Extremely early this morning, I went on a journey to a movie theater in Westwood to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was a cold, dark night when we arrived. The line was so long that we had to sit on the sidewalk about a block away. As we anxiously waited for entrance into the theater, the line grew shorter and shorter. When we finally got into the theater, it was very crowded and we were forced to split up. Some sat in the front row, other were scattered throughout the large room. Despite the enormous number of people distracting me, I noticed many similarities between technologies that have been explained with magic. In Harry Potter, there were a vanishing cabinet, a flying broomstick, invisibility cloak, and other things that resemble technological advances of the future. The vanishing cabinet and apparation resemble a form of transportation known as teleportation. Teleportation is disappearing from point A and reappearing at point B. It is portrayed in many futuristic science fiction movies. The flying broomstick is also a form of transportation. A flying broomstick translated into the modern times would be a jetpack. Both of these methods are being tested and attempted by scientists, however, the jetpack is more imminent. The invisibility cloak is a cloak that you put on that allows you to become completely invisible to the naked eye. This technology has also been attempted by using nanoparticles to display the image, on the cloak, concealed by the wearer. Since you can “see through” the wearer it makes the them seem invisible. Movie is an art and incorporates technology and science in their shows. The creative minds involved in making these movies allow for scientists to build upon a foundation and template.
Links
http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/
http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4247253.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080812-invisibility-cloak.html
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Muggles’_Guide_to_Harry_Potter/Magic/Disappearing_Cabinets
