Awakenings
Awakenings
Voices from the Ivory Towers of Academia
From the 1930s to the 1950s, scientists, academics, and technologists were portrayed as “heroes” working to make the world a safer, better place. In most recent years, such films have tended to offer a warts-and-all depiction, interweaving the academic prowess of their subjects with complex emotional stories. This chapter examines two films that feature men working in academia during the same period: Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey (2004) and John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001). Kinsey focuses on the period leading up to the publication of Kinsey's 1948 study Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, through to his death in 1956. The film covered the darker sides of Kinsey's character, including his bisexuality, masochistic and voyeuristic practices. A Beautiful Mind depicted how Nash dealt with and overcame his schizophrenia.
Keywords: bio-pics, films, scientists, academics, Alfred Kinsey, John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, schizophrenia
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