Science fiction movie audiences may sometimes wonder how fictitious the science in a film really is. Yet for many--call them the "
Jurassic Park
generation"--film and popular media can present a seemingly plausible melding of science and fiction that forms a distorted understanding of scientific facts and concepts. Recognizing that film is both the dominant entertainment medium and an effective tool for teaching, this book--featuring articles originally published in the magazine
Scary Monsters
--separates biological reality from fantasy in dozens of science fiction films, including
The Island of Lost Souls
(1933),
The Incredible Shrinking Man
(1957),
War of the Worlds
(1953),
A Clockwork Orange
(1971),
Scanners
(1980),
The Serpent and the Rainbow
(1987) and
Outbreak
(1995).