The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Law of Physics in an Animated Universe- Over the Garden Wall

Over the Garden Wall is a 2D animated television miniseries which aired in 2014. It consists of 10 episodes (110 minutes in total), and follows the adventures of two half-brothers Greg and Wirt as they travel through an eerie forest to find their way back home. Throughout the majority of the miniseries, it seems like Greg and Wirt are in a fairy-tale like universe, with surreal qualities such as talking animals, witches, cursed oil and trees, beasts, etc. On the second to last episode, it is revealed that Greg and Wirt are actually from modern day society; on Halloween night they jumped over a large wall in a cemetery and fell into a lake, “transporting” them into this unknown realm. Despite all the quirkiness and outlandishness of this universe, part of it feels very real to the audience— this is due to overall having very similar physics to our own world. Although the physical laws in Over the Garden Wall mostly conform to Earth’s (such as believable gravity and somewhat realistic action-reaction forces), laws are pushed (through fantastical bizarre characters with improbable structures) to help construct a fantastical and disturbing narrative.

Overall, the feeling of gravity in Over the Garden Wall seems believable and realistic. For example, in the beginning of the series Greg and Wirt meet a strange Woodsman; he constantly carries a lantern with him, and he chops down trees then grinds them up for oil. The Woodsman warns the two boys about the evil “Beast” who lurks in the woods; suspicious of the Woodsman, Greg hits him in the head with a piece of wood. The Woodsman loses his balance, trips and falls over a log, hits his head on the floor and is consequently knocked unconscious. When he falls and knocks his head, the audience really feels his weight with his impact on the ground. On a similar note, in another episode, Wirt trips and falls over his own shoelace which causes him to knock over a man stuck in a gorilla suit. Wirt falling over the man and the man’s (who weighs more than Wirt) thud on the ground is clear and distinct to the audience. 

Also, in the beginning of the series, Greg and Wirt visit the town of Pottsfield, where all the townsfolk have pumpkin heads. They disrupt the town’s activities and Enoch, the leader of Pottsfield, subjects Greg and Wirt to a few hours of manual labor. While doing these tasks, Greg and Wirt have balls and chains strapped around their ankles. The leg with the ball and chain drags behind the free leg, visibly showing the added weight. Wirt tries to jump and is jolted back down to the ground due to the heaviness of the ball and chain. 

As mentioned earlier, when Greg and Wirt jump off the high cemetery wall, there is a great amount of impact as they hit the ground, and they try to catch themselves and keep their balance. As they fall into the “magical” lake, their clothes drag behind them as they quickly sink deeper and deeper. The gravity and the weight of the characters in Over the Garden Wall, for the most part, feel believable and pertain to the physical laws of our own world.

The action and reaction in the Over the Garden Wall universe is also close to reality, but is slightly exaggerated to dramatize certain points within the story. As a part of Newton’s third law, action and reaction means that when a force is applied to an object, an equal force is also applied in the opposite direction. In the middle of the story, Greg and Wirt are visiting the mansion of a wealthy older gentleman (they initially want to steal money from him to pay for the ferry to reach Adelaide, but they end up helping him solve a mysterious problem). Greg and the gentleman are walking through his glass house full of plants, and randomly a peacock breaks through one of the windows and attacks the gentleman. Peacocks only weigh around 8-13 pounds, so the peacock would have to apply a lot of force to break through one of the windows; this also depends on the type of glass used in the house and its fragility. It potentially could happen in our own world, but even so, the peacock would have been seriously injured and have cuts/glass shards; comparatively, the peacock in Over the Garden Wall was unscathed after this collision. In the same mansion, Wirt and Beatrice look around for some money they can steal and Wirt accidentally knocks over an ornate vase. He catches himself and places it back on its pedestal, but then it immediately falls over and shatters. There is a chance that a gust of air or some slight movement from either Wirt or Beatrice could have knocked over the vase, but this swift and sudden shattering of the vase from a seemingly unknown force (or no force at all) helps create comedic timing. The audience is caught by surprise, especially since it seems like Wirt was safe after he caught the vase the first time.

Another exaggeration occurs later on in the series when Greg and Wirt assume that the Woodsman attacked their friend Beatrice. Wirt knocks over the Woodsman’s lantern and it falls onto the trunk of an Edelwood tree, immediately engulfing the whole tree in flames. Trees are very flammable and fires can spread quickly, but it only took one frame for the whole fire to spread; realistically it would take longer for the fire to travel up. The somewhat exaggerated action and reaction forces within the realm keep the audience grounded, but also draw attention to certain parts of the narrative and keep it enticing. 

There are also many aspects of this universe that completely bend and twist what is physically possible, such as its supernatural creatures. For example, Enoch the pumpkin king from Pottsfield. He is an incredibly large being (probably around 30-50 feet tall); he consists of floating limbs and does not really have any base support for his large height, so he has a very improbably structure and balance. Also, the whole city of Pottsfield is made up of sentient skeletons (who arise from their graves) wearing cornstalk as clothing and jack-o-lanterns as heads. 

Later on in the series, Greg and Wirt meet a young woman named Lorna. She is timid, sickly, imprisoned, and forced to due chores by her creepy Auntie Whispers. Greg and Wirt feel bad and try to set Lorna free, but they discover that she is possessed by an evil spirit and Auntie Whispers is actually trying to keep her at bay and protect others from her. Lorna transforms into a wicked and cannibalistic demon who floats, with no logical explanation for how she can stay in the air. She flies rapidly and tries to kill Greg and Wirt (but they end up removing the curse from Lorna and saving her). 

Throughout the majority of Greg and Wirt’s journey, they try to find Adelaide the Witch who supposedly can lead them back to their home. Once they find Adelaide, they discover she is actually looking for child servants and she attempts to kidnap them; their friend Beatrice opens up the curtains in her house, and the night air that comes through the window ends up melting the witch and she turns into black smoke (of course, physically impossible). 

The overarching antagonist of this story is “The Beast”, who kidnaps and kills the lost children of this realm. The Beast uses their bodies to grow the Edelwood trees of his forest, and he tricks the Woodsman to use the oil from the trees to constantly keep the lantern lit (the lantern being the life source for the Beast). The Beast appears as a floating mass of darkness with an unclear and improbable structure and balance; however, one frame shows the Beast in the light, and it appears that it is made out of corpse-like bark. All of these disturbing supernatural beings, with contorted bodies and who defy physical laws, help build tension for the audience, world-build, and move the narrative along in a compelling way.

In conclusion, physical laws in Over the Garden Wall deviate only a little bit from reality- except for its supernatural beings, which break all physical laws and logic. Because much of this realm’s physics still feels believable, the magical and creepy aspects that do exist are intensified. This balance of realistic and unrealistic helps construct a fairytale like story with eccentric characters and unique adventures, yet the audience can still easily relate to the characters and their suspension of disbelief is not broken. Although the audience is watching an animated cartoon of a fictional land, the connections between the characters and all the ups and downs that they go through feel very real.

Possessed Lorna

The Woodsman and the Beast

Enoch the pumpkin king

Note: Deviation from Outline

My third hypothesis in my outline was not physics-related enough, so I switched it to focus on action and reaction forces; I also made it my second hypothesis instead of my third to create a better flow for the paper.