12 April 2010
From Brunel to Wallace and Gromit - The changing public image of the engineer. Saturday Evening Lecture Series continues
The names of great British engineers and inventors trip off the tongue - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George and Robert Stephenson, Barnes Wallis, 'Q' from the Bond series and Wallace, of Wallace and Gromit fame
The jump from the creator of the Great Western Railway to a fictional inventor and his plasticine dog who make rockets in their potting shed will be made by educationalist and writer Sir Christopher Frayling when he delivers the latest instalment of the University of Dundee’s popular Saturday Evening Lecture Series.
‘From Brunel to Wallace and Gromit - The changing public image of the engineer’, is an illustrated talk which will see Sir Christopher, who is renowned for his study of popular culture, examine the shifting public image and popular stereotypes of engineers on Saturday, April 24th.
Starting with the 'missionary' image in the I930s, the lecture will move on to discuss the "boffin" in the Second World War, the 'teacher of the world' in the 1950s, and 'Q' in the James Bond franchise before concluding with Wallace and Gromit. He will ask whether this kind of stereotyping really matters and what can be done to redress it.
'I'm taking a light-hearted approach to the subject, but there’s a serious message behind it,' he said. 'There is a negative image of engineers in the modern world, which may stop people considering engineering as a career. It would be disastrous if we faced a serious shortage of skilled, inventive engineers as these are the people we rely on to make things, drive change, create jobs and bring about improvements.
'If you look at the Victorian age, engineers were seen as heroes. Men like Brunel and Stevenson were revered but those who have followed haven’t found a way of putting themselves across in the 21st century in a way that is so effective.
'In those times, everyone could see the positive impact on their own lives, but these days engineers and scientists are seen as remote and elitist eccentrics who create strange little gadgets rather than working on grand schemes that benefit everyone.
'When I was visiting a school I asked all the pupils to draw a scientist. Almost every one drew a man with glasses and a lab rat, very much fitting the mad scientist stereotype. This was despite the science teacher being female and in no way resembled that stereotype.
'Why have scientists, engineers and manufacturing people earned a reputation that doesn’t tally with reality? People are absorbing these negative images from somewhere, and I believe it’s from film and other popular culture.'
Sir Christopher is the author of ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientist and the Cinema’, a book that examines the uneasy relationship with science and technology in film, where scientists are almost always impossibly mad or impossibly saintly, and where technology is nearly always very bad for you
He has critiqued subjects ranging from vampires to westerns, written and presented several television series on a wide variety of subjects, and conducted a series of radio and television interviews with figures from the world of film, including Woody Allen, Deborah Kerr, Ken Adam, Francis Ford Coppola and Clint Eastwood..
Sir Christopher is Rector of the Royal College of Art and a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The popular Saturday Evening Lecture Series - now in its 86th year - is Scotland's oldest continuous free public lecture series, and attracts thousands of people each year to hear from prestigious, world-class speakers.
‘From Brunel to Wallace and Gromit - The changing public image of the engineer’ takes place at the University’s Dalhousie Building from 6pm on Saturday, April 24th. A drinks reception will follow the event, for which overflow theatres may be in use.
Free tickets are available from the University’s Tower Reception and Events Office, by calling 01382 385564, emailing events@dundee.ac.uk or visiting www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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