Do You Even Know How to Use the Three Seashells

Demolition Man: How Do The Three Seashells Actually Work?

Demolition Man's future revealed that Three Seashells have replaced toilet paper. Here's how they are supposed to function in the bathroom.

It's the question that's haunted filmgoers since Demolition Man was released in 1993 - how exactly do the Three Seashells work? Sylvester Stallone had something of a career lull in the early 1990s, experiencing a string of failures that included Rocky V, Oscar, and the infamous Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. He managed to turn this around with the success of 1993's Cliffhanger and the futuristic action movie Demolition Man.

In Demolition Man Stallone plays John Spartan, a tough, rule-breaking cop who is framed for a crime and cryogenically frozen for 40 years. He's awakened in the year 2032 in San Angeles, which is a peaceful utopia where crime is virtually non-existent. That's until Sparton's former enemy Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes, Blade) escapes and wreaks havoc in a society ill-equipped to deal with him; Spartan is thawed out and tasked with taking him down. In addition to having all the action sequences and special effects of a typical blockbuster, Demolition Man also featured a surprisingly witty script and thoughtful ideas. The movie also saw Stallone poking fun at his own action hero persona.

While the movie isn't as popular as Rocky or Rambo, Demolition Man is still a well-regarded entry in Stallone's filmography. The film's utopian version of 2032 reveals a world where everybody gets along and war is a thing of the past, while substances like cigarettes and alcohol have been banned. Another curious change is the total removal of toilet paper, which has been replaced with the Three Seashells. Spartan understandably finds the concept utterly bemusing, which isn't helped by his new partner Huxley, played by Sandra Bullock (Bird Box), failing to explain how they work.

In the years since the film's release, many have speculated as to how the Three Seashells actually work in the world of Demolition Man. It's an interesting - if slightly gross - thought puzzle. Screenwriter Daniel Waters (Batman Returns) once explained how he conceived of the idea, feeling that bathrooms of the future would have some kind of unique features. He then called a writer friend for inspiration, who revealed he kept seashells in his bathroom as a decoration.

How they work was once revealed by Stallone in a 2006 interview, explaining that a writer told him '...you hold two seashells like chopsticks, pull gently and scrape what's left with the third.' It's hard to say if such a technique would actually work in reality, which is to say nothing of how the shells themselves would be cleaned after usage. On reflection, it's easy to see why Demolition Man didn't explain how they work - or even worse, showed how they function.

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About The Author

Padraig Cotter (3233 Articles Published)

It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he'd like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. He's super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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Do You Even Know How to Use the Three Seashells

Source: https://screenrant.com/three-seashells-demolition-man-function/

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