Filmmakers as Archivists of Science (original) (raw)

Science fiction filmmakers often create their own ‘archives’ of science-based materials (articles, newspaper cuttings, interviews with scientists/manufacturers) in order to produce artefacts (e.g. a film) that in turn produces an archive of materials that should be of interest to both cultural and science history/communication scholars. This paper makes specific reference to Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and A Clockwork Orange (1971), and primary research conducted at the National Air and Space Museum (The Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archives (Margaret Herrick Library, LA, CA), and University of the Arts London. Stanley Kubrick’s now iconic 2001: A Space Odyssey, released a year prior to the moon landing in 1969, explored ideas of alien control over evolution and presented futuristic images of space travel and colonisation, an imagined future that continues to influence scientists and creativ...