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Week 9

After watching the videos for this week I found it really interesting how prevalent space was in movies, but especially children's movies. Some videos mentioned a few movies that are centered around space exploration and after doing more research about the impacts of this I found that it has had a pretty widespread impact.

People for hundreds of years have been fascinated with outer space and planets, but ever since we have seen footage of people on the moon, this fascination has grown exponentially. Why do we as human like the idea of weightlessness, what does it give to us? Gravity is just a subjective experience of lightness and weightlessness (Jackson). However, children and adults alike all enjoy movies like ET and Wall-E that try to describe the magic of space. 

Outer space is a difficult concept for children to learn because it is so abstract, and it is hard for them to learn about things they can't see ("Teaching Kids About Space"). This is why different movies can help to teach kids about different concepts in space if even through science fiction means (Forde). We can learn about things like gravity, physics, climates of other planets, and the possibility of other life and by exposing ourselves to movies and pop culture (Hollingham). 

Pop culture also does a great job of penetrating the everyday life of average citizens with how it is to be an astronaut on a daily basis. Because of how much more familiar society is with outer space and the life of astronauts, NASA received a record number of applicants this year. This is great for the future of space exploration and is due in big part to the availability of information through art and media (Koren).



Arnold, Gary. “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.” Rotten Tomatoes, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/et_the_extraterrestrial/.
Bishop, Buzz. “Top 11 Space Movies For Kids.” Babble, 18 Oct. 2016, www.babble.com/kid/top-11-space-movies-for-kids-not-called-star-wars/.
Forde, Kathleen. “Dancing on the Ceiling: Art and Zero Gravity.” Zero Gravity, zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/.
Hollingham, Richard. “Future - What Movies Can Teach Us About Life in Space.” BBC, BBC, 18 Nov. 2014, www.bbc.com/future/story/20141114-movie-lessons-on-life-in-space.
Jackson, Katrina. “The Influence of Television and Film on Interest in Space and Science .” Space Studies, University of North Dakota, Aug. 2013, citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.686&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
Koren, Marina. “Why Are So Many People Applying to Be Astronauts?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 June 2017, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/nasa-astronauts/529149/.
Pearlman, Robert Z. “Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Sets Record for Women in Space.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 9 June 2015, www.nbcnews.com/science/space/italian-astronaut-sam-cristoforetti-sets-record-women-space-n372591.
“Teaching Kids About Space Using Movies.” School Is Easy: Tutoring , www.schooliseasy.com/2016/11/teaching-kids-space-using-movies/.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 30, 2018 at 9:29 AM

    I've also noticed the prevalence of outer space as a theme in media and movies. It is a great way to bridge the gap between aerospace sciences and art.

    ReplyDelete

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