Anything is possible with a little movie magic. Filmmakers, tv producers, and commercial crews take many creative liberties in order to create some pretty crazy myths that viewers start to actually believe are true. Most films and television shows reuse techniques, further convincing that their version of reality is true.
Here are the top cinematic and advertising myths that we’ve all been convinced are true in real life…
Myth #1 – The Rain in “Singin’ In The Rain” Was Actually Milk
Water never shows up too well on camera, so it stands to reason that a few tricks were used for the most famous scene in movie history. Giant arc lamps were brought in to backlight the sprinklers, and poor Gene Kelly ended up singin’ with a 103-degree fever after filming. Milk, though, was never added to the water to make it more visible.
Myth #2 – A Japanese Woman Died Looking for the “Fargo” Money
“Fargo” isn’t a true story despite the fact that the opening credits say “This is a true story.” So when Takako Knoishi lost her job in Tokyo, booked a holiday to Minnesota, downed two bottles of champagne, and decided to take her own life in a snowdrift, the press thought that her death was just too Coen-esque not to be related to the film.
Myth #3 – The MGM Lion Actually Killed a Lot of People
So the story goes, Alfred Hitchcock was filming a lion for the MGM Logo when two burglars broke onto the movie set. The animal looked at the camera, roared with rage, and jumped out of frame to devour the criminals. The truth: Hitchcock actually had nothing to do with it. A total of seven tamed lions have been used for over the years, and none of them have ever harmed anyone.
Myth #4 – A Stuntman Died During the Chariot Race in “Ben Hur”
While it’s true that no stuntmen were harmed during the Charlton Heston chariot race, most of the rumors were from the original 1925 movie, “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” Quite a lot of stuntmen were harmed then. Horses were shot, real fights broke out, people were set on fire, and one rider was crushed to death during the violent race scene.
Myth #5 – Mufasa and Scar are Brothers
Spoiler alert: they aren’t siblings at all. In the wild, when a male lion gets old, another male comes and kills him and takes over the pride. Then the female lions go into heat and reproduce, and then the new younger lion kills the king and then he kills all the babies, making him the new leader of the pride.
Myth #6 – Winnie The Pooh Is A Boy
Apparently, Christopher Robin’s best buddy is actually a female. Thanks to the book Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, it’s revealed that Pooh is in fact a girl. Her full name is Winnipeg from the London Zoo.
Myth #7 – The Crab From “The Little Mermaid” Is Named Sebastian
According to the official Disney Princess website, the crab’s last name is Sebastian. His full name is actually Horatio Felonius Ignacius Crustaceous Sebastian.
Myth #8 – Aladdin and Jasmine Take a Magic Carpet Ride in Hercules
Since both “Aladdin” and “Hercules” were written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, fans theorized that the two worlds were connected. During this scene, fans thought maybe the shooting star is actually Aladdin and Jasmine’s magic carpet ride. But actually, it’s just Pegasus.
Myth #9 – “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” Was The First Disney Animated Movie
The film premiered in 1937 and set in motion all the other Disney animated classics, but it wasn’t the first Disney movie. Apparently, “The Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons” was technically the first Disney movie. It’s 41 minutes long and meant to create buzz for the later “Snow White.”
Myth #10 – Food Containing Wine or Liquor Burns Off Alcohol When Cooked
A common misconception is that cooking burns off all alcohol. According to the USDA, 75% of alcohol remains after flambeing, 25% after one hour of baking or simmering, and 10% after two hours of baking or simmering.
Myth #11 – Twinkies Have a Shelf Life of Decades
Twinkies only really have a shelf life of approximately 45 days (25 with the original recipe), which is far shorter than the common myth that they are edible for decades.
Myth #12 – Microwaves Cause Cancer
Microwave ovens do not cause cancer. The radiation produced by a microwave is non-ionizing and therefore does not have cancer risks associated with it. Ionizing radiation, like X-Rays, however, do have cancer risks.
Myth #13 – Strangers Will Poison Your Halloween Candy
Poisoned candy myths have been thoroughly debunked. No cases of strangers killing or permanently injuring children this way have been proven. Anxieties about poisoned candy may have originated from a 1974 murder involving a father giving his own son cyanide-laced candy for Halloween.
Myth #14 – “Edelweiss” is the National Anthem of Austria
“Eidelweiss” was written specifically for the film “The Sound of Music,” but the true national anthem of Austria is “Land der Berge, Land am Strome,” (Land of the Mountains, Land of the River).
Myth #15 – Fortune Cookies are Chinese
Fortune cookies are actually originally from Japan, and rarely ever eaten in China. The Japanese introduced them to the US even though they are now associated with Chinese food and culture.
Myth #16 – It’s Illegal to Yell “Fire” In a Crowded Theater
There is no law against yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. The idea comes from a court decision regarding the distribution of pamphlets in opposition to the draft during WWI.
Myth #17 – You Should Never Eat Right Before Swimming
Eating shortly before swimming doesn’t increase the risk of experiencing muscle cramps. There is, however, a correlation between alcohol and drowning.
Myth #18 – Your Left and Right Brain Separate Your Personality Traits
Mental abilities are not separated absolutely by the left and ride sides of the brain. In fact, if one hemisphere is damaged at an early age, the other one can take over.
Myth #19 – You Need 8 Glasses of Water a Day
Eight glasses of water a day aren’t always needed. In reality, it varies by weight, activity level, clothing, heat, and humidity. Plus, water can also be found in most foods, as well.
Myth #20 – It Takes Years For You To Digest Gum
False! Gum is nearly indigestible and simply passes through the digestive tract without causing any harm. That piece of gum you swallowed when you were seven is not still floating around in there, nor is it growing a gum tree.
Myth #21 – Spinning Toilet Water
Water does not spin clockwise or counter-clockwise in different hemispheres. Sadly, the Coriolis effect doesn’t affect your toilet.
Myth #22 – Medieval Europeans Believed The Earth Was Flat
Medieval Europeans did not believe the Earth was flat. Since the ancient Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato, belief in a spherical Earth was universal among intellectuals.
Myth #23 – You Can’t Touch Baby Birds
It’s okay to touch baby birds, despite what you’ve been told as a kid. Birds have a limited sense of smell and will not abandon their mothers if they smell a human on them. Just return them to their nest and they should be good to go.
Myth #24 – Dropping a Penny From the Empire State Building is Deadly
Terminal velocity of a penny is 30-50 mph, which isn’t fast enough to kill a person. It would definitely hurt, though.
Myth #25 – Humans Only Have 5 Senses
Humans actually have close to 20 senses, including balance, pain, movement, hunger, thirst, etc. The more you know!
Myth #26 – Glass is a Liquid
Glass is actually an amorphous solid. Boom!
Myth #27 – Shaving Thickens Hair
Regrown hair isn’t thicker, coarser, or darker, it just appears so because it has a rough edge and is no longer tapered.
Myth #28 – Caffeine Dehydrates You
Not exactly–the diuretic effect of caffeine is offset by the amount of water in the caffeinated drink.
Myth #29 – Salty Water Boils Quicker
Adding salt to boiling water doesn’t make any difference at all. Huge, sea-level amounts of salt would, though. What it does, however, is adds flavor to pasta, for example.
Myth #30 – Goldfish Have a 3 Second Memory
Believe it or not, goldfish have a memory span of 3 months, which is up there with many other small pets.
Myth #31 – Bats Are Blind
Bats can not only see, but they also use echolocation. Bats being nocturnal doesn’t hinder them, all of their senses are incredibly alert.
Myth #32 – Bananas Grow On Trees
Bananas do not grow on trees, but massive herbs that resemble trees.
Myth #33 – Iron Maidens Were Real Torture Devices
Iron Maidens were never actually used to torture people in the Middle Ages. They were only created to be sensations for circuses.
Myth #34 – The Great Wall of China Can Be Seen From Space
You cannot see any notable landmarks with the naked eye from space.
Myth #35 – Sugar Causes Hyperactivity
Studies have disproved this theory as ADHD and other related behaviors still occur in children with sugar-free diets.
Myth #36 – You Only Get One Phone Call in Jail
It’s one of the biggest staples in Hollywood that a person who has been arrested only gets one phone. The problem is that this idea is a complete farce. Phone calls are a privilege in prison in real life and can be given or taken away at any time.
Myth #37 – A Defibrillator Will Restart A Person’s Heart
In films, the electric shock of the paddles is always shown to bring a person back to life, however, that’s the exact opposite of a defibrillator’s job. A defibrillator stops the heart after it suffers irregular rhythms, allowing doctors to perform CPR to get it working correctly again.
Myth #38 – It Only Takes Seconds to Knock Someone Out With Chloroform
The chloroform rag is any villain’s go-to weapon if they need to subdue someone instantly. Unless you have the percentage of drug exactly right, too much could be harmful and too much could be powerless. It is not an instantaneous process.
Myth #39 – You Have To Wait 24 Hours to Report Someone Missing
Any time a person goes missing in a movie, the concerned family is told they must wait 24 hours before they can file a report. In real life, this is dangerous and is not advised by the police, as the first 48 hours are crucial.
Myth #40 – You Can Pull the Pin Out of a Grenade With Your Teeth
If you were to pull the pin from a grenade with your teeth, the only thing getting pulled is your teeth. The pin is extremely difficult to dislodge in order to prevent accidental explosions.
Myth #41 – Silencers Make Gunshots Silent
Silencers will not completely silence a gunshot. Even with a silencer, a real-life gunshot will be around 100 decibels, which is still quite loud.
Myth #42 – Laser Guns Create a Brilliant Color Show
Franchises such as Star Wars and Star Trek have shown millions of people what it would be like to shoot laser guns in space. However, if this were real life, you wouldn’t actually see anything. Light needs something to bounce off of, and in the vacuum of space, there is no buffer, so lasers in real-life are invisible.
Myth #43 – It’s Impossible to Calmly Walk Away From an Explosion
While the initial inferno might not cause any harm to a person in real life, the shockwave after would. It would compress all of the air in your body as it spread out from the point of impact and then immediately cause it to expand massively as a result of the vacuum left behind.
Myth #44 – Truth Serum Can Make People Reveal Their Secrets
Mixtures known as truth serums do exist in some form, but the simple answer as to why they aren’t widely used is that they don’t work. Most of the real-life substances are sedatives, which simply slow down a person’s mental processes and make it harder to lie.
Myth #45 – CPR Is A Foolproof Method of Reviving Anyone
Movies make CPR seem like the most reliable method of reviving a person that you could possibly try. In reality, CPR typically only has around a 10% success rate. The purpose is not to bring a person back to life, but to help blood flow through the body and help keep them alive.
Myth #46 – Images Can Be Enhanced and Enhanced Into Perfect Quality
One of the biggest myths about police and forensic experts in movies is their ability to enhance images from blurry pictures. But in real life, there’s just no way to clean up a low-resolution image that much.
Myth #47 – Hackers Are Soley Out To Commit Crimes
If you’ve seen movies like “Die Hard” then you’d assume that anyone who breaks into a security system is an evil genius. The truth is actually completely the opposite. Hackers are usually appointed by a company to search through their computer firewalls for any possible breaches and then help them fix it and make their systems safer.
Myth #48 – When Shot, People Fly Across The Room
Almost anytime a person is shot in movies or TV, they fly across the room as if they’ve been hit by an explosion. Even though it might look cool, it’s not going to happen in real life. Simple physics states that the person firing the gun should experience exactly the same force.
Myth #49 – Tracing a Phone Call Takes Time
We’ve all seen it: The good guys hold the bad guy on the phone for a couple of minutes so they have time to trace the call before he hangs up. In reality, police know where you are as soon as the call starts whether on a landline or cell phone.
Myth #50 – Police Have to Read You Your Rights
In reality, the officer just has to give you your rights when you’re officially in custody, which happens during interrogation when there is an official record of it.
Myth #51 – Dinosaurs Can Be Cloned From DNA
This is what all of the “Jurassic Park” franchise is based on, and it’s ALL a lie. While it seems plausible, DNA just won’t survive that long. The oldest DNA ever found viable was 1 million years old, which is nothing on a dinosaur’s 65 million time stamp.
Myth #52 – War Veterans with PTSD Will Eventually Snap
While Veterans have seen some unspeakable things, and unfortunately do suffer from PTSD as a result, it’s a far stretch to consider them ticking time bombs. In fact, that would only exacerbate their sense of “being out of place.” In films, any loud sudden noise is enough to send the person back onto the battlefield. But really, the percentage of Veterans who experience forms of violent PTSD is very slim. The more common problems are related to sleep or guilt.
Myth #53 – The Title of “The Madness of King George” Was Changed for Americans
It’s not true that “The Madness of George III” was changed so Americans wouldn’t have to worry about the traditions of the British monarchy or wonder if they’d missed two parts of a three-part series. Director Nicholas Hytner said the change was about getting the word “King” out of the title rather than explicitly taking the number “III” out.
Myth # 54 – You Can See a Dead Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz
The oldest movie myth of them all is the “shadow of the depressed munchkin hanging from a tree.” This scene, however, was filmed before the munchkins were even hired. It’s most likely just a bird… or is that just what they want you to think?
Myth #55 – There’s a Ghost Visible in “Three Men And A Baby”
For whatever reason, people immediately assumed that this cardboard cutout of Ted Danson’s actor character was actually the ghost of a small dead boy, but it’s just a promotional piece that was part of the original cut of the film.
Myth #56 – People Who Saw The First Moving Picture of a Train Ran From the Theater Screaming
Remember the first time you saw a 3D movie? You probably said, “this is cool!” Right? The same thing happened in Paris in 1895 when audiences watched the first grainy, shaky footage of “L’Arrivee d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat,” but bad history and good PR have turned normal reactions into shouting, screaming, and running.
Myth #57 – The Gunshot That Killed Brandon Lee is in “The Crow”
Possibly the most unbelievable movie myths, yet if you were a gothy type back in the ’90s then it was a stone-cold fact that “The Crow” contained the actual moment of Brandon Lee’s death when he misfired a prop gun. However, it’s not true.
Myth #58 – Walt Disney’s Head is Cryogenically Frozen Under Disneyland
While Walt Disney did, apparently, express an interest in cryogenic freezing but he forgot to tell his family, who assumed that he’d rather be cremated and left in an urn in the middle of an LA cemetery.
Myth #59 – Sonar Looks Like an Atari Game
If there’s a submarine in a movie, chances are someone will detect something using sonar. And it always looks the same – a circular screen with a dial going clockwise and detecting blips. Simply, an Atari game.
Myth #60 – Microwaves Cause Cancer
Microwave ovens do not cause cancer. The radiation produced by a microwave is non-ionizing and therefore does not have cancer risks associated with it. Ionizing radiation, like X-Rays, however, do have cancer risks.