Films have portrayed professional women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in various ways throughout film history.
Overview The study of female characters in film began with movements from the 1960s and 1970s in the form of second-wave feminism, the rise of independent films, and the beginning of academic film studies. Some films promote certain socially defined female stereotypical archetypes that often combine job stereotypesHüppauf, Bernd-Rüdiger, and Peter Weingart, editors. Science Images and Popular Images of the Sciences. vol. 8, Routledge, 2008. with gender stereotypes. The use of these stereotypes in film has been suggested to contribute to a questionable portrayal of women, especially revolving around themes of violence, sexuality, objectification, and subordination.
Examples of female scientists in film
Early 20th century The presentation of women as scientists on film goes back to the early days of cinema.
The first known presentation may be 1929's Woman in the Moon. Written by Thea von Harbou and directed by Fritz Lang, the film follows a group of Germans as they travel to the Moon. The group includes Friede Velten, an assistant on the trip, who chooses between two potential husbands and ultimately decides to stay on the Moon and live a new life there.
It would take almost ten years before another woman scientist would appear onscreen. When she did, Alice Swallow was a side character, a hard worker who was too busy to marry Cary Grant, who turned to fun-loving socialite Katharine Hepburn instead. Nevertheless, 1938's Bringing up Baby showed millions of people around the world a level-headed, independent woman who did not need to rely on a man to move her life forward.
The earliest portrayal of a real-life woman scientist may be the 1943 film Madame Curie starring Greer Garson as Polish-French physicist Marie Curie in 1890s Paris.
These portrayals in A-list movies were rare and it would take decades before they become more common-place. However, the 1950s saw a proliferation of low-budget American B-movies which show-cased female scientists and post-graduates. They were normally associated with a male boss and involved in a romantic storyline, as well as a scientific one.
One of the earliest B-movie portrayals of a fictional qualified scientist may be 1951's Flight to Mars which tells the story of male engineer and his assistant Carol Stafford, who earned her degree in "spaceship engineering".
1951 also saw Unknown World where a group of scientists, including Dr Joan Lindsey, drill into the earth to create an underground environment where humanity could escape and survive a future nuclear holocaust.
Late 20th century After the Swinging Sixties in the west, women began to feature front and centre of large-budget movies, often in a more serious tone.
An early example was the 1970 film The Andromeda Strain which showed Dr Ruth Leavitt as one of several scientists investigating a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin.
Other examples include;
Gorillas in the Mist (1988) Gorillas in the Mist is a film based on the book with the same title by Dian Fossey and follows her as she leaves the United States to study gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda. As she bonds with the gorillas, she worries about poachers and devotes her time to protecting the animals. In the film, Fossey is said to be depicted as an independent woman, breaking the common trope of women being the homemaker. This may be seen as an unusual portrayal of women scientists and it concentrates on the scientific work, and does not have a romantic story attached to it.
Jurassic Park (1993) The 1993 film Jurassic Park, based on the novel with the same title by Michael Crichton, depicts a fictional paleobotanist, Dr. Ellie Sattler. She is shown to have extensive knowledge about dinosaurs and plant life throughout the movie. She is said to be portrayed with great physical ability, allowing her to survive multiple attacks from dinosaurs.
Contact Contact was released in 1997 and told the fictional story of Dr Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, a SETI scientist who finds evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen by the government to make first contact.
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is the sequel to the 1996 slapstick, science-fiction dark comedy, The Nutty Professor. Janet Jackson portrays molecular biologist Denise Gains. Denise is the love-interest for the male hero, Sherman Klump. Gaines faces a dilemma where she must balance her professional career with her romantic relationships. In this film, she is hesitant to take a full professorship at the University of Maine, but she will be able to stay and pursue further research with Klump.
Gravity (2013) The 2013 film Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, is often cited as a feminist film due to Bullock's starring role as an astronaut.
The film has been critiqued that Gravity "proves that a woman can anchor an action-packed blockbuster that does not have to include violence, superheroes, weapons and/or huge death tolls." While the film's lead is a woman, she gets help from her male counterpart, played by Clooney. Some critics describe Bullock's character as "the very model of the damsel in distress," as she can never get out of a situation on her own and must lean on Clooney's character to do the heavy lifting. The role of Bullock's character is thought to be an act of defiant feminism, as she is the lead in a science fiction film, but some viewers find that the film actually subscribes to traditional gender stereotypes and does not portray Bullock's character as a true independent woman. In contrast, Vanessa Reich-Shackelford from Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology while considering the character of Dr. Ryan Stone, wrote: "I came to realize that writers Alfonso (also director) and Jonás Cuarón had created one of the most positive representations of a woman in STEM on screen so far."
Arrival (2016) The 2016 film Arrival revolves around the character of linguist Dr. Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, who facilitates the very first instance of human communicative contact with an alien population. The film makes an obvious effort at employing a feminist theme, primarily through the way the backstory shapes Dr. Banks and frames her as an accomplished professional and mother.
Hidden Figures Hidden Figures was released in 2016 and told the true story of three female African-American mathematicians, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson (engineer) who worked at NASA during the Space Race.
Black Panther (2018) The critically acclaimed film Black Panther features Princess Shuri, a young, Black, female character who excels in the STEM field as an intelligent and creative technology whiz and inventor. Portrayed by Letitia Wright, Princess Shuri is the younger sister of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the eventual king of Wakanda, and the mastermind behind harnessing the power of vibranium, specifically in the creation of the Black Panther suit.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has portrayed over 60 fictional scientists, about a quarter of them being women, including computer expert Dr Helen Cho, biologist Dr Maya Hensen and biochemist Agent Jemma Simmons.
Archetypes of scientific women in films
Eva Flicker, writing in 2002, noted that in science fiction films, men are overwhelmingly portrayed as scientists, making up 82% of all film scientists. The majority of films that include female scientists and engineers as primary characters are placed into the action, adventure and comedy genre.
Women in majority of films including the science fiction genre, often fall into six categories:
The Old Maid This type of woman scientist is "only interested in her work" and is often depicted having a nondescript appearance and style, with strong competency. Typically, as the film progresses, a man saves her. This male salvation consequently brings out the feminine side of "the old maid", after which she is intended to become more conventionally attractive. However, she loses credibility as an academic and suddenly makes more mistakes than when she did not focus as much on her appearance. Based on this type of story, Flicker concludes that "femininity and intelligence are mutually exclusive characteristics in a woman's film role." An example of this woman in a film can be seen in Spellbound, in the character Dr. Constance Peterson.
The Male Woman This type of woman works with men in an all male environment. Because of this, she has a "harsh voice" and occasionally "succumbs to an unhealthy lifestyle," such as partaking in smoking and drinking, to fit in with her male counterparts. Flicker claims that this type of woman is "lost somewhere in the middle" of masculinity and femininity, meaning she is not as sexual a character as other women are, but she is also not on the same level as the men she works with. This decreases her credibility both as a woman and as one trying to fit into "a man's world." In the end, her heightened female emotions allow her to contribute to a solution, which is her redeeming quality as a character. The "male woman" character appears in the 1970 science fiction film Andromeda Strain.
The Naïve Expert Seen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, this woman scientist is described as a character that does minimal work. For the sake of the dramatization of the film, she is crucial, but typically she does not advance the story and does not contribute much to the solution. Instead, her femininity causes more trouble for the team of scientists. She is portrayed as young, attractive, and is subjected to experience feminine emotions which add an extra layer to the existing predicament, forcing the man to solve the problem to get the team out of trouble. She is "naïve in her actions," messing up every task that is given to her despite her extensive education and knowledge, while her male counterpart stands in stark contrast and ends up saving the day.
The Evil Plotter The "evil plotter" woman is young and very beautiful, and she uses her feminine charm to trick the men into doing what she wants. She has an ulterior motive, which is on the opposite end of the spectrum from what the rest of the team is trying to accomplish. She is the character that the audience and the other characters despise by the end of the movie because she is devilishly smart and knows how to use her scientific knowledge and sexual prowess for evil. This character type was portrayed by Alison Doody as Dr. Elsa Schneider in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The Daughter/Assistant This role of female scientist encompasses many feminine stereotypes portrayed in movies. In this role the woman is subordinate to her male counterpart, who is either her father or her lover. She is smart and capable, but her secondary role does not allow her to demonstrate her abilities. Flicker writes that when this woman plays the role of lover to the male scientist, "her work place is limited to the bed." She is only good for sexual satisfaction, not for the degree she earned. The assistant role is seen in the female Dr. Medford in the film Them!, as she is portrayed alongside an older gentleman of the same name.
The Lonely Heroine