Contact

The scientific woman in the movies

Authors

  • Ivy Judensnaider
  • Fernando Santiago dos Santos IFSP campus São Roque
  • Silvia Fernanda de Mendonça Figueirôa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2019.19.9529

Keywords:

Movies, Scientists, Women

Abstract

The image of women within the scientific milieu has been the subject of many investigations, especially those of critical analyzes about films.  We decided to analyze Robert Zemeckis' film, Contact (1997), through documental analysis and previous published articles about the movie, as a subsidy for discussing stereotypes about the female figure historically constructed and persistent at the scientific field.  Despite all the difficulties and struggles faced by the protagonist in the movie, one can notice that the scientist Ellie is intelligent, skillful, dedicated, committed, and tenacious in being successful, even though Ellie had worked with unconventional subjects, being a constant target of criticism.   However, one cannot analyze the protagonist without realizing reductionist stereotypes involved in the plot, typical of the time when the film was produced and still persistent, especially within society as a whole.  The present paper is an invitation to think over the female scientist, and what possible roles the society, the media and, particularly, the film-making industry might attribute to her.

1107 665

Author Biography

  • Ivy Judensnaider

    (Doutoranda no PECIM-Unicamp e docente na Universidade Paulista).

    Endereço institucional: Av. Bertrand Russell, 801 Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz 13083-865 Campinas, SP.

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Published

2019-07-26

Issue

No. 19 (2019): Prometeica - nº 19 (08/2019 - 01/2020)

Section

Cinema and Science

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How to Cite

Judensnaider, I., Santos, F. S. dos, & Figueirôa, S. F. de M. (2019). Contact: The scientific woman in the movies. Prometeica - Journal of Philosophy and Science, 19, 80-92. https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2019.19.9529