Fewer and fewer students are pursuing science and engineering. While immigrants are taking up the slack in many areas, defense laboratories and industries generally require American citizenship or permanent residency. So a crisis is looming, unless careers in science and engineering suddenly become hugely popular, said Robert J. Barker, an Air Force program manager who approved the grant. And what better way to get a lot of young people interested in science than by producing movies and television shows that depict scientists in flattering ways?
One participant thought the idea that scientists could make good screenwriters was reasonable: "They're inherently creative, and willing to take more risks than other people," she said. "They're searching for the unknown, they're compensated very minimally, they're going on blind faith that what they're searching for is going to pay off. And filmmaking is exactly the same way."
Makes both professions attractive, doesn’t it?
But they’re going about this backwards. Teaching scientists to write screenplays is going to be less successful than teaching writers about science, especially if writers are paired with passionate creative scientists. I’m all for showing scientists what’s involved in screenwriting and giving them some structure for their ideas, but I think good writers can craft a scientific idea into a novel or screenplay more easily than the other way around. Generally speaking, that is. If I want a house designed that has a nautical theme, I’m going to ask an architect, not a sailor.
So here’s my suggestion. Instead of embedding scientists in Hollywood, the government/academe should embed writers in labs, the way DOD does with reporters in combat. You’d get some great stories. And they wouldn’t even have to be film or TV – just something to spark the imagination. You know that if the Ministry of Magic were looking for a few good Muggles, the line would be out the door.
~
View Comments
There are currently no comments to display.
Post a Comment
To post a comment, you must be a registered user of FCW.com and be logged in. Use one of the forms below to login or register for FREE to FCW.com. To protect your privacy, you can use an alias as your username.
