From Desk Set to The Net: Women and Computing Technology in Hollywood Films

Abstract

Like a number of Hollywood producers who have received grants from the Sloan Foundation “to encourage more thoughtful treatment of science,” I am interested in looking closely at representations of scientists and scientific discovery (Pollack). As the National Science Foundation documents, science and technology hold important places in our lives, but public understanding of science continues to lag (Hill; Olson; National Science Foundation [NSF], “Overview”). Politicians and educators frequently argue that US students need to improve their standing in world rankings of student understanding of math and science. One economic reason to educate children and the general public is clear: the transformation from a cold war culture that contributed money to the scientific infrastructure via defence research to a world power eager to expand trade in world markets via electronic means and premier medical research. In the 1990s, defence research shrank while health and telecommunications research received increased support in the federal budget.