- #1
moe darklight
- 409
- 0
It seems like a growing trend for shows now to focus on characters who are critical thinkers and atheists (as opposed to, for example, in the 90's, when it was cool for characters to be psychics, or angels, ... or some other sort of paranormal type thing).
So just wondering what everyone here thinks about this trend. Not necessarily about the quality of the shows themselves, which I must confess I enjoy for pure entertainment value... especially House; the plot's getting thick this season!
PROS:
- public awareness of science, and that it's actually useful, and not just a bunch of evil nerds sitting around a table trying to destroy Jesus.
- makes science topics "fun" for the general public. possibly piques the interest of people into further reading (for example, the Numb3rs website has a different mathematical puzzle every week, usually somehow related to the plot of the show, provided by Wolfram Research).
- makes critical thinking "cool." (what's cooler than House constantly proving everyone else an "idiot" via his super-duper deductive reasoning abilities).
CONS:
- sometimes turns science into magic. (I mean, clearly it's just a show so we shouldn't expect complete realism. but when the guy on Numb3rs, by some magical "algorithm", guesses everything about the murderer down to when was the last time his grandma kissed him goodnight and what color lipstick she was wearing... I mean, it's stretching it a bit far).
Do you think it's just a trend, or would you say it shows that people are actually becoming more interested in this sort of thing. I mean, production companies only greenlight projects for which there is a high demand.
I personally hope that it's a sign that the public is accepting critical thinking and skepticism more and more. ... I mean, they've actually elected a president who admitted that "non-believers" are Americans too! in his inaugural speech!
So just wondering what everyone here thinks about this trend. Not necessarily about the quality of the shows themselves, which I must confess I enjoy for pure entertainment value... especially House; the plot's getting thick this season!
PROS:
- public awareness of science, and that it's actually useful, and not just a bunch of evil nerds sitting around a table trying to destroy Jesus.
- makes science topics "fun" for the general public. possibly piques the interest of people into further reading (for example, the Numb3rs website has a different mathematical puzzle every week, usually somehow related to the plot of the show, provided by Wolfram Research).
- makes critical thinking "cool." (what's cooler than House constantly proving everyone else an "idiot" via his super-duper deductive reasoning abilities).
CONS:
- sometimes turns science into magic. (I mean, clearly it's just a show so we shouldn't expect complete realism. but when the guy on Numb3rs, by some magical "algorithm", guesses everything about the murderer down to when was the last time his grandma kissed him goodnight and what color lipstick she was wearing... I mean, it's stretching it a bit far).
Do you think it's just a trend, or would you say it shows that people are actually becoming more interested in this sort of thing. I mean, production companies only greenlight projects for which there is a high demand.
I personally hope that it's a sign that the public is accepting critical thinking and skepticism more and more. ... I mean, they've actually elected a president who admitted that "non-believers" are Americans too! in his inaugural speech!
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