tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post7191589195803147820..comments2023-11-03T08:02:25.369-04:00Comments on AmericanScience: A Team Blog: Cinematic Cultural Cartography: Scientists in HollywoodDavid Roth Singermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12841041983824755867noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-3010524672484366502011-12-06T12:00:34.416-05:002011-12-06T12:00:34.416-05:00Ask and ye shall receive: David Kirby's new b...Ask and ye shall receive: David Kirby's new book _Labcoats in Hollywood_ (MIT Press, 2011), not only examines the phenomenon of scientists as cinematic consultants, but analyzes 2001! Looking forward to reading it and will post a review.Joannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08492807162664423251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-8305198475166741872011-10-18T15:43:33.894-04:002011-10-18T15:43:33.894-04:00I just read an announcement for the 2012 Oral Robe...I just read an announcement for the 2012 Oral Roberts University Science and Science Fiction Conference, 'When Worlds Collide: Science, Faith, and the Imagination.' According to the CFP, the meeting will explore the relationship between science and science fiction in a two-day interdisciplinary event. I thought I'd share the link here: <br />http://lxsrv7.oru.edu/~alang/sciencefiction/Joannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08492807162664423251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-55434423554939148452011-09-23T18:58:48.527-04:002011-09-23T18:58:48.527-04:00Right on, Joanna! This post characterizes the fas...Right on, Joanna! This post characterizes the fascinating link between the space community and Hollywood very well. Ever since Wernher von Braun's work with Walt Disney in the 1950s (and probably before), there have been fruitful collaborations between rocketeers and filmmakers, which have shaped both elite and popular expectations of what space travel can achieve. An American-Soviet joint space mission depicted in the 1964 novel, MAROONED, gave rise to a NASA-supported 1969 Hollywood film, and then, in a bizarre case of "life imitating art," an actual space mission flown in 1975. (The realistic cinematic depiction of astronauts and cosmonauts working together swayed both NASA and Soviet space authorities.) And there's no doubt that Kubrick's film was extremely influential to directors, audiences, and even NASA insiders. In Francis French's and Colin Burgess's IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON, Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders recounts finding the actual Moon to be something of a disappointment when he saw it up-close in December 1968. 2001, released months earlier, had conditioned him to expect dramatic, jagged peaks and valleys: a place worth visiting. The vision of the future the movie represents remains captivating even today.Matthew Herschnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-89549888347654240532011-09-23T15:43:53.823-04:002011-09-23T15:43:53.823-04:00Hi Will: thanks for catching that typo (I have cor...Hi Will: thanks for catching that typo (I have corrected it) -- as to my bold claim, you are right in terms of *financial* support. By 'support,' I was gesturing also to public interest. Either way, this makes the questions of what's at stake and where to look for the outcome of scientists involvement in fiction all the more complex and interesting. Thanks for reading.Joannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08492807162664423251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-13028791568336590772011-09-23T14:02:42.954-04:002011-09-23T14:02:42.954-04:00A quibble: 2001 came out in 1968, not 1964, so whi...A quibble: 2001 came out in 1968, not 1964, so while the film surely helped stoke already substantial <i>interest</i> in space travel, it would be difficult to discuss its effect on <i>support</i> for the Apollo program, especially since <a href="http://vintagespace.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/the-real-apollo-18/" rel="nofollow">the program's budget was cut</a> only a couple of years later.Will Thomashttp://etherwave.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1030220433025894048.post-80808896873434804202011-09-23T08:19:31.271-04:002011-09-23T08:19:31.271-04:00Great post, Joanna!
The book that immediately com...Great post, Joanna!<br /><br />The book that immediately comes to mind is Mitman's Reel Nature, which is about wildlife documentaries. This is not quite the same, since these are documentary rather than narrative fiction films, but I think the larger issues translate.<br /><br />One thing that's interesting here is the history of the genre itself. Early film evolved out of the public lecture, which was a hybrid form of entertainment and education that fit under the umbrella term "rational amusement" in the 19th century. Naturalists and explorers were particularly sought after lecturers. Usually, they would illustrate their tales of adventure and discovery with lantern slide illustrations. Once moving pictures came on the scene, these were quickly incorporated as well. <br /><br />Not all lecturers were naturalists, of course. But many of them were. What has always struck me is how permeable the boundary between natural history and entertainment was in 19th century america. There was remarkably little boundary work going on! All of that began to change in the 20th century though. <br /><br />Some of the early nature documentary films were made by naturalists (e.g. at the American Museum in New York) themselves. But by the 1930s the genre had evolved, and scientists played less and less of a role in their production. Part of the story here is technological. An important element was the development of sound film. As audiences began to expect spoken dialogues, films had to be shot in studios rather than on location. Scientists objected, because that entailed re-creating nature indoors, which they judged less authentic than capturing it on location. <br /><br />But another innovation was generic. Nature documentaries came to resemble narrative fiction ever more closely, in the sense that they featured a small number of main protagonists, dramatic tension, a denouement followed by its resolution, etc. Again, these demands on plot even in films about non-human animals alienated scientists, who again worried that the public were not being shown an authentic vision of the natural world.Lukashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05686764806913124506noreply@blogger.com