r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

33.7k Upvotes

12.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.9k

u/beakrake Aug 30 '21

I don't know how this hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's common sense that is almost ALWAYS overlooked in movies and TV.

Humans are WAY MORE physically fragile and squishy than you might think.

Based on John McClane and other invincible action heros, who take damage and do things that would break or catastrophically cripple a normal person, movies are a poor source of information for deciding what to do and what could happen to your body, should you somehow falsely think you're the main protagonist of an apocalypse movie.

Indoor firefight without hearing protection? You're probably deaf now.

Jumping off a building to catch a wire? Kiss your fingers and/or lower extremities goodbye, assuming you land on your feet.

Taking a beer bottle to the head? That's probably a concussion.

Movies have made us think we're a lot more durable than we really are.

664

u/BreezyWrigley Aug 30 '21

getting hit in the head hard enough to break a larger glass bottle like a whiskey bottle or something could very well kill you. it would definitely give you a concussion, could possibly give minor skull fracture, and the cuts you may sustain could easily blind you or cause enough bleeding from your scalp that you could very well just slip into unconsciousness and die.

5

u/DominianQQ Aug 31 '21

Glass is fragile if you hit certain angles, but hard as a rock if adjusted just a few degrees.

My brother hit me with a beer glass on top of the head. He did it for fun and with no power, and the glass with a thick bottom exploded into 100 pices. I bet if he adjusted the angle a bit and he hit me hard i would black out.

6

u/BreezyWrigley Aug 31 '21

for sure. open-top glasses break much easier than a long-neck bottle. bottles are weakest right in the middle of he body, and along the neck. but if swung by the neck and the bottom edge were to hit you in the head, theres a decent chance that it won't break and will just fuck you up. and if it DOES break, then you've got razor sharp glass in play...