# The moon in the sky, as seen in movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 8, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411 "2017-06-08T02:07:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/1 "2017-06-08T02:07:53Z")
With almost no exceptions, when it’s night, and the moon is in the sky in movies, it’s a full moon. Why?
This isn’t just the full moon because it’s a werewolf movie. It seems to be the rule. No matter the movie genre, if it’s night, the moon is full. Is it more dramatic that way?
What do you think the reason for this is?
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/2 "2017-06-08T02:16:37Z")
1. People expect a full moon to illuminate a nighttime scene. A crescent just won’t do it.
2. A full moon is prettier. Unless something in the script specifically requires the moon not be full, why bother to show it at all if it isn’t visually appealing?
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/3 "2017-06-08T02:29:13Z")
Not only is it full, but it’s way bigger then anything you would see in real life.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/4 "2017-06-08T02:46:31Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> Is it more dramatic that way?
Yes.
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### Author:  [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/5 "2017-06-08T02:50:07Z")
Give me a nice, thin crescent moon anytime.
Or a gibbous moon in a blue daytime sky.
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/6 "2017-06-08T02:54:52Z")
Can’t remember the title, but I once saw a film which had a crescent moon CGI’d into the nighttime sky.
With stars inside the crescent. :smack:
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/7 "2017-06-08T03:08:42Z")
There’s a crescent moon in every Dreamworks movie.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/8 "2017-06-08T11:16:46Z")
Well, sometimes the moon isn’t full. Or crescent, either. But generally it’s that way because the plot demands it (as when the phase of the moon is a time-telling device). See **Splash** , for instance.
Incidentally, the moon _always_ seems to be full in werewolf movies. In fact, it might absurdly be full several nights in a row.
Why? you’d think that you could conspicuously show the moon _not_ full on nights when the character could be outdoors after dark, and _not_ be turning into a wolf. But I can’t recall any cases of that.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/9 "2017-06-08T11:54:53Z")
Aesthetics. Full moons are way prettier than other phases. Nobody sings a song about a half moon. If your scene is going to include a moon, why not make it full? Would you show flowers that haven’t bloomed yet?
The only thing that bugs me about night scenes in movies is that in animated films, every night sky scene MUST include a meteor every 10 seconds or so.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/10 "2017-06-08T12:50:05Z")
It’s the same reason every window in Paris has a view of the Eiffel Tower.
Speaking of the full moons and animated films, this reminds me of a goof in the first _Despicable Me_ film. At the beginning of the film Gru comes home and says “Good morning” to his neighbour. About ten minutes later he’s standing framed by a full moon in the night sky. Sloppy.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/11 "2017-06-08T13:08:08Z")
It’s odd to me that people are saying full moons are prettier. Surely, the iconic image of the moon is a crescent, no? I find that the prettiest.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/12 "2017-06-08T13:23:09Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> It’s the same reason every window in Paris has a view of the Eiffel Tower.
>
> Speaking of the full moons and animated films, this reminds me of a goof in the first _Despicable Me_ film. At the beginning of the film Gru comes home and says “Good morning” to his neighbour. About ten minutes later he’s standing framed by a full moon in the night sky. Sloppy.
How do you know only ten minutes have gone by? Isn’t it likely they were only showing selected highlights from his day?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/13 "2017-06-08T13:43:00Z")
It’s partly because they only show the Moon at night. If you’re seeing the Moon at night, it’s more likely to be full than any other phase. A crescent moon is mostly up during the day, with just a little bit at night either shortly after sunset or shortly before sunrise.
And while one can debate whether the full or crescent moon is more aesthetic, nobody wants a gibbous moon.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/14 "2017-06-08T14:04:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> How do you know only ten minutes have gone by? Isn’t it likely they were only showing selected highlights from his day?
Nope. He comes in, sit down and doesn’t even have time to eat his muffin before Dr Nefario calls him. At the end of the call he commands the minions to assemble and descends into the basement. As he descends we see the minions gathering as he goes by, rushing into the arena where he is standing. He gives his speech which ends with the moon thing. It’s continuous action throughout.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/15 "2017-06-08T14:51:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> \ Incidentally, the moon _always_ seems to be full in werewolf movies. In fact, it might absurdly be full several nights in a row.
>
> Why? you’d think that you could conspicuously show the moon _not_ full on nights when the character could be outdoors after dark, and _not_ be turning into a wolf. But I can’t recall any cases of that.
Stephen King uses that in “The Talisman.” One of the characters becomes more werewolf-ish as the moon gets closer to full. However, he completely tosses that away for, “Cycle of the Werewolf,” where the moon is always full and at bogus times of consecutive months.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/16 "2017-06-08T15:13:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> And while one can debate whether the full or crescent moon is more aesthetic, nobody wants a gibbous moon.
I do. Esp. since they can often be seen in the daytime.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/17 "2017-06-08T15:30:25Z")
I get more annoyed when they use a crescent moon in a movie (ostensibly set in the northern hemisphere) and they have the horns point the wrong way. Hint to Hollywood: if it’s evening/dusk, the horns point to the left. If it’s early morning/dawn, they point to the right. And as someone else pointed out, there are no stars in the “dark” portion ever. That’s unlit moon; light doesn’t shine thru it.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/18 "2017-06-08T15:48:44Z")
In _ **E.T.** _, the Moon was really screwed up. In the first half of the movie, I think it was a First Quarter, which sets around midnight. When Eliot is out in the backyard, supposedly very late at night, it’s still high in the sky. On Halloween, there’s a full Moon, which rises as the Sun sets. This implies E.T. was with him for a week or so instead of just a few days. Also, the full Moon wouldn’t be high in the sky until late in the evening. I also have to wonder about the stained-glass window in the kids’ closet. From the orientation of the house, I don’t think it was in a position for sunlight to come streaming through.
It would have been better to correct some if this in the touched-up version of 2002, instead of messing with the non-PC dialogue. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/19 "2017-06-08T17:22:33Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> I get more annoyed when they use a crescent moon in a movie (ostensibly set in the northern hemisphere) and they have the horns point the wrong way. Hint to Hollywood: if it’s evening/dusk, the horns point to the left. If it’s early morning/dawn, they point to the right. And as someone else pointed out, there are no stars in the “dark” portion ever. That’s unlit moon; light doesn’t shine thru it.
As always, [there’s an xkcd for that](https://xkcd.com/1738/).
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-in-the-sky-as-seen-in-movies/788411/20 "2017-06-08T18:09:31Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> I get more annoyed when they use a crescent moon in a movie (ostensibly set in the northern hemisphere) and they have the horns point the wrong way. Hint to Hollywood: if it’s evening/dusk, the horns point to the left. If it’s early morning/dawn, they point to the right. And as someone else pointed out, there are no stars in the “dark” portion ever. That’s unlit moon; light doesn’t shine thru it.
There’s a big cultural history to “stars between the tips of the crescent moon”.
A lot of ancient civilizations used a symbol consisting of a star within the body of a crescent moon shortly before and after the Christian era. It appeared in Byzantium and in Rome and in medieval heraldry. It’s not evident if this was anything more than a symbol, rather than an observation.
The star and crescent was famously the symbol of the Ottoman empire, and from there became generally associated with Islam.
> **[Star and crescent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_and_crescent)**
>
> The conjoined representation of a crescent and a star is used in various historical contexts, including as a prominent symbol of the Ottoman Empire, and in contemporary times, as a national symbol by some countries, and as a symbol of Islam. It was developed in the Greek colony of Byzantium ca. 300 BC, though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator after he incorporated Byzantium into his kingdom for a short period.
> During the 5th century, it wa Bot...
It’s mentioned in _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_. Of course, there’s a high proportion of weird in that poem, so it fits perfectly in the mood. Someone pointed out the impossibility, and Coleridge apparently changed it to “near the nether tip” in later editions
> [@](#):
>
> We listened and looked sideways up!
> Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
> My life-blood seemed to sip!
> The stars were dim, and thick the night,
> The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white;
> From the sails the dew did drip—
> Till clomb above the eastern bar
> The hornèd Moon, with one bright star
> Within the nether tip.
In November 1668, Cotton Mather reported seeing a star-like point of light within the dark part of the crescent moon. Mather was a pretty good observer, so people give this some credence.
In 1795 the Royal Astronomer, Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, also reported seeing lights in the dark portion of the moon. A Mr. Wilkins also reported a light inside the dark part of the moon, but I don’t know if it was at the same time.
Similar reports were made in 1847 and 1867
In 1869 the Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain investigated reports of lights on the moon.
In 1877 there were several reports of lights on the lunar surface.
One theory for these was that they were due to meteor strikes. At the time, it was suggested it might be volcanic activity.
[http://cavinessreport.com/ad3\_3.html](http://cavinessreport.com/ad3_3.html)
It’s used in lots of modern flags (see the Wikipedia article above).
There was a legend that the Ottoman symbol derived from an observation. IIRC, a friend of mine wrote an article about this, where he said the origin of the symbol is “lost in antiquity”
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