WhiteAlert
July 19th, 2004, 01:20 PM
The Butterfly Effect
reviewed by Rich Brooks
July 15, 2004
It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world. -- Chaos Theory
These words preface the opening credits of “The Butterfly Effect” and explain the movie’s premise that a tiny action can have an enormous rippling effect. I have recently noted, in another context, that there are points in all of our lives – forks in the road, if you will – where taking another course would have drastically altered our present circumstances. Of course, most of us know that there’s nothing we can do to alter the past, and for better or worse we’re stuck with the choices we’ve made. In the real world, it is impossible to bring a loved one back from the dead no matter what we think we could have done differently to prevent that death.
Such limitations, however, do not hinder the imagination of science fiction writers, who are free to deal with the concept of an alternate universe or even an infinity of alternative realities. But since chaos theory asserts that every thing, every where affects everything else everywhere else, it is easy to see that the law of unintended consequences must come into play. “The Butterfly Effect” is about a mentally troubled young man, Evan, who indeed has the powers to alter the past, and the consequences of making those alterations. . . more here: http://www.whitealert.com/butterfly_effect.htm
reviewed by Rich Brooks
July 15, 2004
It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world. -- Chaos Theory
These words preface the opening credits of “The Butterfly Effect” and explain the movie’s premise that a tiny action can have an enormous rippling effect. I have recently noted, in another context, that there are points in all of our lives – forks in the road, if you will – where taking another course would have drastically altered our present circumstances. Of course, most of us know that there’s nothing we can do to alter the past, and for better or worse we’re stuck with the choices we’ve made. In the real world, it is impossible to bring a loved one back from the dead no matter what we think we could have done differently to prevent that death.
Such limitations, however, do not hinder the imagination of science fiction writers, who are free to deal with the concept of an alternate universe or even an infinity of alternative realities. But since chaos theory asserts that every thing, every where affects everything else everywhere else, it is easy to see that the law of unintended consequences must come into play. “The Butterfly Effect” is about a mentally troubled young man, Evan, who indeed has the powers to alter the past, and the consequences of making those alterations. . . more here: http://www.whitealert.com/butterfly_effect.htm