Science Goes To The Movies

We see many fantasies in popular culture in this day and age. Special effect technology is way ahead of real scientific technology. Movie producers can pretty much create whatever world and whatever laws of physics and biology they can imagine. Sometimes these are obvious fabrications. Sometimes they are subtle misrepresentations of the real world. This class explores the good and bad of science fiction and science fact.

In this class, you will watch short clips from movies that demonstrate Hollywood's idea of a scientific issue. Pre-session assignments will include guided, Internet research on the issues raised. The class sessions will involve a discussion of the science fact and science fiction and the value or damage that might come from the popular representation, to help you understand the filmmaker’s motives and what they are trying to say. Or maybe they just don’t know the science!

For example, the movie A Bug’s life includes some very subtle, perceptive scientific facts about ant biology. The Queen ant carries a pet aphid with her. In the real world, ants often care for aphids and even take them into their nests at night to protect them from nocturnal predators! This demonstrates that the creators of the film did their homework. But, as you probably remember, the ants are blue and purple and have only four legs! Definitely Disney! Why did they make these decisions? Is it okay to portray ants like this? This is the most obvious example of how the producers of this movie used science to develop their story and characters, but A Bug’s Life is loaded with great examples of science fiction vs. science fact and how we are expected to perceive it. Most of the examples from Disney are fairly harmless, but in some movies, misrepresentations of scientific theory can be used to manipulate our impressions of the world.

4 sessions

2 hours per session

$1000

Maximum 20 students