ReAction!

Chemistry in the Movies
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-532692-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 693 g

ReAction! gives a scientist's and artist's response to the dark and bright sides of chemistry found in 140 films, most of them contemporary Hollywood feature films but also a few documentaries, shorts, silents, and international films.

Even though there are some examples of screen chemistry between the actors and of behind-the-scenes special effects, this book is really about the chemistry when it is part of the narrative. It is about the dualities of Dr. Jekyll vs. inventor chemists, the invisible man vs. forensic chemists, chemical weapons vs. classroom chemistry, chemical companies that knowingly pollute the environment vs. altruistic research chemists trying to make the world a better place to live, and, finally, about people who choose to experiment with mind-altering drugs vs. the drug discovery process.

Little did Jekyll know when he brought the Hyde formula to his lips that his personality split would provide the central metaphor that would come to describe chemistry in the movies. This book explores the two movie faces of this supposedly neutral science. Watching films with chemical eyes, Dr. Jekyll is recast as a chemist engaged in psychopharmaceutical research but who becomes addicted to his own formula. He is balanced by the often wacky inventor chemists who make their discoveries by trial-and-error.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Griep, Mark A.

Mikasen, Marjorie L.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- 1. Dr. Jekyll's Mysterious Transformative Formula

- 2. Invisibility Steals the Seen: Chemistry Creates Criminal Opportunities

- 3. Isomorphs of Paranoia: Chemical Arsenals

- 4. Bad Company: The Business of Toxicity

- 5. A Master/Slave Narrative: Drug Addiction and Psychoactives

- 6. Inventors and their Often Wacky Chemical Inventions

- 7. Hard Science = Hard Evidence: Forensic Chemistry and Chemical Detectives

- 8. Chem 101: Learning by Doing

- 9. Good News: Research and Medicinal Chemists Making a Difference

- 10. First, Do No Harm (but Before that Self-Experiment

- Conclusion: Chemistry in the Movies

- Appendix 1

- Appendix 2

- References

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Mark Griep is a chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who is searching for new antibiotics and who recently received a College Distinguished Teaching Award.

Marjorie Mikasen is a Geometric painter, who recently received an Individual Artist's Fellowship from the Nebraska Arts Council. Her work is in public and private collections. The authors are married and were awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant in the area of Public Understanding of Science to do the research for this book.