to "fashion"; "in the weeds"

[Jim Parish]

On 5/6/2012 9:48 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> Maybe we tend to distrust intellect, so while the hero acts from =
> courage, bravery, godliness, moxie, and undauntable physical
> resilience, = someone who is defined by their intellect is either
> suspect (scientists = played by Jeff Goldblum and their ilk) or
> downright evil and amoral in = his (rarely her) machinations.
> Braveheart vs. Mastermind.

It hasn't always been thus, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned.
There was a spate of movies in the late '30s, early '40s featuring Good
Scientists. Most of them were biopics: Pasteur, Ehrlich, Madame Curie,
Edison. (There were also plenty of Evil Scientist films, then as now,
but the balance was different.) Not much of that since WWII. Christopher
Frayling's _Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?_ gives a nice presentation of
scientists in film in the 20th century. (There are some errors in the
book, but it's entertaining.)

As for "mastermind" itself, it might be worth mentioning that Marvel
Comics has a longtime character using that nom de guerre; he is, of
course, evil.

Jim Parish

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org