Really bad diving scenes

[Kevrumbo]

What these divers have to endure and can achieve in reality is more compelling and amazing than any "disbelief suspending" entertainment fiction.

How about some really "bad ass" diving scenes instead:

 

[boulderjohn]

Aren't you talking about what they call "suspension of disbelief"? If the reader's brain wants to believe it enough to ignore the absurdities, you did your job as a writer.

That's exactly what I am talking about. Coleridge said that when we engage in literature we experience that willing suspension of disbelief, and if the writer is able to pull it off, we're fine. But in literature like the movie I referenced, if I am constantly thinking "Oh, that is just ridiculous!", then it doesn't work. I stopped watching the movie not long after the diving scene and deleted it.

I used to use the following example of the problem with students by discussing The Wizard of Oz. In a fantasy like that, the reader/viewer will accept the fantasy world as real until things go too far. We can accept a land with a talking scarecrow, a heartless tin man, a cowardly lion and flying monkeys. We accept that in that world, those things exist, and we suspend our disbelief. It goes too far, though, when Dorothy says she wants to go back to Kansas. That is too absurd to believe, and they lose us.

 

[boulderjohn]

Apparently gold is neutrally buoyant...

And only one gondola in the entire canal system.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I recall a movie produced by Howard Hughes I think which I think was made in the 30s or 40s. It had hard hat diving and was filmed on a normal studio set and not underwater. To replicate air bubbles, they used a soap bubble making machine (like kids use) and these floated left and right and down but never up. Crappy movie!

I also thought that the movie Sanctum made by James Cameron's company about cave divers stuck in a cave after a storm floods the cave system is a load of crap. Based on a real event in Western Australia and written by one of the divers (now deceased), it is bad from all points of view.

 

[KevinNM]

Maybe that's the secret to being a successful writer--don't give a damn if anything in your work makes any sense at all. If you are afraid to write absurdities, you will never be successful.

There were over 100 million Twilight books sold. The movies and merchandise did something like $5 billion in sales. Stephanie Meyer could live in a mansion whose walls were made of gold ingots. Why you need to understand your audience and what they want. And then give it to them without snark or sarcasm.

 

[arcticat99]

you sound like my wife lol.she is a horse lover and when watching movies with horses she says a action scene is coming up and I said why she said they changed horses sure as **** the blaze was different .kind of takes the fun out of it .snicker.cheezie dive movie in my opinion was the abyss even cheezier series was sea quest but was futuristic so ill give a little leeway

 

[Bubblesong]

So maybe if a person just knows too much about a topic, scuba or horses, they can see details others miss. But who would ever think it is a good idea to try to hitch a ride on a shark while bleeding! Every other kid in America did a science report on Sharks(!) in fourth grade. I did one in six grade in which I reported that sharks will jump out of the water lunging at helicopters and the class bought it. B+!

 

[JamesBon92007]

I stopped the movie in order to write the above description. I started watching it again, but I'm afraid the movie started get less realistic after that.

ROFLMAO!

 

[JamesBon92007]

I just happened to be doing a Google search for Bruno Vailati's film "Dive to Danger" and then came here and found this! I didn't find much info on the movie but one of my favorite scenes was actual footage of divers getting lost in a cave, never to be seen again. Of course the cameraman had no problem getting out of the cage with the camera and film. I mainly wanted to show my girlfriend (who just started scuba diving) the striptease scene where the women are being undressed by giant moray eels.

Also, I recently saw a "documentary" about the sea (The Sea Around Us?) that I'll look for when I get home (I'm on Cozumel! ) that had scenes of deadly morays and killer mantas.

 

[Cali_diver]

This is hilarious.... Love your colorful description of the movie. To be fair, It was originally a video game franchise!

Clive Cussler uses SCUBA a lot in his books, which are great, (ever since he got co-writers to help him add some humor), yet only one of his books has been made into a movie. Any Cussler fans in this thread?

I have read every one of them.... and yes Matthew McConaughey is a terrible Dirk Pitt (but not as bad as Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher).