Mass Media QS Scene Extinction

[Qsvgitguy]

There was actually 3 sinking scenes in Wreck It Ralph! The one mentioned above and both Ralph and a Cyber Bug falling into a pit of pink ooze! I think it was pink anyway.

Yes, I think there's definitely a downward trend in QS scenes. To anybody who's not into quicksand like us, it's too much of a cliche and most story tellers and movies makers don't bother with it, especially since the reality of quicksand is not nearly as dramatic as what we see in the movies. I suppose its similar to a girl being tied to the rail road tracks. How often do we see that anymore?

Oh well. That's why I'm trying to make my own. Production of my next poser QS movie is moving forward and I hope to be able to release it soon.

Cheers!

[Fred588]

There is a difference between a real trend and a perceived trend. If anyone has the energy to do it, allow me to suggest the following as a research project to see if there really is a trend toward fewer quicksand scenes.

While I don't think it has been maintained in recent years there used to be a fairly comprehensive list of quicksand scenes in commercial movies and tv. It was, and is, known as Crypto's List. It ought to be pretty complete at least up to 2000, and as I reclall, the entries had at least approximate release dates.

Do this as a research procedure: Go through the list twice. On the first pass, mark each entry according to type, such as live actor movie, animation, or whatever. Just be sure to mark every entry and to be consistent in classification. On the second pass, classify each entry by release date. This could be by five-year or tend-year periods. This will produce a count of scenes for every five or ten year period for each type.

Next, use a comprehensive database such as the IMDb to find the number of movies, TV episodes, etc. for each category and time period. You want the total number of movies and episodes, not the number with quicksand scenes.

The hypothesis is this: If the proportion of movies or TV episodes with quicksand scenes has changed over the years then the ratio of total works to scenes will have changed. There are fairly simple statistical tests to estimate the probability that any apparent changes are due to random variation or to a real change. I will be glad to assist with that if anyone here wants to do the work of data collection.