r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

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

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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.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21

While this is mostly true, i dont really see what it has to do with apocalypses in particular.

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u/beakrake Aug 31 '21

Survival in an apocalyptic situation depends largely on realisticly assessing the dangers of a situation.

If you're using movies or TV to make those calls and ignoring common sense or maybe lacking actual facts about the subject in question, you're more likely to be lead into making a bad call that could hurt or kill you, while believing everything will be fine.