Quantitative evaluation of positive or negative feelings for biotechnology- or health-related scenes in movies

Summary

Public attitude toward biotechnology- and health-related scenes in movies influences the development of the biomedical science itself and thereafter of our health- and technology-conscious society. We have developed a new quantitative indicator to evaluate positive and negative feelings toward such scenes. Thirty movies including nine biotechnology-related, twenty health-related, and one both-related movies were evaluated into 0 (0%) highly negative, 10 (33%) negative, 17 (57%) neutral, 3 (10%) positive, and 0 (0%) highly positive feeling movies. Biotechnology-related movies were negative, while health-related movies were neutral. This indicator is useful for rating the perception of biotechnology and health in movies.