Are 3D Glasses a Hazard to Your Health?
With 32 movies and counting in Hollywood's slate of upcoming 3D releases, the question is no longer, "is 3D here to stay?" The short lived fad of in-your-face gimmicks that defined the life and death of 3D in the 50's and 80's are behind us for the most part. James Cameron's Avatar wasn't the first to use 3D simply as a way of adding depth. Animated features like Coraline and Up showcased the the great immersive qualities 3D can offer. But Cameron perfected the technology, and proved once and for all -- to the tune of over 2 billion worldwide -- that 3D is a profitable investment for a studio. Thus, the recent studio scramble to get 3D movies into the market place, to the point that films like Clash of The Titans is being hastily converted entirely into 3D -- which Cameron has spoken out against. While television manufacturers and stations are preparing to roll out a fleet of 3D TV's and programing.
So what on earth could stand in the way of such a viable new market? Headaches, blurred vision and disease, that's what! The University of California Berkeley conducted a study which found that 3-D movies can cause eyestrain along with headaches. We can all probably attest to some discomfort from 3D -- I found the IMAX 3D version of Avatar to be the most comfortable of all my 3D viewings. So what it it about 3D that could cause this? The inherent properties of 3D glasses "fooling" our eyes doesn't allow our eyes to "follow the rules," as they are focusing on things both far and near at the same time, which in turn can cause headaches and blurred vision for moviegoers.
Professor Martin Banks explained to VOA Health:
You're taking that normal relationship which has been coupled in the brain for years and you're changing it. And what we showed is that can cause fatigue.
This effects are more harmful to children as well, because younger viewers are far more susceptible to the ill effects of 3-D:
When you hit your 50s and 60s, we think that concern is going to be reduced...So that is probably more problematic for young adults, teenagers, et cetera.
So if you're willing to pop a couple Excedrin and drop some Visine on those strained eyes, for the sake of your movie experience, you might want to consider this. The health ministry of Italy confiscated around 7,000 sets of 3D glasses from Italian cinemas last week.
Italian government officials said, "the glasses pose hygiene problems if they are not properly cleaned between screenings, and that the confiscated glasses did not display tags proving they would not cause short-term vision problems to users." So blurry vision is one thing, but one man eye juice isn't good for the guy after him. I'm not too concerned about this, as all the 3D screenings I've been here in the States, they give us brand new glasses in a sealed package, then have us recycle or keep the glasses afterwards.
The confiscated glassed have had little effect on the success of Avatar in Italy, where it remains the top-grossing film in the country.
How well do you think these future releases will fare? There isn't a chance they will do as well as Avatar, though the way studios are acting, it doesn't look like they think that.
Upcoming 3D Releases (via: i09)
2010:
Clash of the Titans
Alice In Wonderland
Despicable Me
Piranha 3D (may not be in 3D even though 3D is in the name)
How To Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3
Shrek Forever After
Hubble 3-D
Cats Vs. Dogs 2
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Tron Legacy
The Gate
The Hole
Tangled (formerly Rapunzel)
Guardians of the Ga'hoole
2011:
Priest
Cowboys and Aliens
Foundation
Zombieland 2
Transformers 3
Underworld 4
Erector Set Film
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil
Journey to the Center of the Earth 2
Flanimals
Tim Burton's Frankenweenie
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
2012:
Spiderman
Avatar 2
The Smurfs 3D
Unconfirmed 3D Possibilities:
Captain America
Green Lantern