Recent replies to "Favourite representation of science/scientists on feature film?"

Reply from Ben Cottam

Ben Cottam — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:27:23 -0000

I saw The Andromeda Strain recently – somehow makes microscopes very cool and slightly scary! Really interesting and exciting film though and lots of (reasonably) accurate science (it is about alien matter though…). It’s nice because the science is the focus and not just a side story.

Pi is a good shout too :-)

Can’t believe no-one mentioned Flubber! Ahem…

Reply from Jennifer Rohn

Jennifer Rohn — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:44:51 -0000

We’re making a rather lazy effort to keep track of films on the Lab Lit List, but as novels are the main focus, we’ve missed a few. Thanks for some new ideas – and you can check out the List for a few others not mentioned here, keeping in mind that we don’t track SF (ruling out Doc, alas).

Reply from Eva Amsen

Eva Amsen — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:58:28 -0000

I’m rather partial to a particular scene: Robin Williams as Dr. Sayer in Awakenings (of course, based on Oliver Sacks’ book, so he’s actually Sacks there) in the scene where he talks (quite excitedly) about years of research he did on worms, but in the end nothing worked…

Depressing, maybe, but it’s kind of realistic.

Reply from Anshu Bhardwaj

Anshu Bhardwaj — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:56:46 -0000

Thanks for the recommending Dr. Strangelove and Brainstorm. I would like to list Ek Doctor Ki Maut meaning “Death of a Doctor” in the same series.

Reply from Maxine Clarke

Maxine Clarke — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:05:03 -0000

And talking of Pi, is this a sad story or what—my (non-scientist) sister gave my (very much a) scientist husband a DVD of Pi for Christmas. Of course, said scientist is always far too busy working, modelling, writing papers, etc, to actually watch it.

Reply from Maxine Clarke

Maxine Clarke — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:03:17 -0000

Oh, and fewer “essential bodily fluids” ;-)

Reply from Maxine Clarke

Maxine Clarke — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:02:52 -0000

I too love Strangelove but I think Doc gives him a run for his money. Not as bleakly, but faster-paced.

Reply from Steven Ericsson-Zenith

Steven Ericsson-Zenith — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:51:21 -0000

Definitely Dr. Strangelove.

Reply from Betsy Pfister

Betsy Pfister — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:43:21 -0000

I vote for Dr. Strangelove!

Reply from Lee Turnpenny

Lee Turnpenny — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:13:19 -0000

If you’re talking science, then, being a Kubrick nut, I’d venture 2001: A Space Odyssey. Don’t know if that qualifies as a ‘representation’, but it is a great work of art, period.

As for scientists, that’s difficult, as they are often cardboard caricatures. However, I remember (although I haven’t seen it in years, so might revise my opinion if I saw it now) a film called Brainstorm (1983), which was, sadly, the last we saw of the radiant Natalie Wood. But, aside from her and the always excellent Christopher Walken, I remember being impressed by the dishevelled, chain-smoking, unhealthy scientist portrayed by Louise Fletcher (best known for her cruel Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). Not what you’d expect, which perhaps makes it more interesting. Oh, and Brainstorm was directed by Douglas Trumbull, who worked with Kubrick on 2001.

Reply from Scott Keir

Scott Keir — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:42:59 -0000

Pi is really good, in a sort-of, not terribly complementary but quite “accurate” of sorts way. The next screening I know of is in Edinburgh at the end of this month.

Reply from Martin Fenner

Martin Fenner — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:36:57 -0000

That’s funny, just this weekend I watched Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet. Excellent acting by Edward G. Robinson, and a fairly accurate depiction of an important part of the history of microbiology and immunology. The movie gets extra points for talking about syphilis in 1940 and for taking place in my hometown Berlin (Germany).

Reply from Maxine Clarke

Maxine Clarke — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:16:20 -0000

I have poor memory too, and I know I’ve answered this one somewhere recently….wasn’t it Scientific American or similar title, which ran a feature on the editors’ favourite scientists in the movies? They tried to keep sci-fi out of it but weren’t entirely successful I recall.

Anyway, my favourite is probably Jodie Foster in Contact—because she’s a competent woman and because she’s within the bounds of being a normal person—which is so unusual for a portrayal of a scientist in a movie.

However, I do have to admit a fondness for Doc in Back to the Future—that constant enthusiasm in the face of dismal repeated failure! But, he was definitely in the “mad scientist” cliche, as well.

Reply from Brian Clegg

Brian Clegg — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:20:05 -0000

I have a terrible memory for films, unless I have seen them several times (sadly there aren’t any scientists in Casablanca)... I vaguely seem to remember that Contact had some half decent scientist moments before getting tangled with the usual hokum.