Planning ｜ What is Doctor Strange Spider-Man’s ＂Battle of Electric Power＂ playing？
Special feature of 1905 film network Doctor Strange’s cross-border "invention madman" Edison, General zod became "business tycoon" westinghouse.The X-Men beast turned into Tesla, an "electric genius", and Spider-Man acted as Insull, a "scientific rookie".
Such a cross-dimensional combination can only be seen in new films.
"Battle of Electricity" poster
The film is a collection of four famous actors, which takes us back to the era of the second industrial revolution more than 100 years ago and witnesses the "power war" that changed the course of human history.
In the movie, this war between DC and AC is not only a game between technology and commerce, but also a torture of morality and humanity.
These familiar names, such as Edison, Tesla and westinghouse, have also changed from words with no temperature in books and trademarks to vivid, three-dimensional and flesh-and-blood characters.
Is the power war in history as ups and downs as in the movie, and are the lives and past of the three talented giants more legendary than in the movie?
01 What’s the battle for electricity?
In the 1970s and 1980s, after Edison invented the electric light with extensive use value, the next step was how to push the electric light to the market and enter every household in the United States.
Edison chose DC power distribution system, while his rivals westinghouse and Tesla have been working on AC power. In this way, the "war" between DC and AC is imminent.
The advantages and disadvantages of both are obvious. Direct current can’t be transmitted over a long distance. It requires a power station within every square mile, which is only suitable for crowded towns. In addition, raising or lowering the DC voltage also requires complex circuits.Alternating current can not only be transmitted over a long distance, but also can be boosted and stepped down conveniently through a transformer, so as to transmit electric energy more effectively and at a lower cost.
In the process of the two sides attacking the city, the advantages of alternating current in long-distance transmission and cost are becoming more and more obvious.
In 1893, the Chicago World Expo chose Westinghouse Electric of westinghouse to supply power for the exhibition.
At the opening ceremony, Tesla held a wire in one hand and a light bulb in the other, lighting 90,000 light bulbs at the same time, which shocked the audience and shattered the rumors about the safety of alternating current.
The Battle of Electric Power (Part II) restored the splendor of the 1893 Chicago World Expo.
Three years later, Niagara Falls Power Company awarded the contract for the development and implementation of long-distance transmission technology to Westinghouse.
The "Niagara Hydropower Station" designed by Tesla and others has been in operation for more than a hundred years and has become a major scientific initiative of mankind.
The victories of Westinghouse Electric and Alternating Current in these two iconic "battles" made the victory of this electric power negative.
Niagara Falls
However, from a long-term point of view, at present, household appliances and IT products (such as mobile phones and computers) all use direct current.
In ultra-long distance high voltage transmission, DC has more advantages than AC. By the end of 2018, China had built 14 DC UHV lines.
Zhundong-southern Anhui UHV DC transmission project
In reality, the "electric power war" is not a winner or loser. The collision of several "super brain" in technology and commerce has jointly promoted the technological revolution of human society.
02 Edison who stepped off the "textbook"
"Steve Jobs Biography" wrote: "After a hundred years, we will definitely remember him. History will put him in the pantheon alongside Edison and Ford. "
Thomas Edison (historical data map)
This sentence reflects Edison’s position from the side. He is the "king of inventions" across the ages, with more than 1,500 invention patents, ranking ninth among the 100 people who have influenced the United States. Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, commented: "He is a great inventor and a benefactor of mankind."
However, "Battle of Electric Power" has to "invite Edison down from the altar", and it also shows us a king of invention who is more flesh and blood than the textbook.
Edison received only three months of formal education, and his educational level was not high. Although he had amazing creativity, he lacked mathematical knowledge and insight into complex theories. He is good at trial and error through a lot of experiments, but not at theoretical summary.
Tesla once commented on Edison: "His way is the most inefficient, just like looking for a needle in a haystack, all by luck. With a little theory and calculation, he can save 90% of his labor. "
This fundamental difference in concept is also an important reason why the two parted ways.
Edison was very good at self-marketing. Many of Edison’s inventions are the results of collective labor, but Edison’s name is often seen in the reports.
He built his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey into a "world invention factory", and he is the spokesman of the brand.
Edison’s company maintains an "arbitrary" production workshop mode, and Edison is in control of what technology and products are used.
As shown in the film, Edison in history was also a master of manipulating public opinion. He loves being interviewed and is good at using the media to build momentum for himself.
In order to attack his opponent, he personally compiled a 61-page booklet to tell the lethality of alternating current, and also planned many "death performances".
For example, in public, Edison electrocuted dogs, sheep, horses and other animals with alternating current, and even an elephant, and contacted the media for hype, creating a public opinion atmosphere in which alternating current was dangerous and deadly.
More controversially, Edison indirectly promoted the invention and use of the "electric chair" in order to further connect alternating current with "death".
Francis Kemler, a "wife killer", became the first prisoner to be executed by the electric chair. The whole process was cruel, and Kemler was electrified three times before he finally died. During the process, his body twitched violently and his muscles were burnt.
The death penalty, which should represent a more Gao Wenming degree, backfired, causing great controversy at that time. Since 1980s, the electric chair has been gradually replaced by poisonous needle injection.
No one is perfect, and Edison’s imperfection will not erase his contribution to the development of human science and technology. Let Edison go out of the plane of the textbook and become a living person, which is exactly what War of Electric Power is trying to do.
03 Tesla "Closest to God"
Although Edison’s direct opponent in The Battle of Electricity is westinghouse, his feud with another "genius", nikola tesla, is even more legendary.
Tesla is an immigrant of Serbian origin. He loved physics and technology since he was a child. He once regarded Edison as an idol and was even more proud of being able to enter Edison’s company.
Nikola tesla (historical data map)
In 1884, 28-year-old Tesla traveled across the ocean to new york, USA, with a letter of recommendation from his former employer to Edison, which wrote: "I know there are two great people, you (Edison) are one of them, and the other is this young man."
However, after really starting work, Tesla gradually discovered the huge differences between the two.
Edison promised that Tesla would get a $50,000 bonus after transforming the DC generator, but when Tesla asked for the cash, Edison replied coldly: "You don’t understand our American humor."
Tesla in the movie (nicholas hoult)
It can be said that both of them are incompatible in character and concept. Tesla is aloof and arrogant, pursuing fashion, and hates Edison’s untidiness.
Tesla pays attention to theory and thinks that Edison’s "trial and error" is a waste of time, while Edison believes in practice and in turn accuses Tesla of being an unrealistic "scientific poet".
More crucially, Tesla firmly believes that alternating current is the future and is obsessed with turning the alternating current generator in his mind into reality, while Edison is dismissive of it.
In less than a year, Tesla parted ways with Edison. After unemployment, Tesla once dug ditches for his livelihood and failed to start a business. Thanks to the support of westinghouse, his dream finally came true.
In addition to the AC system, Tesla has also done research in wireless communication, solar engines, radar systems, robots and other fields, and many discoveries and inventions have surpassed the scientific and technological eras at that time.
After Tesla’s death, the FBI confiscated all his design drawings and experimental works, and all kinds of rumors about his "super power" added mystery.
Nikola tesla (historical data map)
Among the three, Tesla seems to be the most "like" scientist. He not only has a superior IQ, but also has all kinds of anecdotes and quirks of Frankenstein.
He has obtained nearly a thousand patents in his life, but he has been living in poverty and in debt. He never married, and finally died alone in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel.
Tesla once said: "Electricity has injected the most precious things into my tired and weak body-the vitality of life and the vitality of spirit."
Nikola tesla (historical data map)
On July 1st, 2003, martin eberhard and Mark Tapenning named the company "Tesla Motors" to commemorate the idol nikola tesla, which also made the name deeply rooted in people’s hearts in another form.
04 Low-key founder of Westinghouse
Compared with Edison’s household name and Tesla’s legend, westinghouse is the most low-key one.
In 1869, westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse Electric Company) was formally established, and gradually recruited professionals to start the research on alternating current.
George Westinghouse (historical data map)
Westinghouse is more willing to be the manager behind the great inventions than the inventor who shows off the limelight. He is good at exerting personality charm and management talent, attracting talents from all walks of life and making the best use of them.
These "geniuses" include Tesla. Tesla called himself a "perfect cooperation" with westinghouse, because he was better than theory, while westinghouse knew how to put these crazy ideas and abstract theories into practice and turn them into products.
Stills of "Battle of Electricity"
Westinghouse and Edison are like two sides of a coin. The former never refuses to interview and hates taking pictures. Before his death, he destroyed all his personal documents, hoping that future generations would know himself through his inventions and deeds.
In 1911, the American Society of Electrical Engineers awarded westinghouse the highest honor. Interestingly, this medal was named after Edison.
Stills of "Battle of Electricity"
At the end of the film, at the Chicago World Expo, westinghouse and Edison, the old enemies, completed the "Meeting of the Century".
Edison recalled the excitement when he first experimented with a light bulb that could work continuously for 13.5 hours: it was not someone’s success, but a collective leap of human civilization.
Stills of "Battle of Electricity"
Just like the "Great Harmony in the World" written by calligraphers in the China booth beside them, this "war" is a cruel commercial competition, but the greatest creativity is constantly generate in the conflict. This is of more profound significance to this extremely divided society.
Finally, the director uses Tesla, played by Nizi, to tell the main idea of the film: "Rock will shatter, paper will be brittle, bones will turn into powder, and only those immaterial thoughts will run through ancient times and become eternal. Those are the treasures we should leave behind. It is also the power for human beings to move forward. "