The Awakening - Movie :: essays research papers

Throughout the movie The Awakening, Robin Williams demonstrates his knowledge of the scientific method. The scientific method is a procedure of steps that is used to prove problems. In the movie it is used to show that patients suffering from an un-named disorder do have a slight opportunity to return to their normal state of being. The scientific method is a list of steps to prove something and make into a law or theory based on your final product and findings. It is composed of several steps, it starts with observations. Observations are where a person collects known data concerning what you are going to test on. Next they formulate a hypothesis based on their observations. After they have a hypothesis they perform several experiments to prove or disprove it. After this, they then form a theory and experiment based on their hypothesis. More observations and experiments follow this, until they finally come to a conclusion which is called a law. Throughout the movie The Awakening, Robin Williams uses the observation, hypotheses and experimenting steps in the scientific method. Observations included, noticing the lifeless behavior shown by the patients, their reflexes to moving objects, and the fact that they all had cases of encephalitis before. After he did all the research he formed several hypotheses and experimented to prove them. Robin Williams used strobe lights, talked to them, measured their brain patterns, and used games such as a Ouija board to prove some of his hypotheses. After he formed several hypotheses and experimented with them, he came across an article that explained how the use of a certain type of medicine which was used to treat a disease related to the one that he was investigating. He tried administrating the medicine to one of his patients, and observed the results. The patient demonstrated normal, human conditions and seemed to have no side effects. He then made a law that stated the medicine helped his patient, and gave it to all the patients in the ward. However, his observations were incorrect and the side effects were devastating. This is how Robin Williams demonstrated the steps of the scientific method