Does Dr Who tell us about science and technology or the Britain of its time? Discuss.
Introduction
Doctor Who has been one of the most successful TV series of all time. Produced by the BBC, it describes adventures of a time-traveling humanoid alien, the Doctor, who, in his spaceship TARDIS, encounters different times, places and parts of the universe (Leach, 2009). The series, aired from 1963 until the present day, is a science fiction drama, focused on cutting edge technology and alien civilisations but also, on social issues and individual behaviour, always presenting the Earth as a central setting for the Doctor's ventures. Science and technology are the major themes in the series, acting as catalysts for stories and their characters. This essay is going to discuss morality and religion in Doctor Who, depicting alongside scientific and technological inventions. It's aim is to analyse the shows scientific themes, to contrast them with social and cultural mores in Britain, and to identify a social impact of the program. On the one hand, it will be argued that Doctor Who attempts to portray Britain of its time, its moral values, and prevailing social, political and cultural views. It will be shown that the series is about education and authority on social behaviour, depiction of social reality, and about human values, all derived from religious morality, and codes of action, typical of contemporary society. On the other hand, the essay will examine the show's scientific take on morality and religion. It will be considered that the program's sci-fi genre challenges religious perspectives and offers social commentary. The text will also suggest that Doctor Who uses humanism as a form of a cultural debate, and that science and tech...
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Not only educational shows accomplish these goals, but fictional television programs can often incorporate information that requires viewers to grapple with a topic using logical reasoning and a global consciousness. In addition, not to diminish the importance of reading, television reaches those who may never pick up a book or who might struggle with reading problems, enabling a broader spectrum of people to interact with cognitive topics. Veith has committed the error of making generalizations about two forms of media when, in truth, the situation varies depending on quality and content. However, what follows these statements is not just fallacious, but
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Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
...e gap in attitudes between pre-medicalized and modern time periods. The trends of technological advancement and human understanding project a completely medicalized future in which medical authorities cement their place above an intently obedient society.
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Mary Shelley expresses various ethical issues by creating a mythical monster called Frankenstein. There is some controversy on how Mary Shelley defines human nature in the novel, there are many features of the way humans react in situations. Shelley uses a relationship between morality and science, she brings the two subjects together when writing Frankenstein, and she shows the amount of controversy with the advancement of science. There are said to be some limits to the scientific inquiry that could have restrained the quantity of scientific implications that Mary Shelley was able to make, along with the types of scientific restraints. Mary Shelley wrote this classic novel in such a way that it depicted some amounts foreshadowing of the world today. This paper will concentrate on the definition of human nature, the controversy of morality and science, the limits to scientific inquiry and how this novel ties in with today’s world.
Of the people surveyed the people who were secular more so enjoyed reality TV shows in which man had to depend on nature. Since nature, science and the earth go hand a...
Have you ever seen the BBC series “Sherlock”? What about “Tinker Tailor Soldier”, or “Hawking”? One man appearing in all of those programs has become very well known over the course of the past few years. Even today, he acts in many series and movies. His name is Benedict Cumberbatch, and his tale is an interesting and humbling one.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1912) is yet another essential novel, that marked and defined the genre science fiction. Set in an expedition to a plateau in South America, the reporter Edward Malone tells his journey along with the hot-headed and eccentric Professor George Edward Challenger. What differentiates the protagonists from Doyle’s, what was soon to be known as Challenger Tales, his Sherlock Holmes series, is not only the ambiguity in attitude, as Sherlock Holmes is considered self-controlled and analytical, whereas Challenger portrays the stellar opposite, but also the way both novels are being narrated. Whereas former novel series has Sherlock’s assistant Dr. Watson as the narrator of the protagonists adventures, The Lost
Many franchises have incorporated the intrigues of time travel in their plots. For instance, a recent movie, Interstellar (2014), depicts time-travel as a one-way ticket to the future whereby the people left behind age or are dead when the time traveller returns. A Czech film by the name Ikarie XB-1 (1963) applies a similar concept. Interstellar also applies time travelling through higher dimensions—which are dubbed as tesseracts in the film. Moreover, the higher dimension theme is depicted in the time quintet books by L'Engle (1963) where a tesseract folds time. One of the most famous franchises Doctor Who (1963) time travel plot centres around a space-time vortex. The TARDIS machine uses the extra-dimensional vortex to travel through time while its passengers are unaffected. Other time travel themes include instantaneous time jumping as depicted in Back to the Future (1985) and The Girl Who Leapt through Time (2006), and going faster than the speed of light as shown in Superman: The Movie (1978) where Christopher Reeve (Superman) flies faster than the speed of light to save Margot Kidder (Louis Lane) in the
Damrosch, David. Longman anthology of British literature. 2nd ed. Vol. A. New York: Longman, 2004. Print.
The brutal system of capitalism and widening gap between classes experienced by Wells during the late Victorian Britain leads him to join the Fabian Society and adopt socialist and liberal views. His personal schooling and scientific education allow him to think outside of the confines of society and help usher in social reform. The Time Machine embodies the problems of not only society during Wells’ time but modern society as well.
... the future and as many have stated, including Joel Barker (2009), “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.