fatty Arbuckle and Keaton, famous silent film comedians, used a fan to chop veggies up. Then Fatty was maligned in the media due to a murder that he acquitted for 3 times in 1921. His career never recovered. Maybe this is a show of support for Fatty?.. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/4 "2006-01-09T21:19:30Z")
It may be nothing more significant than the fan providing a point to begin an establishing shot. It immediately tells you the room is hot and…what’s the word I’m looking for? Sultry! ---
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/5 "2006-01-09T21:26:53Z")
There are a few common reasons: 1. Can emphasis that it’s a period film 2. For “local color” 3. To make you feel the heat in the Casbah 4. To be arty. Many old B/W films loved the still photographer’s trick of taking pictures with shadows of venetian blind or overhead fans creating interesting patterns in a bare room. 5. To be sexy. Also from old B/W still photo tradition, shadows playing across a face add interest and movement on a still scene. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/6 "2006-01-09T21:31:16Z")
Set designers always impress me. In small rooms, or houses and businesses, they always try to keep the areas very busy…and very ‘filled’ with ‘stuff’. Pay attention to sets, and notice how set designers use ‘overkill’ on everything, from fans, window and door moldings, to built-in bookcases, built-in fridges, levels, different color walls, wall paper, woods (chair rail, crowns, trim). I can speak for ceiling fans as popular set designer props, **because a set designer doesn’t deal much with CEILINGS in most of their work. Give them a ceiling, and they will overdo that too.** TV and movie shots are terribly devoid of ceiling (nature of the business of ‘sets’ really). “Overdo” is unfair, because only in the real world, it’d be overdone, but for the camera, it actually provides alot of depth and character. All fans are great props for designers and make their way into starker sets. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/7 "2006-01-09T22:38:48Z")
\ I’m a fan of Cafe Society. Since this is about movies, let me move it for you. _Action!_ \ ---
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/8 "2006-01-10T01:37:50Z")
> [@theresaholenme](#): > > Hi, I have seen fans in every movie I have ever watched. …:rolleyes: I missed that part. Every movie, you say? Well now I’m going to watch for sure! That would really be something if you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/9 "2006-01-10T06:00:51Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > I can speak for ceiling fans as popular set designer props, **because a set designer doesn’t deal much with CEILINGS in most of their work. Give them a ceiling, and they will overdo that too.** TV and movie shots are terribly devoid of ceiling (nature of the business of ‘sets’ really). In one movie I can think of, ceiling fans made an important point in establishing the lifestyle of the time and place. In one of my favorites, _The Shootist_, set in Carson City in 1901, we see the owner of a saloon using a long pole to turn on electric ceiling fans in his establishment. I liked that scene because I was interested to learn that electricity was in common use in that time and place. In another scene John Wayne’s character turns off a light, and an automobile appears in yet another scene. Yet otherwise, the movie has the air of a tough ‘pioneer’ western set decades earlier. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/10 "2006-01-10T13:42:29Z")
I don’t buy the premise of the OP. Lotsa films don’t have fans. While a lot of dire ctors put in things as symbolism, inside jokes, or the like, I don’t see any overall factor for fans. Generally, a fa seems to be there for a purpose. Sometimes it’s because they’re visually interesting and the way the slowly rotating blades alternately block and unblock the light is cool (and movies are, after all, all about the _moving_ image). In **Twelve Angry Men** the broken fan is clearly there to emphasize the hot, tense atmosphere. It doesn’t really start working until they start making progress. In **Total Recall** the fan is there to visually suggest the lack of air circulation and stuffiness. In \*\* Airplane!\*\* the fan is there so that the shit can hit it. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/11 "2006-01-10T14:09:19Z")
Alien 3 - The large fan was there so that one of the prisoners could fall into it and be chopped apart like an onion in a Cuisinart. Appoclpyse Now - The fan in the opening scene is there to let you know that DaNang is really hot, and the _whup_ _whup_ _whup_ of the spinning fan parallels the rotors of ubiquitous helicopter. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Provided a convienient way for Dr Jones to dispense his attacker. But yeah, in general a ceiling fan provides a cue that it’s hot and tense. ---
**Author:** ![Procyon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@Procyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procyon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/12 "2006-01-10T14:54:10Z")
I nominate the TV show **Twin Peaks** and the subsequent movie **Fire Walk With Me** for having the creepiest, most frightening use of a ceiling fan that I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/13 "2006-01-10T15:08:04Z")
In _Goldfinger_ (I think), the fan was there so Sean Connery could kill the bad guy trying to shoot him from the bath tub. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/14 "2006-01-10T16:06:39Z")
**Blade Runner** , it seems, is generally credited as the starting point for the “giant industrial fans everywhere” appearance of the dystopian future in many movies. It’s been copied so many times it’s become a parody. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/15 "2006-01-10T16:33:19Z")
I seem to remember the fans in _Angel Heart_ symbolized something, but I forget what now. Anybody remember? ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/16 "2006-01-10T17:29:08Z")
> [@Sgt Schwartz](#): > > I seem to remember the fans in _Angel Heart_ symbolized something, but I forget what now. Anybody remember? This is the film that first came to my mind when I read the OP. I don’t know what it symbolized, but it was definitely one creepy theme. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/17 "2006-01-10T17:54:31Z")
I’m curious if any westerns have fans. Also those period pieces from the Middle Ages or Roman Empire or Ancient Greece or Egyptian Pharoahs, not to mention the Biblical epics. I suspect the genres that do use fans have been well covered in earlier posts, but I do consider it unlikely that _all_ movies have some sort of fan, especially _electrical_ ones. However, this OP has me curious if there is _some_ item that would appear in _every_ movie, regardless of period or genre. Intriguing topic! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/18 "2006-01-10T18:38:16Z")
I think the fan(s) began turning in _Angel Heart_ whenever the bad guy was doing his evil work. If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I mean… The fans in _Apocalypse Now, Casablanca_ and _Body Heat_ were all very important visual components of the set design, conveying the message of a muggy, heavy, enervating heat that just wouldn’t go away. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-fans-in-movies/339200/19 "2006-01-13T10:09:58Z")
come to think of it I think i HAVE seen a fan in almost every movie i’ve seen… i the westerns its usually a fan from a ladies purse, like a fold up fan, in the biblical epics its always the big plume-feather fans that the eunechs are holding…