That’s probably more realistic, actually. It’s my understanding that while unconsciousness can happen rather quickly, you would need to keep smothering somebody for AT LEAST 10 minutes to make sure they are dead.
I think the death of Woody Blake (Tim Robbins) in Mission to Mars is probably the most accurate cinematic portrayal to date of what would happen. (He takes off his pressure-suit helmet, turns purple as he dies, but doesn’t explode.)
I remember Carlo helplessly groping at his neck.
You’re kidding, right? I’m not arguing the fact of what you say, but its application to the referenced portrayal. Once the victim is unconscious, are they really likely to come to, speachify a bit, then expire?
For the record, in my Riverside Shakespeare, the stage direction “Smothers her” appears on line 83 of act 5, scene 2. It is followed immediately by Desdemona’s line “O Lord, Lord, Lord!” on line 84.
Desdemona then comes back for the following, ll. 117-125:
Confirmed. The garrote comes over his head at 2:47:41 by my player, and he appears to be out at 2:48:00. The actor (one of the worst in the film, IMHO) appears to be anticipating the action, and I will say that given that, his reaction to the garrote coming over seems very delayed, but just before he is pulled over the seatback, he does reach up to struggle. spooje is pretty justifed in his recollection, though, because for the first full second or two, Carlo does seem to be just letting it happen.
That hit is one of my few complaints about [Paulie]One[/Paulie], though. They did such a harrowing job with the hit on Luca, this one is anticlimactic in every way, I feel.
If only there were a Miracle Man handy . . .
Septic tanks do not work that way!
After reading this thread I feel very informed but also a bit nauseous. I can see why Hollywood doesn’t go all realistic.
Covered in the book, but I suspect you know that.
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
I think the death of Woody Blake (Tim Robbins) in Mission to Mars is probably the most accurate cinematic portrayal to date of what would happen. (He takes off his pressure-suit helmet, turns purple as he dies, but doesn’t explode.) [/.QUOTE]
Actually, that scene was silly in its own way. He removes his helmet and dies instantaneously - in fact, he appears to be mummified or something. That would not happen; you’d suffer.
You’ve never seen someone punched in a way that the momentum knocks them over? Really? It’s quite possible to do.
Have you ever seen a hockey player receive a blindside check? The checker can stay on his feet while the checkee flies backwards. Readiness to take the force can have a lot to do with the body’s movement.
Quoth RickJay:
Actually, a bullet does have enough energy to knock someone over. That’s irrelevant, though, because the bullet’s kinetic energy can’t all be converted into kinetic energy in the target, since the bullet doesn’t have enough momentum. Most of the bullet’s energy gets turned into heat.
There was a belief in the middle ages, that the body of a murder victim would bleed again when the murderer was nearby (sometimes the murderer had to touch the body to make it bleed again. I’ve always assumed Shakespeare was just taking this belief of a body’s ability to accuse the murderer to an extreme that could be heard/seen on stage.
I agree with you, it’s a totaly bogus scene. Unless Desdemona was a zombie. That would have been cool.
No, in fact, it does not.
That has to do with the checkee being off balance, not the momentum of the hit. If you’re off balance, it only takes a fraction of the force to knock you over because most of the weight of your body was already leaning the way you wound up falling. This is not the same as a bullet hitting you and knocking you backwards.
And totally fitting with what one of my English profs called “Shakespeare’s Hallowe’en Episode.”
Before you start arguing, it, in fact, depends. Handgun bullet does not. Shotgun can do - as anybody on receiving end of rubber bullet can attest. .50 cal or above can blow chunks of you all around the place.
Hm. I would’ve thought that would be Titus Andronicus.
It was undergrad. No one expects undergrads to have read Titus Andronicus.
BA, English: can tell Keats from Shakespeare
MA, English: can tell Keats from Yeats
PhD, English: can tell Keats from Shelley
Shotguns, of course, can also knock down the shooter! You ought to brace yourself well before shooting a shotgun.
In a related myth, Hollywood often shows up with people punching others across the room. Punches will not do this unless you’re being whacked by Mike Tyson with cybernetic implants and power armor. Kicks can knock you a fair few feet, though.
I’m sorry, but you’re incorrect about a bullet knocking you back off your feet. Mythbusters did an episode on it, in fact…but I knew it already, as anyone acquainted with physics does.