ABSTRACT

Michael Crichton, well-known author of bestsellers dealing with science, is a wanderer between the worlds of fact and ction. Crossing the boundary into “science ction,” combining thrilling action with plausible accounts of scientific advances, several of his books have been made into movies (the most famous being Jurassic Park). In a talk before the American Association for the Advancement of Science he presented himself first as an educated scientist boasting degrees in anthropology and medicine as well as publications in the renowned New England Journal of Medicine. Then he assumed the position of movie producer and explained to his academic audience that they should not be worried about the negative representation of science in movies, reasoning that since ”all professions are depicted negatively why should one expect scientists to be treated differently?” Since there is no match between social reality and the reality of movies there is no reason to be concerned about the depiction of science in movies (Crichton 1999: 1461).