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Mad scientist

Related: horror - hubris - science - science fiction - mental illness

Novels and films: Frankenstein (1818) - The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) - The Hands of Orlac (1920) - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Metropolis (1927) - I Vampiri (1957) - Eyes Without a Face (1960) - X - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) - The City of Lost Children (1995)


Michel Lemoine in
I Pianeti contro di noi (1962) - Romano Ferrara

Boris Karloff in James Whale's 1931 Frankenstein
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Orlacs Hände (1925) - Robert Wiene

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Robert Wiene [Amazon.com]

Definition

A mad scientist is a stock character--typically, but not exclusively villianous-- who usually appears in fiction, usually depicted as a scientist who is insane or at the least very eccentric. He is usually working with some utterly fictional technology in order to forward his evil schemes. Recent Mad Scientists depictions are often satirical and humorous. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_scientist

History

Since the 19th century, fictitious depictions of science have vacillated between notions of science as the salvation of society or its doom. Consequently, depictions of scientists in fiction ranged between the virtuous and the depraved, the sober and the insane. Until the 20th century, optimism about progress was the most common attitude towards science, but latent anxieties about disturbing "the secrets of nature" would surface following the increasing role of science in wartime affairs.

The prototypical fictional mad scientist was Victor Frankenstein, creator of Frankenstein's monster, who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Though Frankenstein is a sympathetic character, the critical element of conducting forbidden experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed", heedless of the consequences, is present in Shelley's novel. Frankenstein was trained as both alchemist and modern scientist which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype. His monster is essentially the homunculus of a new form of literature, science fiction.

1927's Metropolis, directed by Austrian expressionist director Fritz Lang, brought the archetypical mad scientist to movie audiences in the form of Rotwang, the evil genius whose machines gave life to the dystopian city of the title. Rotwang's laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs, bubbling apparatus, and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls. Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Rotwang himself is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist; though he is master of almost mystical scientific power, he remains slave to his own desires for power and revenge. Rotwang's appearance was also influential -- the character's shock of flyaway hair, wild-eyed demeanor, and his quasi-fascist laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist "look". Even his mechanical right hand has become a mark of twisted scientific power, echoed notably in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.

Nevertheless, the essentially benign and progressive impression of science in the public mind continued unchecked, exemplified by the optimistic "Century of Progress" exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, 1933, and the "World of Tomorrow" at the New York World's Fair of 1939. However after the first World War, public attitudes began to shift, if only subtly, when chemical warfare and the airplane were the terror weapons of the day. As an example, of all science fiction before 1914 which dealt with the end of the world, two-thirds were about naturalistic endings (such as collision with an asteroid), and the other third was devoted to endings caused by humans (about half were accidental, half purposeful). After 1914, the idea of any human actually killing the remainder of humanity became a more imaginable fantasy (even if it was still impossible), and the ratio switched to two-thirds of all end-of-the-world scenarios being the product of human maliciousness or error. Though still drowned out by feelings of optimism, the seeds of anxiety had been thoroughly sown.

The most common tool of mad scientists in this era was electricity. It was viewed widely as a quasi-mystical force with chaotic and unpredictable properties by an ignorant public.

After 1945

Mad scientists had their heyday in popular culture in the period after World War II. The sadistic medical experiments of the Nazis and the invention of the atomic bomb gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had gone out of control. The scientific and technological build up during the Cold War, with its increasing threats of unparalleled destruction, did not lessen the impression. Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from the period. The movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in which Peter Sellers plays the titular Dr. Strangelove, is perhaps the ultimate expression of this fear of the power of science, or the misuse of this power.

In more recent years, the mad scientist as a lone investigator of the forbidden unknown has tended to be replaced by mad corporate executives who plan to profit from defying the laws of nature and humanity regardless of who suffers; these people hire a salaried scientific staff to pursue their twisted dreams. This shift is typified by the revised history of Superman's archenemy, Lex Luthor: originally conceived in the 1930s as a typically solitary mad scientist, a major retcon of the character's origins in the early 1980s made him the head of a megacorporation who also plays a leading role in his R & D department. Bob Page, the master villain in the computer game Deus Ex, is another example. Still, the pose has been used whimsically by popular science writers to attract readers.

The techniques of mad science also changed after Hiroshima. Electricity was replaced by radiation as the new tool to create, enlarge, or deform life (e.g., Godzilla). As audiences became more savvy, quantum mechanics, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence have taken the spotlight (e.g., Blade Runner). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_scientist [Aug 2006]

The mad doctor and new flesh plot

See also: new flesh

The Mad Doctor Whose (Wife or Lover or Daughter) is (Disfigured or Rapidly Aging or Something) so He Needs (Glands or Blood or Skin) Plot

--http://members.aol.com/fangcesca/monsterworks/madlist.htm

Mad Professor (dub musician)

  • No Protection: Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor (1995) [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
    This is the studio work of London's prodigious dub godfather, Mad Professor, who takes Massive Attack's Protection album as raw material to create a completely new experience. Bits are added, dropped out, accentuated, run through sonic effects, drenched in reverb, turned inside out until the songs disappear and in their place emerge reborn textural soundscapes. No Protection gives a sort of discursive aural commentary on Protection's original songs, pointing out all the obscured details--the minutest percussive rings and beeps, the most mesmerizing bass loops. --Roni Sarig for Amazon.com

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