Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Crichton (1999) replied to complaints by scientists that the media,
particularly films, have shaped the bad public image of science by
presenting scientists in a very distorted and negative manner. Crichton,
who is currently working on another 'mad scientist' film,
1
turned the
tables and argued that, instead of the media misunderstanding science,
scientists actually misunderstand the media. Filmmakers do not reflect
society but present interesting and entertaining stories with extreme
figures, such that “All professions look bad in the movies”.
It is the task of the humanities, rather than of filmmakers, to reflect on
society, in which filmmakers are but influential actors. Obviously, there
is more to say about the literary clichés of scientists, about the historical
roots and literary sources that make filmmakers routinely employ such
figures as the 'mad scientist' (Tudor 1989, Skal 1998). As Brian Stable-
ford, in his entry on “Scientists” in the
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
,
laconically says: “the scientist had inherited the mantle (and the public
image) of the medieval alchemists, astrologers and sorcerers. This image
proved to be extraordinary persistent. It was still very prominent at the
end of the nineteenth century, and its vestiges remain even today”
(Stableford 1979, p. 533). Also, Rosalynn D. Haynes, in her study on
representations of scientists in the literature, finds among other figures
the “alchemist, who reappears at critical times as the obsessed or mania-
cal scientist” (Haynes 1994, p. 3; see also the previous chapter in this
volume).
In this chapter, I explore the link in literature between today's public
image of science and medieval alchemy in more detail and with refer-
ence to the history of science, and I will do so by focusing on the literary
representation of chemists in the nineteenth century. Since twentieth-
century films and popular literature featuring 'mad scientists' frequently
draw on, exploit, and simplify classics from the nineteenth century
(Toumey 1992), it is this period that deserves particular attention. We
will see that such figures as the 'mad scientist' were created not for
entertainment reasons, as Crichton believes, but in a nineteenth-century
1
The film in the making is based on Crichton's science fiction horror novel
Prey
(New
York: Harper Collins, 2002), which is largely composed of ingredients to be dealt
with in Sections 3 & 6 of this chapter.
