Science in the Movies Syllabus, Spring 2021
Vince Resh, University of California, Berkeley
Science and scientists have been a topic in movies almost from the beginning of the “moving picture”. Movies cover real and imaginary scientists, scientific issues and controversies, nature documentaries, and science fiction. A premise of this course is that the public’s first perceptions of scientific developments often come from movies and can influence both the hopes and/or fears about the implications of scientific advances. This class will include discussions of various topics depicted in the movies (and selected film clips) that are assigned before each class. Cultural and scientific issues, both historical and current, surrounding the various topics covered are presented.
I will also cover the scientific background related to many of the issues raised in the assigned movies. For example, in lecture 2, I will present the current scientific understanding of why humans have different skin colors. In lecture 4, we’ll look at what logical approaches can be used to evaluate conflicting scientific claims about controversial issues.
Thank you for considering watching this class. I think the movies that we will discuss are among the best the depictions of science and scientific issues.
Class 1 Science vs. Science in the Movies Movie clips include: the best and worst depiction of scientific accuracy in popular movies; the Scientific Method as demonstrated by Monty Python
Monsters and Forbidden Knowledge Frankenstein (1931); movie clips include: best movie monsters; Bride of Frankenstein (1935); Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus; Mary Shelley’s Life; Young Frankenstein (1974); The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Class 2 Issues Facing Scientists: Credit for discoveries, risky research, sexism, racism, funding, and tyrants Contact (1997), Hidden Figures (2016), movie clips include: accuracy in Hidden Figures; lack of women in science Picture a Scientist (2020); The Race for the Double Helix (1987)
Class 3. Artificial Intelligence and Technology. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), movie clips include: Metropolis (1927), Transcendence (2014)
Class 4 Science, Controversies, and Anti-science: Animal rights, climate change, vaccinations, evolution, eugenics, nuclear power, and genetically modified foods; Vaxxed (2016), Creation (2009); movie clips include: Day After Tomorrow (2004); The China Syndrome (1979)
Class 5. Genetic Engineering. GATTACA (1997); movie clips include: Genetic engineering
Scientists in Nature Never Cry Wolf (1983), movie clips include: Jaws (1975); Gorillas in the Mist (1988); Dian Fossey and conservation
Class 6. Disease and Pandemics. Andromeda Strain (1971), Contagion (2011); movie clips include: The Spanish Influenza
Lecture 7.Atomic Energy. Fat Man and Little Boy (1989); movie clips include: Them! (1954); The Thing (1951, 1982)
Space The Martian (2015); movie clips include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Gravity (2013), October Sky (1999)
Lecture 8 Dystopia: Soylent Green (1973); movie clips include: Consequences of over- and under-population growth
Resource Shortages: Jean de Florette (1986); movie clips include information on water shortages and management
Additional Reading: DeSalle, Rob and David Lindley. 1997. The Science of Jurassic Park and the Lost World. BasicBooks
Hitchcock, Susan Tyler. 2007. Frankenstein: A Cultural History. W. W. Norton & Company
Ingram, David. Green Screen. 2000. Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema. University of Exeter Press
Kirby, David A. 2011. Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema. MIT press
Perkowitz, Sidney. 2007. Hollywood Science: Movies, Science & the End of the World. Columbia University Press
Skal, David J. 1993. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. W. W. Norton & Company
Tudor, Andrew. 1989. Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Basil Blackwell
Turney, Jon. 1998. Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science Genetics and Popular Culture. Yale University Press.