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The Scarecrow's Brain - images of the scientist in film

21 February 2005 06:30 - 19:30

By Sir Christopher Frayling

Rector, Royal College of Art

The stereotype of the scientist has never been so pervasive: mad, bad or dangerous to know.  A recent survey of primary school children a draw-a-scientist survey has shown that the stereotype starts early: coke-bottle glasses, lab coat, Einstein hair, laboratory rat, bubbling glassware and nearly always male.  A hundred years of film images from horror and fantasy films, bio-pics, historical dramas, epics, comedies, adventures, drama-documentaries, and even musicals have created and enhanced this iconography.  Remember Harpo Marx as Isaac Newton and Walter Matthau as Einstein?

The Scarecrows Brain will explore some of these images from within popular culture.  Why The Scarecrows Brain?  Come along and find out . . .

Organised in partnership with the Royal College of Art

This lecture is FREE. No tickets or advance booking required.