The evolution debate onscreen : unreliable narrators find a home

Abstract

Faced with increasingly influential opposition from fundamentalist religious groups, evolutionists could benefit from reexamining their strategies in the evolution vs. creation debate. This thesis is based on the understanding that the debate is not about scientific evidence, but rather warring ideologies. The religious fundamentalist ideology perceives materialism and moral relativism as threats that follow from the theory of evolution, and in this thesis both threats are debunked. Understood as warring ideologies, the debate broadens, and calls for a wider range of approaches. Art could be advantageously employed to draw these ideologies out and show them more clearly, and this thesis explores the possibility of using found footage films in particular to do so.