Fractal Art and Geometry in Movies and Pop Culture

Fractal art fills one blockbuster movie after another and have completely invaded every corner of pop culture. In the top frame, Ego the Living Planet walks across a Pythagoras Tree fractal amid a planet of his own design (and his own being). In the bottom-left, you can see an even more elaborate Pythagoras Tree, this one designed by the legendary Chiari Biancheri. In the bottom-right, you see an Apollonian Gasket, one of the earliest fractals, and it was used to form the entire garden in the scene above.

Here is a better view of Ego walking across the Pythagoras Tree, then below is one of the best examples of this fractal, the design named "Growth" by fractalist Nicholas Rougeux.

From the core to the surface, from the ferns to the mountains, the entire planet was designed and rendered using fractal geometry.

Fractals on Rewind

2002: Most who saw "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" would naturally assume the opening shot was from New Zealand. In fact, like much of the trilogy, it was entirely rendered with fractals.

1987: Advertisement for IBM created with fractals by Dr. Richard Voss. On that note, I highly suggest IBM's article on a short history of fractal geometry.

1982: While it is rather comical in reflection, the fractal animation depicting the planet Genesis in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" was groundbreaking at the time.

The Good Mister Doctor

Mentioning the movie "Doctor Strange" in reference to fractals is like cheating, as they were used to bend the world, to create the illusion of the mirror realm, as well as for rendering the dark energy like in the frame above.

I'll limit myself to this single clip, as otherwise I could fill a book with them.

Seen Yet Unseen

Most of the time, especially in modern cinema, you don't even notice how many fractals are used in the worlds they create. They're used to texture the backgrounds and to add patterns to the walls. They formed the sidereal landscape of Mars where no crew could film it for "The Martian", as well as a third of the desert scenery throughout the movie "Mad Max". The better they're done, the less you notice.

Shouting out so much thanks to both Jonathan Yudis and Timothy Johnson for donating to bring us a third of the way to our first milestone. You're the best!

There are NINE days left and two thirds of the way to go to get us to the first and most important milestone for The Fractal Museum. Please help us push this forward and donate today:

The Fractal Museum and the Heroes of the Future
https://fundly.com/the-fractal-museum-and-the-heroes-of-the-future