The early 2000’s saw a lot of drama and war movies. Thanks to movies like the Star Trek reboots and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the genre of Science Fiction has quickly become popular once again. Unfortunately, a lot of those movies also ended up less “science” and more “fiction”. This means that rather than actually teaching people about science, audiences were left with a lot of misconceptions.

Fortunately, however, there have also been movies that are heavily grounded in science, showing designs and presenting information that is in fact, scientifically accurate. While these numbers are generally outnumbered by mostly-fiction sci-fi movies, it’s still good to know that there are writers and directors out there who care deeply about presenting a movie that’s as scientifically accurate as possible.

Finding Nemo

I’m sure your first reaction to this would be disbelief. After all, it’s a movie that has talking fish in it! But beyond the human speech and human behaviors used to make the characters relatable, Finding Nemo, unlike it’s vehicular counterpart, Cars, actually presents its audience with scientifically accurate animal designs and movement based on what marine biologists have learned over the years.

This means that all the patterns on the fish, the scientific names used, as well as some of the habitats are accurate. The best part is that it’s not just the fish that are scientifically accurate. Almost everything you see throughout the movie is scientifically accurate: the way the light diffuses in the water and fades as it gets deeper, the way the moss only grows on one side of the dock pillars, and even internals of the aerator are all accurate.

Interstellar

Widely considered one of Christopher Nolan’s finest films, Interstellar caused almost as much buzz as his other films like Inception. While it had some pretty good acting and an incredible plot, one thing people take for granted is that the Nolan brothers did a lot of research and worked with a team to make sure that not only were the theories that they discussed accurate, but the visual representations were as well.

In the movie, we see the surfaces of several planets, as well as black holes and wormholes. The production team worked alongside theoretical physicist Kip Thorn to make sure that the visual representation of black holes and wormholes was as accurate as possible, only sacrificing some details for the sake of cinematography. Other than that, however, the designs were as close to theoretical designs as possible.

Andromeda Strain

While a lot of Michael Crichton books are already based on existing research at the time (Jurassic Park can be forgiven for a lack of feathers), one of the standouts is the 1971 adaptation of his book, Andromeda Strain. For those not familiar, Andromeda Strain is about an alien virus that decimates a big chunk of the human and animal population of Earth before being brought under control.

While it may seem far fetched, the way the disease spread and societies response to it were hailed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America as highly accurate from the possibility of an unknown disease and how it will affect society, as well as the scientific community’s steps in identifying and trying to contain the disease. At the time, this was almost unheard of, with high fantasy and rubber science dominating the genre.

Thanks to technology, people have found more and more ways to connect through social media. With the advent of social media like Instagram and Twitter, came the virtually omnipresent hashtags that even make it to non-digital conversation. One of the most common types of hashtags you’re sure to come across is the “goal” hashtag. Out of all the goal hashtags, however, “travelgoals” is probably the most common.

But why is this the case? Why is travelling such a big deal, with some people even willing to fake or steal pictures just to make it look like they’ve been travelling? It turns out there are several reasons why people are inclined to show others that they travel (or convince people that they’re travelling) whether they can afford to or not. Here are some of the most common reasons as to why:

Escapism

One of the most common themes among the working class today, is the monotony of the daily grind. Society has developed an economy that’s built on repetition and consistency. While this makes for an efficient workforce, it also makes for a lot of workers who are slowly being worn down by the everyday sameness week after week. That’s when thoughts of travel come in.

Not only does travel provide a vacation from the monotonous work, it also provides a change of scenery and a change in routine, which rejuvenates and revitalizes people. This need to get away often leads to people, especially from the middle class, looking forward to their vacation days, or obsessing over travelling and making plans whether they’re actually going to travel or not.

Public Perception

One of the unfortunate side effects of social media is that people start comparing their lives to that of their friends, and measuring their happiness based on how many people like or respond to their posts. This means that for those people, their self-worth is directly proportional to how other people perceive them; one measuring stick of social media success is travel, especially travel abroad.

With this being the case, it’s no surprise that people are willing to go so far as to steal other people’s pictures, or to fake pictures just to make people think that they’ve gone somewhere exotic or to a popular tourist destination. In a world where so many people feel that their social media defines their value as a person, and that value is online for all to see, one can see the importance in staying ahead.

Leisure and Experience

Some people just really do love to travel. That’s all there is to it! A lot of people value the experiences that you get from travelling. The sights, sounds, and tastes you get from travelling abroad are far different from anything you can get locally. For some people, it is this pursuit of authenticity that draws people to travel abroad, with the social media aspect coming in second (if it factors in at all)

For other people, it’s all about the leisure. Some people feel significantly more relaxed the farther away they are from the daily grind. Travelling abroad is a great way to distance yourself to make sure that you’re at peak relaxation. A stay in a foreign hotel, cruise, or even a hike or food walks really help one relax. Given how stressful the world is today, is it any wonder that people would travel whenever they can?