The 8-minute film that will ruin how you think about sitting down forever.
In this spoof of public-school educational films, young Mary Jane asks the question, "What is gravity?" After asking various (dysfunctional) family members without success, she then asks Dr. Waxman of the Karl LaFong Foundation for Gravitational Research (motto: "heads in the clouds and feet on the ground"), who explains that gravity is caused by a substance named GR12. Unfortunately, the world is running out of GR12. The cartoon character Jiminy Gravity then explains (in song) how we can conserve gravity with such practices as sitting on the floor and carrying helium balloons.
Writing
Karl LaFong Foundation is peak made-up-nonsense energy.
Practical Effects
Perfectly cursed 1976 educational-film aesthetic.
Sound
Jiminy Gravity's song will haunt your dreams (gently).
Director
Michael Nankin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This short emerged from the same 1970s absurdist comedy scene that produced The Kentucky Fried Movie.
Directors Nankin and Wechter were USC film students who made this for $2,000; it became a midnight movie staple.
US
