Rose, Christopher (Author)
While popular culture is generally acknowledged to have some impact on public opinion of science, attempts to evaluate this relationship have focused largely on how the public perceives science, rather than how well they understand it. Movies, television, and literature are usually argued to foster a negative perception of science and scientists among the viewing and reading public. What has been left out of this analysis, however, is the degree to which popular culture informs or misinforms the public about how science is done. Does the scientific accuracy and plausibility of a movie's story line really affect the public's understanding of the related science? As a science researcher, I am biased in my belief that realistic movies provide more engaging and thought-provoking entertainment than ones that violate obvious and well-understood scientific principles. However, whether realistic movies actually stimulate public inquiry into real science remains to be demonstrated. As a science teacher, I am also challenged to find ways to engage non-science students in learning about how and why science is done. To this end, I have developed a general science course called "Biology in the Movies, " which uses biology-based movies as a starting point for discussing the fundamental ideas, techniques, and societal implications of such topics as human cloning, genetic screening, human origins and evolution, artificial intelligence, and recombining animals. Teaching this course has thus prompted me to consider the qualities of movies that make them useful for furthering public understanding of science. In this essay, I attempt to explain those qualities and explore how movies that treat similar scientific ideas with differing degrees of realism can be used to teach science. I close with comments on how movies can be usefully critiqued for their scientific plausibility.
...MoreArticle Pansegrau, Petra; Weingart, Peter (2003) Perception and Representation of Science in Literature and Fiction-Film. Public Understanding of Science (p. 227).
Article
Abraham Gibson;
(2019)
Biology in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(/isis/citation/CBB687704019/)
Article
Hub Zwart;
(2015)
The Third Man: Comparative Analysis of a Science Autobiography and a Cinema Classic as Windows into Post-War Life Sciences Research.
(/isis/citation/CBB059880555/)
Thesis
Janzen, Bernd Hubert;
(2006)
Roddenberry's Faith in “Star Trek”: “Star Trek”'s Humanism as an American Apocalyptic Vision of the Future
(/isis/citation/CBB001561496/)
Book
Frayling, Christopher;
(2005)
Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientist and the Cinema
(/isis/citation/CBB000651474/)
Article
Bishop, Rebecca;
(2008)
“Several Exceptional Forms of Primates”: Simian Cinema
(/isis/citation/CBB001031083/)
Article
Pansegrau, Petra;
Weingart, Peter;
(2003)
Perception and Representation of Science in Literature and Fiction-Film
(/isis/citation/CBB000550265/)
Chapter
Koepnick, Lutz;
(2008)
Unvergesslich? Science-Fiction und die Zukunft der Erinnerung
(/isis/citation/CBB001024362/)
Article
Sharp, Patrick B.;
(2008)
Darwin's Soldiers: Gender, Evolution and Warfare in Them! and Forbidden Planet
(/isis/citation/CBB001032295/)
Article
Seed, David;
(2012)
Seven Days to Noon: Containing the Atomic Threat
(/isis/citation/CBB001251864/)
Article
Esmat Babaii;
Fatemeh Asadnia;
(2021)
“If a black hole is an oyster, then . . .”: The discoursal trends of popularization in science fiction movies
(/isis/citation/CBB340844947/)
Book
Natania Meeker;
Antónia Szabari;
(2019)
Radical Botany: Plants and Speculative Fiction
(/isis/citation/CBB038984582/)
Article
Molly J. Simis;
Sara K. Yeo;
Kathleen M. Rose;
Dominique Brossard;
Dietram A. Scheufele;
Michael A. Xenos;
Barbara Kline Pope;
(2015)
New Media Audiences’ Perceptions of Male and Female Scientists in Two Sci-Fi Movies
(/isis/citation/CBB666167258/)
Thesis
Turnock, Julie A.;
(2008)
Plastic Reality: Special Effects, Art and Technology in 1970s U.S. Filmmaking
(/isis/citation/CBB001561375/)
Article
Brodesco, Alberto;
(2011)
I've Got You under My Skin: Narratives of the Inner Body in Cinema and Television
(/isis/citation/CBB001024830/)
Book
Cowan, Douglas E.;
(2010)
Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television
(/isis/citation/CBB001031304/)
Book
Vieth, Errol;
(2001)
Screening Science: Contexts, Texts, and Science in Fifties Science Fiction Film
(/isis/citation/CBB000630369/)
Article
Frank, Scott;
(2003)
Reel Reality: Science Consultants in Hollywood
(/isis/citation/CBB000640419/)
Book
Hitchcock, Susan Tyler;
(2007)
Frankenstein: A Cultural History
(/isis/citation/CBB000774270/)
Article
Kirby, David;
(2003)
Scientists on the Set: Science Consultants and the Communication of Science in Visual Fiction
(/isis/citation/CBB000550269/)
Article
Balinisteanu, Tudor;
(2007)
The Cyborg Goddess: Social Myths of Women as Goddesses of Technologized Otherworlds
(/isis/citation/CBB001031054/)
Be the first to comment!