Movies allow us to travel from the comfort of our couches. We get to meet people, experience things, gain access to places or even eras we might never in real life. And, of course, we get to learn lots of new and interesting facts. But sometimes, Hollywood gets it completely wrong and leads us down a path of lies.
How many things have you taken at face value purely because you saw them in a movie? You’re not alone. It’s easy to get so engrossed in an action-packed film, or a suspenseful drama that we don’t think twice about fact-checking what we’ve been fed. Someone asked, “What’s an inaccurate fact that people believe is true because of movies?” and a few of the answers might surprise you.
From myths about hacking to health to crawling through air ducts, Bored Panda has put together the best comments. They’re proof that when it comes to making movies, those at the helm truly do believe that you should never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
#1
Hacking isn’t someone typing for 10 seconds and suddenly “I’m in”
Image source: jet099dreams, Mika Baumeister/unsplash
#2
When a machine flat lines in hospital with a continuous beep it means they’ve passed. More likely means a sensor has fallen off the patient.
Image source: _Norfolk_Ingway_, Alexander Mass/unsplash
#3
Giving birth is messy and takes a long time and there’s way more things that can go wrong than the movies show, also newborn babies do not actually look like 6 month olds with some petroleum jelly smeared on them 😂
Edit: yes, I know that actual newborns should not be on film sets. I was just pointing out how the movie versions of newborns are still inaccurate lol.
Image source: UberFarter, Alexander Grey/unsplash
#4
You can get someone to fall in love with you by stalking them and acting creepy.
Image source: lotsagabe, Andrej Lišakov/unsplash
#5
That if you get “knocked out” with a blow to the head that you can wake up with a little headache but be ready for action.
No.
No, Sir.
You have a grade three concussion and will need months of slow recovery and will probably never be the same again.
Image source: Joed1015, Gabriel Weyand/unsplash
#6
You can’t just walk away from a nearby explosion. If you’re lucky, you’ll just lose your hearing. Also even if you’re clear of the fire, you can still be hit by shrapnel or the intense heat from the blast.
Image source: Writer_feetlover, Stephen Radford/unsplash
#7
That rats/mice/even spiders make squeaking noises constantly. That would be a bad tactic for a prey animal.
Image source: Rocket_Jump, Brett Jordan/unsplash
#8
Fire sprinklers all fire at the same time. irl they are heat triggered and pop one at a time locally located directly near the fire. also the water is total black moldy oily disgusting sludge cause its been sitting there for 30 years.
Image source: nicepresident, Brandon Leon/flickr
#9
That eagles sound like hawks.
Image source: Zato_Zapato, Philipp Pilz/unsplash
#10
That swords constantly make shwing sounds (nope), that they can cut through metal armor (absolutely not) and that they end people instantly (even a definitely lethal wound will take a few moments before the opponent is completely unable to retaliate, unless he’s beheaded or something that extreme).
Also, that two opponents crossing blades right next to their faces and pushing really hard is somehow a standstill. In reality, this situation is difficult to get in and very easy to get around once you’re there. No time for a long talk about your motivations and mutual hatred. And pushing straight onto your opponents blade will not help at all.
Image source: Bravemount, Slejven Djurakovic/unsplash
#11
Not movies, but people think that rabbits like carrots in particular because of Bugs Bunny. But Bugs isn’t eating carrots because he’s a rabbit, he’s eating carrots because they’re standing in for a cigar, in imitation of a scene with Clark Gable in It Happened One Night
The other way Bugs has influenced culture is in the word “nimrod” coming to mean “idiot”. People think that because that’s what he calls Elmer Fudd. But Nimrod was a legendary hunter, and Bugs was being sarcastic.
Image source: Kimantha_Allerdings, Alexandre Daoust/unsplash
#12
If you smash through a barrier with your car and are extremely lucky you may just need some body work. Most likely, your car will break down very soon afterwards otherwise. Cars are designed to disintegrate in even very minor crashes, that’s why they’re so safe.
Image source: zerbey, Usman Malik/unsplash
#13
Zoom, enhance.
Image source: damik, LinkedIn Sales Solutions/unsplash
#14
That the average Everyman family, has a 5 bedroom house, in LA, NYC or Chicago area.
While the poor person has a 1 bedroom apartment in those cities, that they live alone in.
Image source: jellomizer, Suraj Tomer/unsplash
#15
You cannot shock a flatline back to life. Grey’s Anatomy has been lying to us for 20 seasons lol.
Image source: FlyThomasGoGoGo, César Badilla Miranda/unsplash
#16
Car doors and tables can stop bullets.
Image source: Beautiful_Arm8364, Daniel Drexler/flickr
#17
First thing that came to mind: You can sneak through a building by crawling through air ducts. You absolutely cannot crawl through air ducts, they’re MUCH too small.
Image source: boulevardofdef, Drew Beamer/unsplash
#18
That bloodhounds bark/howl while tracking. Several years ago, I helped a friend train hers. They are silent trackers.
Image source: Dawn-Storm, Getty Images/unsplash
#19
Because of 3 Ninjas, I believed that if I trained really hard in karate, I could eventually beat up a grown man as a 6 year old 😂.
Image source: wrexmason, Ahmed/unsplash
#20
Hitting someone on the head to knock them out does not result in them waking ok after a short nap.
Image source: TheRexRider, Vitaly Gariev/unsplash
#21
As a person who works in radiation safety it’s how quickly ionizing radiation hurts you. Radiation burns and sickness don’t show up right away. It takes several hours up to a day for it to appear. Even if you did get enough dose to pass from it, it would still take a couple of days for you to do so. Grueling agonizing days but still days.
Image source: Jolly_Law_7973, Dan Meyers/unsplash
#22
I’ve never visited, but from my understand, Mexico isn’t just yellow.
Image source: winthroprd, Marv Watson/unsplash
#23
You only use like 10% of your brain.
Image source: jeanclaudebrowncloud, bruce mars/unsplash
#24
That an undercover cop has to tell you if you ask.
Image source: Bladrak01, Craig Whitehead/unsplash
#25
That fighting is easy and not at all exhausting.
Image source: EpsteinEpstainTheory, MARK ADRIANE/unsplash
#26
That you have to wait 24 hours to report a missing person.
Image source: favoritecableguy, Getty Images/unsplash
#27
Through and through bullet wounds are just an inconvenience.
Image source: Eyespop4866, Diana Polekhina/unsplash
#28
Type 1 Diabetics DO NEED INSULIN but not when they’re hypoglycemic. It’s the worst thing for em. Hyperglycemic? Dose up on insulin. Hypoglycemic? Get em carbs and food.
Image source: Weary-Jelly7802, Getty Images/unsplash
#29
You can see the Eiffel Tower from everywhere in Paris.
Image source: Bob_Leves, Anthony DELANOIX/unsplash
#30
Super buff, crazy abs and “cut” muscles = super strong.
Granted comics made this a thing, so most are just copying.
also i was a mover for 9 years, I was not once offered “another way to pay” …..stupid movies.
Image source: doobersthetitan, Anastase Maragos/unsplash
#31
A phone call can only be traced if the caller stays on the line long enough.
Image source: HALObotomy
#32
Sound in space. Spaceships, explosions, whatever.
Image source: Heavy_Work8937
#33
My uncle was an EMT for 20 years. He told me the movie slap you know, slapping someone hysterical to calm them down actually makes everything worse. He personally responded to three calls caused by someone trying it. He delivered this information calmly and then asked for the bread rolls.
Image source: No_Arrival_3909
#34
Cars very, very rarely catch fire during crashes. No, you are not going to be caught inside a burning car and get cooked alive if you wear your seatbelt, ex-colleague from Texas.
Image source: MontaGreeny
#35
I get a kick out of the mansions “middle-class” families seem to have and a whole table of for breakfast.
Dude, yet get a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and you WASTE IT? Some people in this world are starving and some can’t afford this much food. That is like a week’s maybe two week’s worth of food on that table kid, eat it.
Some kid in real life is eating Ramen that they got on sale and is sitting in their apartment building with screaming neighbors watching these movies. I know because I was that kid.
Image source: InterestingMindset
#36
That you can just burst through a glass window and land on the other side, standing uninjured and ready to kick some butts.
Image source: myogawa
#37
Obstacles can always be overcome through perseverance.
Image source: OpenDiscount1615
#38
GenX is not the slacker generation. That came from a Michael Moore movie. Always been The Quiet Achievers.
Image source: teheditor
#39
Shooting a gun in a car/elevator/any enclosed space won’t result in everyone inside to become deaf. Worst case is permanent hearing loss. Best case is temporary hearing loss. Either way, everyone inside is going to have severe ringing, pain, and complete loss of hearing.
Image source: Crazy_Drago
#40
My wife was born and raised in SF. She chuckled at a scene where Michael Douglas drove up to a nightclub and found parking immediately.
Image source: One-Shirt4570
#41
That there is a substance (chloroform) that knocks people out immediately for 5-30 minutes if you hold it over their mouth for a few seconds.
Not only does that typically not work but if it did it would take you about 5-10 minutes of holding it over their mouth for it to work in the sense it maybe would knock them out for a minute or two.
Image source: xchngboredom4argumnt
#42
Manhattan apartments are big enough to have gatherings?
Image source: Left-Satisfaction177
#43
How hot fires are. In movies people run into a burning building all the time to rescue someone–in real life if you even see flames it is *so hot*, and almost impossible to even approach the building due to that heat.
Image source: cloistered_around
#44
That lightning never strikes the same place twice. Movies make it look dramatic, but it can actually happen.
Image source: bigWhale0801
#45
A cigarette is not lightning a puddle or vapors of gasoline, however if you light the cigarette, congratulations you made the evening news.
Image source: maliki2004
#46
That grown American adults have free time during daylight hours. And mental energy to get up to hijinks.
Image source: Maleficent-Hurry-170
#47
USA as the good guys.
Image source: kyussorder
#48
Everyone thinks you can hold your breath for 10 minutes just because of action movies. like, i can barely make it to 30 seconds without passing out.
Image source: SmoothTwist8885
#49
In the movies soldiers in a war are all strong, stoic, hyper patriotic self-starters from small towns in the “Midwest”. In real life most of them are either the nerdy kids from high school who sat and played Magic: the Gathering at lunch or the trouble maker who never did anything *really* bad but you didn’t want to hang around him because you knew his actions would get you in trouble if you did. And there’s way more of them from places like New York, Boston and LA than small towns.
Image source: Current_Physics_7327
#50
That a Tyrannosaurus rex can only see you when you are moving.
That was briefly put forward when the novel Jurassic Park was written but has been debunked since then.
Image source: Ok_Chicken2600
#51
The average office worker clocks in 9 to 5.
I wish.
In the real world (at least in my experience), you work 8 to 5 because your two 15-minute breaks and half-hour lunch aren’t paid.
Image source: Teege57
#52
I think we all grew up believing you could hack anything by typing really fast. In reality I’m pretty sure real hacking is just Googling error messages for 6 hours straight.
Image source: Such-Gas6311
#53
Defibrators are not meant to restart a stopped heart. The name ‘de-fibril’ already states that. They are designed to stop rapid atrial fibrillation and thus actually cause the flat line. Only when the heart no longer twitches involuntarily instead of pumping can blood be pumped through the lungs and body again using chest compressions.
Image source: Every_Preparation_56
#54
That in just a few hours, a 10-year-old boy can set up an elaborate booby trap labyrinth, run all the way from 95th Street to a toy store 40 blocks away, bait two adult men into following him back up to 95th Street, then hit them in the head with a bunch of bricks, and nobody dies in the process.
Image source: Anteater_Reasonable
#55
That all the cowboys out west were white.
Image source: Billy_Beetle
#56
The sun is not yellow. It’s white. Every sci fi movie where a ship flies past the sun and it’s a beautiful yellow/orange blob with flares shooting up…is a lie. From space, the sun is white.
Image source: eyetwitch_24_7
#57
That if you have superpowers or similar, the government (most likely US even if you don’t live there) wouldn’t try to experiment on you.
Image source: FLX-S48
#58
The idea that windmills dont cover their own cost has been a frequently believed misconception since a monologue from the TV show Landman.
Image source: wdaloz
#59
Everybody buys a loaf of French bread when they go grocery shopping.
Image source: realgrantmic
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