Identify some of the public perceptions about science with examples from a film, a television series, a documentary and a science scare story.

Unit 5
P2 – you must identify some of the public perceptions about science with examples from the following categories.
- A film
- A television series
- A documentary
- A science ‘scare’ story
Give an example of each and briefly state how it may have influenced the public’s perception of science.
A film - the film 2012 may have influenced the public’s perception of science. The film 2012 is about a frustrated writer that struggle’s to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threaten to annihilate mankind. Back in 2012 there were rumours that the world will end on exactly 21st December 2012 and this is what this film is based on. It may have influenced the public’s perception of science because it made people aware of the event which may happen as we do not know. As people are watching this film it is making them scared as they realise the world is coming to an end. Also when this film was released people were hearing more and more rumours of the world ending by people who have seen the film. Also people were hearing on what will happen on that particular day. Because of this some people will think science is all false as no one can predict the end of the world apart from god. For example a maths teacher said ‘science is amazing. If scientists can predict the end of the world they can more a less figure out anything they want to’ this quote shows some people believed that the world will end as scientists were coming out will all this information which made sense. Some people thought science is all false and whatever they come up with is not true whereas, some people believe science is all true as so far what they are saying is true. Also some people say ‘without science we will not be where we are today’. After this film people will think science is all false as they cannot predict the end of the world, and if they can how will they do it?
