Scholarship & Research
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Item A matter of life and death : rethinking evolution and the nature of science on television(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2006) Bard, Susanne Clara; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David ScheererIn a world where antibiotic resistance can make bacterial infections deadly and the HIV virus constantly mutates inside the human body, an understanding of evolution and its mechanisms is increasingly important. Yet much of the public is still either hostile to or misunderstands evolution and its mechanisms. Television provides the bulk of the general public's exposure to science once formal education has ended. The rhetorical strategies employed by much of science and evolution programming, along with an emphasis on content over process, delivers the message that science is a search for absolute truths rather than a dynamic process relying on falsification and tentative knowledge. The way in which science and evolution is presented parallels failures in the educational system to teach science as more than just a collection of absolute truths and unassailable facts. In both science teaching and science television, critical thinking often loses out.Item Strange bedfellows : science and storytelling for broadcast television(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2006) Bell, Andrew Wade; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald TobiasFilmmakers exploring natural science subject matter that want to sell their work to broadcast television or theatrical outlets face a difficult challenge. They must somehow conflate two contradictory elements: natural science information and compelling storytelling. Looking at the roots of classical narrative, we can better understand why audiences have come to crave it. Broadcast television, in turn, caters to audience desire. This combination forces filmmakers to present natural science information in an exciting way, and has led filmmakers to employ time-honored narrative structures as organizing strategies. While audiences seem to favor material presented this way, it calls the accuracy of the natural science presented into question. This paper will explore how and why the use of narrative became common to natural science filmmaking, illustrate the inherent incompatibilities between the narrative and natural science, and consider the repercussions of this filmmaking model.