The most common of these scenarios has the scientist moving to his own island or some out of the way place where nobody ever wants to go. It can even be an old house that most people consider haunted. But deep inside lurks his dark secrets (usually behind a secret wall panel or something).
The concept of the mad scientist is that he has been shunned by the scientific community for simply not regulating his ideas enough. Whenever he gets a theory, he immediately wants to test it out. If someone gets hurt in the process, he sees them as a martyr for the scientific cause. Ultimately it's this behavior that gets him shunned, but that isn't enough to stop him from doing his work.
Whenever I see movies of this nature, I usually find myself siding with the scientist. I actually want him to succeed. The world might even be better for it. But these movies often pitch them as the villain and insert a hero to take him down before he causes more trouble. I always get just a little upset when he ultimately falls to his own hideous creations.
Even in my most favorite movie of all time, The Black Hole, Reinhardt had genuinely proven himself to be a genius and an innovator. And there is even a vague possibility that he could have made the trip through the Black Hole if not thwarted by the protagonists.
Easily, none of these men are particularly good people. In fact, they are outright evil. But God doesn't look down on people for simply being evil. He only despises the lukewarm. At the very least, these men gave it their all. And I still can't help but root for them in every movie I encounter them.
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The world considers good a lack of evil: "I didn't do this" or "I don't do that" means you're a "good" person, as if lukewarm is ideal. Is it any wonder most people languish? If these mad scientists were real, they'd have a better chance of being saved than the "didn't do" crowd.
ReplyDeleteHe was right in that he threw himself into his work and accepted nothing from the naysayers.
DeleteMad scientists in fiction are a cool concept when done well. Incidentally I recently reread "Herbert West-Reanimator", it's definitely a good example of a mad scientist done right. The mad scientist is cold against, doing anything he has to in the name of progress.
ReplyDeleteI love the Reanimator movies so much.
DeleteWhat makes a scientist mad is their willingness to sacrifice others for the sake of scientific progress. It reminds me of dark priests sacrificing people to their dark deities. In both cases, they believe they are making the world a better place.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are. Most people I know lead pointless existences.
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