6 absurdities we feared because of the movies

Films brainwash people. They convince children that quicksand pits await around every corner and that vats of toxic waste can dissolve the human body. But is quicksand real? If so, is it worth worrying about at all? Like man-eating piranhas, killer dolls, quicksand is one of the many ridiculous things you may have feared because you saw it in the movies.

Most viewers understand that what they see in the film is a form of heightened reality; viewers know that what they are seeing is not real. But when an image like quicksand is repeated over and over in the movies, it's hard not to worry that these things are real. Some of these movie fears may actually come true, but usually not the way you see it on screen.

6 PHOTOS

1. Quicksand.

The threat of quicksand that slowly sinks into sandy sediment filling your lungs is inextricably linked to our DNA. At least it seems so. Quicksand has been around since at least the 1950s when adventure stories took place in mysterious jungles and deserts. As these stories went out of style, the quicksand stories continued to evolve thanks to Disney. Cartoons such as Aladdin and DuckTales (to name a few) have plots in which someone plunges into quicksand. This is similar to how the animators warned children that these dangerous craters could be around every corner. "The Princess Bride" presented the audience with a variation of quicksand with "lightning sand" that absorbs anyone within its range with astonishing speed. Think about it: How does quicksand work at all? Wet sand has no suction effect, so there should be something like a bottomless pit under the sand that you can probably fall into. Could there be one quicksand pit? Of course. But it's ridiculous to think that the planet is teeming with quicksand that is waiting to swallow everyone.

2. Elevators that suddenly fall.

What goes up must come down. In the case of an elevator, this often happens when the cables break and someone is doomed to a painful death. Or at least this is what happens in movies like Gremlins 2 and more importantly Speed, where a terrorist adjusts the cables to break, knocking the elevator and its passengers up several floors before the emergency brakes will catch him. Moments after the hostages have been evacuated, the elevator falls to the ground. Elevator cables have broken in the past, but not with the regularity that viewers would believe. Even if the elevator fails, there are a number of backup safety procedures to ensure that people in the elevator are not injured.

3. Bermuda Triangle.

You are not alone if you experienced genuine stress from the Bermuda Triangle in your youth. Stories of disappeared boats lost time and eerie creatures have been a staple of this part of the North Atlantic for decades. This is all strange, but it is important to remember that the Bermuda Triangle is located off the coast of Florida and extends all the way to Puerto Rico. People literally live in the Bermuda Triangle and they don't get caught in the whirlpools.

4. Instant death from the bite of a black widow.

Spiders are bizarre - otherwise, no one argues. Movies like Arachnophobia - and countless films that use spiders as scare tactics - teach us that not only will spiders kill your life, but a single bite can turn you into a walking corpse. In fact, the kiss of a black widow will not kill you right away, but it will hurt. After that, go to the doctor and you will have a great history for the rest of your life.

5. Killer bees.

Are the bees real? Of course. They buzz around flowers and trees and, of course, sometimes sting someone, but they are hardly a scourge. If you grew up watching 1970s disaster or disaster movies like The Swarm, then you probably think that killer bee are a much bigger problem than they really are. The fear of dying from bees is not entirely unfounded, but it is ridiculous to think that there are bees hiding behind trees and street corners, waiting to chase anyone who approaches their precious honey.

6. Lava.

Lava. The floor is made of it, and the volcanoes are full of it - a red-hot substance that can minimize everything in its path. Viewers have seen the devastating image of lava in films like Earth Before Time, Spy Kids 3-D, and Dante's Peak, where the insides of a volcano overflow with a deadly heat. Each of these films shows a different nightmare scenario in which the lava destroys everything that comes in contact with it, but Dante's Peak really goes for it, destroying an entire city. It is definitely frustrating to think of lava destroying your home and loved ones, but that's not something most of the world's population needs to worry about.