Article ID: CBB666167258

New Media Audiences’ Perceptions of Male and Female Scientists in Two Sci-Fi Movies (2015)

unapi

Simis, Molly J. (Author)
Yeo, Sara K. (Author)
Rose, Kathleen M. (Author)
Brossard, Dominique (Author)
Scheufele, Dietram A. (Author)
Xenos, Michael A. (Author)
Pope, Barbara Kline (Author)


Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
Volume: 35
Issue: 3-4
Pages: 93-103


Publication Date: 2015
Edition Details: Special Issue: Science and Science Fiction - Volume 1: Technologies and the Political
Language: English

Portrayals of female scientists in science fiction tend to be rare and often distorted. Our research investigates the social media discourse related to public perceptions of the portrayals of scientists in science fiction. We explore the following questions: How does audience discourse about a female scientist protagonist in a science fiction film compare with that about a male scientist in a comparable movie? And, what fraction of discourse in each case is dedicated to (a) comments on physical appearance and (b) incredulity that the character is a scientist? Using automated nonparametric sentiment analysis software that employs an intelligent algorithm informed by human coding, we analyze Twitter discourse around the release of two summer 2011 science fiction blockbusters with scientists in lead roles: Thor and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Although scholars have pointed to sexualized portrayals of women scientists in popular media, we found relatively few mentions of the attractiveness of an admittedly attractive female scientist. Additionally, audience discourse was not centered on the implausibility of the female scientist. This is particularly meaningful when combined with previous research showing that strong women in lead roles do not decrease profitability of science fiction films.

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Article Alexander I. Stingl; Sabrina M. Weiss (2015) Introduction: “Whose Science? Whose Fiction?” Uncanny Echoes of Belonging in Samosata. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society (pp. 59-66). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB666167258/

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Authors & Contributors
Houghton, Jemma
Babaii, Esmat
Asadnia, Fatemeh
Longworth-Dunbar, Alexander
Satish M. Srinivasan
Sugden, Nicola
Concepts
Motion pictures; cinema; movies
Science fiction
Women in science
Science and gender
Social media
Scientists
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Japan
Canada
Iran
Great Britain
Institutions
Twitter (firm)
Facebook (firm)
British Society for the History of Science
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