The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

In an animated film, determining the physics of the film’s universe is one of the most important things. After all, the physics -- whether it is based on reality or modified -- is the backbone of any animated feature. It decides how fast characters or objects will move, fall, or any sort of motion. The most important thing is for the laws of physics to be consistent throughout the entire film.

For my Physics of Animation paper, I decided to write on Paprika, a 2006 animated film directed by Satoshi Kon. He has directed films like Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers. Kon is known for his unique sense of direction. For example, Kon will use the jump cut to juxtapose two subjects together while being in two completely different scenes. Paprika is probably the strangest and weirdest Satoshi Kon film to watch, yet at the same time, it is the most exciting.

In Paprika, there is a device that permits users to enter the subconscious of other people. The device, the DC Mini, allows the user to enter and view the dreams of their patient. This brand of psychotherapy treatment is called “dream therapy.”

Doctor Atsuko Chiba begins to use the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside of her research facility. Chiba uses the DC Mini to delve into dreams of her patients, helping them confront their fears as her alter-ego, Paprika. Eventually, the DC Mini is used to kill other researchers on the projects. The reason these killings happen is because the chairman of the research committee for dream therapy, Doctor Seijiro Inui. Eventually, the dream world leaks out into reality. The Chairman Inui returns to reality as a grotesque nightmare, threatening to destroy the world. Chiba has to come to terms with her repressed desires, manifested as Paprika. As she does so, Chiba is able to consume the Inui’s nightmarish form and end his dream.

In the film Paprika, Satoshi Kon relies on the audience believing in the physics of the world, then immediately breaks a fundamental rule of physics, thereby creating a jarring and contrasting moment. In order for the dream world of Paprika to be believable as another reality -- with another set of rules -- Kon realizes the need to show his characters living in, what is presumably, the real world. After the dream sequence, Kon sets it up so we see the physics of the real world in the works.

Here, we see Chiba riding her motorcycle, the wind creating the drag on her hair and clothing. People move as they would in real life, without any peculiar attributes.

Another example is drag is when we see a researcher in a medium shot, walking down a hallway. Her hair is dragging behind her. 

Paprika needs little touches like hair or cloth drag in order to sell us the laws of physics. When you think everything is going one away and that things are suppose to happen in a certain way -- Satoshi Kon shifts into reverse, and starts driving the film in another direction.

Paprika breaks all kinds of rules of physics. The first is that people in the dream world seem to be able to alter and adjust their mass and size at will. The film begins with a car driving into the middle of a circus platform. There’s no frame of reference for how large the car is, but a clown 4-5 times the height of the car steps out from it. 

This establishes that the scene we’re viewing is not something that conforms to reality. It is impossible for a car so small to be able to fit a clown that large without the clown being made out of putty.

Another example is when Paprika jumps into a painting and shapeshifts into a chimera. 

She jumps off from the painting, and takes flight into the air. The chimera flies believably, but is juxtaposed by the shifting of mass. Satoshi Kon is able to mix and match the rules of reality with his own rules, creating a true dream-like set of scenes in an animated film. What makes this scene so interesting is that Kon is able to intersperse these dream-like sequences with actions that are still ruled by the laws of physics. 

When Paprika is falling, she is falling much faster than the feathers -- for a given size and shape, the object that weighs more (Paprika) has a high terminal velocity than something with a smaller surface area yet lighter (the feathers.)

The second law of physics that the film Paprika ignores at time is motion. Near the beginning of the film, there is a montage of a parade with circus animals and dancers. It is a seemingly normal parade. A lion jumps through a fiery arch, and follows a regular arc, slowing down at the apex. We, as viewers, are lured into the sense that that what we are seeing is normal and even taking in the real world. But after this, we find a character, Detective Toshimi Konakawa, teleporting from one spot to another. As a viewer, we can immediately sense that something is obviously amiss. In fact, you could say there is no physics actually involved. There is no sense of acceleration or motion, change of speed or direction.

The use of teleportation is quite common in Paprika. In the opening sequence, Konakawa falls and is picked up by a swinging Paprika as a circus performer. 

They immediately teleport to another environment, where Konakawa is swinging on vines in a jungle. 

From the jungle, Konakawa is knocked off the vine, and teleports to a train where he is being choked by an unknown assailant. 

These sudden cuts and change of environments come rapidly -- Satoshi Kon doesn’t let up. It is almost as if Kon is saying, “This is the dream world. Your rules of reality do not apply here.” All you can do is buckle up for the ride.

Another instance of teleportation is when Paprika jumps into a television and appears exactly where the television was showing. 

This is the part in the film where reality and the dream world appears to be colliding with one another. The film has been slowly building up to the climax of the film. All we can know about physics has gone through the window.

In conclusion, Paprika is a film that needs the laws of physics to work accurately. Without it, the film wouldn’t have been as strong. Satoshi Kon needed things to fall accurately, people to move as they would in real life -- otherwise, the real world sequences and the dream world sequences would not have worked. There would have been no discernable difference between the two. Paprika is a film about dreams, grounded in reality -- yet Satoshi Kon is able to pull the rug from under us.


(I've changed the order of my outline. My essay goes from a hypothesis about reality to mass manipulation to teleportation.)