Retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott assesses the science in Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence's 2016 movie Passengers. Despite Pratt and Lawrence's many successful movies, Passengers received mostly negative reviews, including a dismal 30% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. The science-fiction romance sees passenger Jim Preston (Pratt) woken 90 years too early on a 120-year space voyage. Jim eventually wakes another passenger, Aurora Lane (Lawrence), because he sees that she is beautiful and does not want to be alone, and he leads her to believe that she was woken by accident.
In an Insider video, Stott explains how the science in the scene where Aurora is woken is mostly accurate. The scene features Aurora swimming through a giant ball of water that begins to float before suddenly crashing to the floor of the spacecraft. Stott breaks down what happens to water and other fluids when there is microgravity or no gravity at all, how this aligns with her experiences in space, and how it translates to the scene in Passengers. Check out her comments and the video below:
Water and all fluids in that environment of microgravity, or where there isn't gravity, will form into a ball. The surface tension causes that to happen. You know, when we "shower" on the space station, we don't have running water, right? There's no gravity to pull the water down like in a shower like you have here on Earth. So we squeeze balls of water out of a drink bag, out of the straw on the end of a drink bag, and we squeeze these balls of hot water out into the air. And then you could just stick your arm through that ball of water, and it's going to form like a glove of water on your arm, and then you mush the soap around, and then you put your arm through another big ball of water to rinse it and sop it up with your towel.
You could absolutely swim in the water. Unlike what you see of people sometimes thinking they could swim through the air, you know, inside their spaceship. It's not going to do you any good. There's no resistance against that. But the water does give you some resistance.
It looks really abrupt. And that same thing would happen in reality. You would get some slow onset of the load on the thing, but going from zero to just any load on it is going to cause a very abrupt shift in anything that was floating at the time.
I would rate this scene a seven because I like the way they really tried to portray the reality of how liquids behave in a microgravity environment.
What This Means For Passengers
The Scientific Accuracy In This Scene Is An Underrated Strength In The Controversial Movie
Passengers was criticized for the inherent sexism in its premise. The controversial ending to Passengers further heightens this criticism as Aurora chooses to live out the rest of her life with Jim instead of going back into hibernation, with the movie never reconciling with its questions of consent or fully exploring the morality of Jim's actions. Stott's scientific analysis of what happens to the water in the scene where Aurora is woken does not negate these criticisms, but her comments do highlight one of the movie's underrated strengths.
The way that the water is visually depicted in the scene is stunning, and the cinematography can be further appreciated when knowing that this is what actually happens to water and other liquids in a microgravity environment. Even the part where the water suddenly crashes to the floor, which seems like it is only included for dramatic effect, is rooted in reality. The reasons why Aurora is being woken in the first place are still problematic, but the scientific and visual elements of the scene are executed well.
Our Take On Stott's Comments
Her Analysis Provides A New And Fascinating Perspective
Even though Passengers is still among Pratt and Lawrence's worst movies, the explanation from Stott makes me appreciate this scene in a way I had never considered before. It is an important reminder that nearly every movie has something valuable to offer, even if the themes, plot, and character development are disappointing. Better understanding of what happens to water and other fluids in microgravity environments is also fascinating. Passengers' overall legacy remains the same, but this scene does have its scientific merits.
Source: Insider
