Early cinema and evolution

Gaycken, Oliver

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139236195.005

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…39 Oliver Gaycken argues that film's ability to manipulate time made it especially suitable for visual demonstrations of evolution. 40 The prominence of evolution and Mendelian inheritance in interwar eugenicist discourses therefore provides a further explanation for the emphasis on reproduction in Secrets films. This is underlined by the fact that the same production team was behind the infamous Heredity in Man (1937).…”

Section: Filmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ciné-biologists: natural history film and the co-production of knowledge in interwar Britain

Long

2020

Br J Hist Sci

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This article analyses the production and reception of the natural history film series Secrets of Nature (1919–33) and its sequel Secrets of Life (1934–47), exploring what these films reveal about the role of cinema in public discourses about science and nature in interwar Britain. The first part of the article introduces the Secrets using an ‘intermedial’ approach, linking the kinds of natural history that they displayed to contemporary trends in interwar popular science, from print publications to zoos. It examines how scientific knowledge was communicated in the series, especially the appeal to everyday experience as a vehicle to engage mass audiences with scientific subjects. The second part examines the Secrets series through the lens of knowledge co-production, detailing how a range of different figures, including academic scientists, nature photographers, producers and teachers, became entangled in making the films. Recovering the term ‘ciné-biology’, it argues that Secrets developed a unique style of filmmaking that generated cultural space for the life sciences in British popular culture. The third part analyses two interwar cinema experiments to explore how audiences, imagined and real, shaped the kinds of natural knowledge characterized by the Secrets films.

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Section: Filmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ciné-biologists: natural history film and the co-production of knowledge in interwar Britain

Long

2020

Br J Hist Sci

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“…Before 1925, these Victorian motifs and thematic content could be used relatively easily in Hollywood movies to poke fun at those who took Darwin's claims seriously. 15 The same evolutionary plot that the Hays Office forced Twentieth Century Fox to remove in 1941 -a scientist attempting to prove Darwin's theory by transforming an ape into a human-was a standard plot for SF comedies before 1925. The highly publicized Scopes "Monkey Trial", which galvanised the antievolution movement, marked the decline of the comedic human/primate genre of SF films.…”

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confidence: 99%

Darwin on the Cutting-Room Floor:

Kirby

2019

Osiris

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In the mid-twentieth century film studios sent their screenplays to the Hays Office, Hollywood's official censorship body, and to the Catholic Church's Legion of Decency for approval and recommendations for revision. This essay examines how filmmakers crafted stories involving evolutionary biology and how religiously motivated movie censorship groups modified these cinematic narratives in order to depict what they considered to be more appropriate visions of humanity's origins. I find that censorship groups were concerned about the perceived impact of science fiction cinema on the public's belief systems and on the wider cultural meanings of evolution. By controlling the stories told about evolution in science fiction cinema, censorship organizations believed that they could regulate the wider cultural meanings of evolution itself. But this is not a straightforward story of "science" versus "religion." There were significant differences amongst these groups as to how to censor evolution, as well as changes to their attitudes towards evolutionary content over time. Instead, I show how different censorship groups adopted diverse perspectives, depending on their perception of what constituted a morally appropriate science fiction story about evolution.

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‘A machine for recreating life’: an introduction to reproduction on film

Olszynko-Gryn

Ellis

2017

Br J Hist Sci

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Abstract. Reproduction is one of the most persistently generative themes in the history of science and cinema. Cabbage fairies, clones and monstrous creations have fascinated filmmakers and audiences for more than a century. Today we have grown accustomed not only to the once controversial portrayals of sperm, eggs and embryos in biology and medicine, but also to the artificial wombs and dystopian futures of science fiction and fantasy. Yet, while scholars have examined key films and genres, especially in response to the recent cycle of Hollywood 'mom coms', the analytic potential of reproduction on film as a larger theme remains largely untapped. This introduction to a special issue aims to consolidate a disparate literature by exploring diverse strands of film studies that are rarely considered in the same frame. It traces the contours of a little-studied history, pauses to consider in greater detail a few particularly instructive examples, and underscores some promising lines of inquiry. Along the way, it introduces the six original articles that constitute Reproduction on Film.

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Early cinema and evolution

Cited by 4 publications

References 25 publications

The ciné-biologists: natural history film and the co-production of knowledge in interwar Britain

The ciné-biologists: natural history film and the co-production of knowledge in interwar Britain

Darwin on the Cutting-Room Floor:

‘A machine for recreating life’: an introduction to reproduction on film

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