There’s no doubt that Cloverfield
is a hit – but in addition to talk of its impressive box office numbers (and the
quieter rumblings of 9/11 exploitation), a great deal of discussion has
revolved around how Cloverfield is – literally
- making audiences sick.
Cloverfield plays into the rampant
phenomenon of self-documentation, especially among the teens and twentysomethings
who make up the holy grail of audiences in Hollywood. But the way it accomplishes this –
by presenting the movie as filmed by its main character documenting the events, resulting
in a jerky, hand-held style – is making some audience members wish they’d
popped a Dramamine before heading to the theater.
Most of us associate motion sickness with airplane turbulence, trying to
read in the car or being on a small boat in rough seas. Not with a movie about
a monster attacking Manhattan.
Or maybe we just have short memories – remember The Blair Witch Project? That
movie also had motion sick theatergoers demanding refunds afterward (right
before they dashed off to the bathroom to throw up – if they hadn’t already).
So why are some people getting motion sick when they watch Cloverfield – even though they’re not
moving at all?
According to WebMD,
you get motion sick when your brain receives conflicting messages from your
body (including your inner ear and eyes). When you’re sitting in the movie
theater watching Cloverfield, your
inner ear tells your body that you are not moving. However, when you see the
erratic camera movement that defines Cloverfield,
your eyes tell your body that you are also moving around erratically. Your
brain gets confused. You start to feel the symptoms of motion sickness –
nausea, mostly, but sometimes also vomiting, headaches, and sweating.
Just another fun
night at the movies!
The WebMD article dives
into the Cloverfield-motion sickness
connection a little further, outlining some medications that are commonly used
to help keep you from getting motion sick – including several antihistamines
(such as Dramamine), scopolamine, phenergan and even caffeine.
So maybe that $5
movie-theater Coke was worth it after all.
Click here to read
the WebMD article about the "Cloverfield
illness":
http://www.WebMD.com/news/20080122/whats-behind-cloverfield-illness?ecd=wnl_day_012908
