Construction And Dissemination Of The Image Of Scientists Hollywood Movies As A Case Study

The invention of the kinetoscope by Thomas Edison started unstoppable development of the movie industry.Ever since then,the film is deeply intertwined with the science theme.Hollywood,as a global commercial film industry giant,has offered scientists space on its screen.In the real world,outside the screen,scientists verify their assumptions and test them repeatedly;this is what promotes progress of theory and the creation of technological innovation.On the screen,scientists are resented in lifelike images.Whether the movie is biographically recording the activities of scientists in real history or depicting scientists in a sci-fiction movie,it communicates an image of science to the audience and an opinion about what science does and can do.Thereby it leaves a profound mark on the history of cultural exchanges and science communication.The dissertation takes the images of the scientists in Hollywood movies as its research topic.It looks at the changing perspectives of Hollywood scientist movies from a diachronic perspective,and analyzes the impact of the images of scientists on the public understanding of science from a synchronic perspective.The core aim of the dissertation is to investigate how Hollywood movies influence the role and position of the image of scientists in science communication,and how Hollywood movies deconstruct and reconstruct the images of the scientists and their scientific concepts through Hollywood unique media function,so as to achieve the output value of science with the purpose of spreading science and culture.Based on the background of film making,biographies of scientists,news reports and other literature materials,the present study makes an overall summary and case analysis of the images of major scientists in Hollywood movies.It examines the screen characters,and looks at several aspects of the relation between what is told in the movie and the truth in the historical literature about the scientists.The dissertation,combining the audience’s understanding of the movies and their understanding of scientists,tries to find out the specific historic and ideological reasons for a particular image or some kind of images of Hollywood movies in order to establish a more dialectical,more complete,and more historical understanding of the scientists in movies and in reality beyond the two-dimensional film screen.The dissertation is divided into six chapters.It starts with the theoretical overview of the whole study,and then carries out detailed case-study analysis combined with the theory and research methods,and finally comes to the conclusion with the practical significance of the theme.Chapter 1,as the introduction of the dissertation,introduces the research objects and problems to be solved,summarizes the status of the research on Hollywood scientists at home and abroad,and describes the research approach of the dissertation: identifies the key points,difficulties and innovations of its research,and puts forward the research ideas and methods to interpret film text.Chapter 2 is devoted to the general definition of the images of scientists in Hollywood movies.It defines the conception of the image of the scientists in movies,and analyse the factors which restrict how the images are presented.Through the study of 138 Hollywood movies on scientists,it summarize the strategies and means used in the construction of the image.Role players,as the interpreters and ultimate creators of the image,are discussed in this chapter,as also how they finally construct the roles.Chapter 3,by analyzing the typical cases of real scientists in Hollywood movies,divides the types of screen images of scientists presented in Hollywood movies.Real scientists as "stereotype" influenced the standard image a lot,and "sage scientists" once became the common face of scientists at a particular time in history.But gradually more and more scientists on the screen display more humanity,and more classic images which are close to real life have earned the recognition and acceptance from the audience.In the comparison between the screen image and the real-life image,Hollywoodized aspects of the movie character is revealed.The comparison of the screen image and the real-life original reveals the Hollywoodized aspects of the former.This chapter observes how the impact and effect of the movie presentation is conditioned by the changes made to the former due for example to the censuring-out of(what according to Hollywood norms are)morally questionable aspects of the latter.Chapter 4,as a continuation of the discussion of the images of the real scientists,is devoted to the image of Madame Curie in the Hollywood movie.With reference to relevant historical materials,it analyses the image of Madame Curie who brings a great challenge to the patriarchal scientific field and reveals the Hollywood movie image construction in terms of gender culture.This chapter also presents how Hedy Lamarr,as a Hollywood movie star and an inventor of technology,has been finally recognized as an inventor with referring to the biographical documentary.This chapter highlights the important influence and restriction of gender on the image construction of scientists in Hollywood movies.Chapter 5,from the cross-cultural perspective,explains the image of the evil eastern and western scientists presented in Hollywood movies,and analyses the characteristics of the crazy scientists in movies.It also compares the fictional scientists and real scientists and points out the reasons for this differences and their impacts.Chapter 6,as the conclusion of the dissertation,summarizes the types and characteristics of the image of scientists constructed in Hollywood movies,and discusses the basis of the study and its practical significance for the public understanding of science.The main research conclusions of the dissertation are as followed:1.No matter what type of Hollywood scientist move it is,the science in the movie is often or necessarily the product of the specific stage of science and technology and the development of scientific thought at that time.It is often questionable whether the movie disseminates scientific knowledge correctly,and whether its judgment of the scientist and of scientific knowledge is legitimate.2.The reactions of the audience to the image of the scientist that is presented influences the way the movie industry or at least the actual movie author presents science in the future.3.The correct introduction of movies of scientists in science popularization and education can strengthen the educational and communication effects.Therefore,when the movie reflects the group of scientists,it must integrate it into the social background and break through its stereotyped impression.Whether it presents positive or negative,real life or fictional scientists in the artistic level,it must ultimately obey the purpose of guiding the public to understand science well.