Whether it’s deflecting lasers faster than the speed of light, using humans as miraculously renewable energy sources, or modifying the DNA of an entire living organism, science on the big screen can be littered with inaccuracies. With overused, tired tropes and impossible situations that necessitate some kind of scientific deus ex machina, it might be unsurprising that science fiction isn’t a genre that is always taken seriously.

There are certain examples – such as Back to the Future (1985) – that avoid the pitfalls of becoming bogged down in the details of their poor science, using it only as an initial platform to push their characters into humorous, unfamiliar situations. But real problems can arise when a seemingly serious-natured film wants to sell us bad science as its fundamental premise. The consequences of this can be more than just a jarring experience for the audience, but also the very real possibility of mass miseducation. A 2006 study found that just a single viewing of a film with wildly inaccurate ‘facts’ could negatively impact students’ understanding of phenomena they had previously studied.

I’m not suggesting that science fiction needs any ‘information dump’ to be commendable, nor that filmmakers should have to curb their imaginations for pedantry’s sake. But rather than presuming that the correct science would handcuff them in their storytelling, they should respect their audiences enough to provide them with a solid scientific foundation – off of which unfamiliar leaps can feel all the more rewarding. To quote Mark Twain: “First get your facts straight, then distort them at your leisure”.

Even the accelerating development of scientific knowledge doesn’t have to doom science fiction to become painfully outdated. Despite the wealth of bad eggs, there are some hugely accomplished, scientifically sound films out there, and many have played a role in sparking my own scientific interests, drawing me to the field in the first place.

A personal favourite of mine, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), is an iconic work that remains both timeless and mystifying almost 50 years after its release – and so far ahead of its time in some eerily precise predictions of the future. This is a testament to thorough research conducted behind the scenes, where the set, props and core concepts had to dramatically outpace emerging technology of the time. Futuristic elements such as artificial intelligence serve not only to embellish the film’s narrative, but also to raise important questions about the interaction between man and machine, an aspect of philosophy that becomes ever more relevant as technology continues to advance. Not only this, but the ‘Newspad’ gadget depicted in the film was a key catalyst in raising the possibility of the invention of portable tablet computers, further validating the status of 2001 as a prime example of the power that science fiction can hold in society.

More recent ‘hard sci-fi’ ventures, such as Gattaca (1997), Minority Report (2002) and Moon (2009), follow in the vein of 2001 by depicting rich stories that are about much more than just hard facts, where a scientific or technological breakthrough acts as an initial platform to propel the film into thoughtful, widely accessible commentary. A slight suspension of disbelief is a small price to pay for films that can transfer the medium into more than just a form of entertainment and escapism into a tool for education and the critical evaluation of our own society.

GMOs: a case study for science and the media

Research is absolutely key here, and its importance can be seen from two perspectives. Thorough research by the production team of a film can really make all the difference in weeding out inaccuracies and strengthening a science fiction premise. In addition to this, aligning fiction with fields that are being actively invested in and researched at the present moment can be hugely effective, as evidenced by the recently returned TV series, Black Mirror. Each episode of the show explores how some revolutionary technology might have severe, often unpredictable, effects on society as we know it. An anthology of disturbing, cautionary tales, Black Mirror is all the more haunting in its unwavering realism and resistance to sensationalism.

Good science fiction has the capability to raise important points of conversation about how society might function – or malfunction – differently, thus bridging the sciences and arts. Just as science itself, the genre can push boundaries into previously unseen territory to create an awe-inspiring – or even disconcerting – experience. The very best science fiction does both