Why 3-D Movies Suck

[BABY1]

TweetCare for a little crushed aspirin on your popcorn? Watching movies in 3-D may strain your eyes, give you headaches, and cause vision problems, finds a new study.

That’s a small price to pay to watch Rosie Huntington-Whitely’s lips pucker right out of the screen, you say? Then consider this: 3-D won’t boost your enjoyment of the flick or even increase your sense of “being there,” according to research from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

In the study, researchers surveyed more than 400 students after they’d viewed films in either 3-D or 2-D. The students chose from How to Train Your Dragon, Alice in Wonderland, and Clash of the Titans.

Watching a movie in 3-D didn’t lead to a greater emotional or visceral response among the students, explains L. Mark Carrier, Ph.D., the study’s main investigator. But it did triple their likelihood of suffering from headache, eyestrain, or other vision problems.

The students watching the 3-D versions also didn’t report enjoying the film more than those students watching the 2-D movies, explains Saira Rab, another of the study’s co-investigators.

OK, calm down movie buffs—we know what you’re thinking: What about Avatar!?

For those who aren’t film aficionados: Clash of the Titans is infamous for having been converted to 3-D at the last minute in an attempt to boost ticket sales. Movies like Avatar and Transformers 3, on the other hand, were shot with specially designed 3-D equipment. Some argue they are therefore superior to other 3-D films, and won’t cause the same types of vision or headache issues.

That’s baloney, says Michael Rosenberg, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University.

He says true 3-D—the type that occurs in the real world when you look at, say, the telephone on your desk—occurs because our eyes are separated, and so they focus on the same single image (the telephone) from different angles. In movies, filmmakers mimic this effect by projecting two slightly different images onto the screen. The 3-D glasses you wear in the theater allow each of your eyes to see one of the images clearly, and your brain puts them together to form one three-dimensional image.

But unless both of your eyes see with exactly the same strength and clarity, Rosenberg explains, you’re susceptible to headaches or vision problems due to “brain strain” caused by the movie-style 3-D.

“Most people have a slight eye imbalance,” Rosenberg says. “And when your brain is trying to process two images projected on a movie screen far away from your face, those imbalances lead to headaches and what people call ‘eye strain,’ which is really brain strain.”

Rosenberg says any 3-D technology that asks you to wear glasses—and so asks your brain to combine two separate images—is likely to cause headaches and vision issues for some people.

So if you’ve never been bothered by 3-D movies, and you really dig the special effects, go for it. Otherwise, save your extra $3 and opt for good ol’ 2-D. You look dorky in those glasses, anyway.

[O2BESOHUGE]

Tweet3D MOVIES ALWAYS MAKES MY EYES HURT

[6p6]

Tweetget headaches everytime...won't see them...unless its something like Avatar.

[Michelle Hayden]

TweetThe audio guy that put in my system said that there is not yet a decent flat screen that will give really good 3-D. They are good for 2-D where the forground and background, but not yet the 3-D.

[daved150]

Tweetwow..i love 3d movies...the ones shot for 2d and converted sucks (green lantern, pirates of caribean new one)) becouse i can tell the difference, but i still enjoy them....i just dont thinnk they are worth the money.....but i love 3d.
i also like that sony 3d tv.....seen it a best buy, with avatar on it, and thaught it was great.....a buddy got one and we went there to watch a movie....before the movie we was watching an old colleage footbal game and it was awsome....felt like i was in the endzone!! i dont get headaches or anything else. when we get our shyt back togehter i told the wife i'm buying one