Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
Michael J. Barresi
Professor, Biological Sciences and Neuroscience, Smith College
Unbreakable— The science of superheroes
Program Description
This talk provides great insights into how the human body is built by imagining the changes that might occur to make it super. Director M. Night Shyamalan’s superhero thriller trilogy—UNBREAKABLE, SPLIT and MR. GLASS—presents a fantastic opportunity to explore the science underlying these characters’ strengths and weakness. Sometimes fiction can be closer to reality than one might think.
Presented At
Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
Film Synopsis
A man learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.
David Dunn (Willis) is taking a train from New York City back home to Philadelphia after a job interview that didn't go well when his car jumps the tracks and collides with an oncoming engine, with David the only survivor among the 131 passengers on board. Astoundingly, David is not only alive, he hardly seems to have been touched. As David wonders what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away, he encounters a mysterious stranger, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), who explains to David that there are a certain number of people who are "unbreakable" -- they have remarkable endurance and courage, a predisposition toward dangerous behavior, and feel invincible but also have strange premonitions of terrible events. Is David "unbreakable"? And if he is, what are the physical and psychological ramifications of this knowledge?
Photo credit: Buena Vista Pictures
About the Speaker
Dr. Michael J. Barresi is a full professor in the departments of biological sciences and neuroscience at Smith College, and he specializes in how the early embryonic brain is built. Dr. Barresi is lead author of the number one textbook in the field of Developmental Biology, and he was recently awarded the Victor Hamburger Prize for outstanding educator by the Society for Developmental Biology. One of his many college courses includes a first year seminar on “The science of superheros.” This course has provided great insight into how the human body is built by imagining the changes that might occur to make it super. The Unbreakable, Split, and Mr. Glass series by M. Night Shyamalan presents a fantastic opportunity to explore the science underlying these character’s strengths and weakness. Sometimes fiction can be closer to reality than one might think.