NERDS? OR NUTS? POP CULTURE PORTRAYALS OF MATHEMATICIANS.

CARMEN M. LATTERELL [*]

WHEN YOU THINK OF A MATHEMATICIAN, what image comes to mind? Come on, now, be honest! Do you picture a highly intelligent person? Do you picture a nerd? Do you envision a man, or do you see a woman? Popular culture presents some very specific images.

Math Humor

In reading popular comic strips, one often finds mathematics as a topic. More specifically, one often finds an anti-math theme in these comic strips, manifested in the humor generated from portraying those who are good at math as nerds, the reinforcement of gender stereotypes, and, in general, the view of mathematics as a necessary evil. By extension, then, mathematicians get portrayed as geeks, nerds, social misfits. While not admirable, these images seem mild compared to other popular cultural representations of mathematicians. Consider the following two stanzas of Jimmy Buffet's Math Suks [sic]:

If necessity is the mother of invention

Then I'd like to kill the guy who invented this.

The numbers come together in some kind of a third dimension

A regular algebraic bliss ...

Geometry, trigonometry and if that don't tax your brain

There are numbers too big to be named.

Numerical precision is a science with a mission

And I think it's gonna drive me insane

(Buffet, Guth, & Mayer, 1999)

The message: Mathematics drives Jimmy Buffet insane! Well, in fact, this is a common view of mathematics and, by extension, mathematicians. The theme of mathematicians suffering from mental illness prevails in literature and in the movies.

The Mathematician Protagonist

Mathematicians are rarely main characters in literature. But in stories where they do feature as protagonists, they are troubled individuals. [1]

For example, in Uncle Petros & Goldbach's Conjecture. Mathematical Obsession (Doxiadis, 2000), consider the portrayal of Uncle Petros (a mathematician): the black sheep of the family (p.3), one of "life's failures" (p.3), has "no social life of any kind" (p.6), and, yet, a "phenomenal, unprecedented mathematical talent" (p.19). He spent his childhood in virtual isoiation (p.61) and the nephew mentions "I don't need to add that he never married" (p.93). Further, the nephew says: "Great loves are often born of loneliness, and this certainly seems to have been true of my uncle's lifelong affair with numbers" (p.61). Uncle Petros dies from too much mathematics. A minor character in the book, Sammy, also a mathematician, becomes nervous and irritable and acquires "some kind of facial tic" as soon as he goes to graduate school in mathematics (p.156). Another mathematician in the book is portrayed as "a most odd-looking man," "emaciated to an extreme degree," and wearing "extremely thick glasses" (pp.161-162).

A similar message prevails in The Wild Numbers (Schogt, 2000) in which the main character, Isaac, is so obsessed with mathematics that he cannot maintain human relationships. In addition, although he is only 35 years old, he talks of feeling old and depressed. Yet, an anonymous mathematician reviewer of this work remarked: "The mathematicians in this novel are portrayed as real people, not the stereotypical socially inept geniuses often depicted in literature." Well, we find it surprising that this particular character is considered a "real" person, but perhaps in comparison to other portrayals ...

Mefisto (Banville, 1986) features a tragic male mathematician, Gabriel, who describes all situations he encounters in terms of mathematics. In addition, nothing really goes very well for Gabriel. Consider all the following events that happen to him in the story: he has an awful childhood, his mother dies, he ends up burned and scarred over his entire body, his first girlfriend is deaf, and his lover is a drug addict.

Even when the mathematician is not the main character, his (or sometimes her, but not often) life is still rather tragic. In Brazzaville Beach (Boyd, 1995), the main character is married to a mathematician. The marriage is portrayed as "doomed" and the mathematician as brilliant but frustrated. He eventually goes insane. In Division of Zero (Chiang, 1991), we find a brilliant female mathematician who attempts suicide. The main character in The Mind-Body Problem (Goldstein, 1993) is married to a mathematician who is portrayed at his best as self-centered and socially inept. In Out of the Sun (Goddard, 1997), we find a mathematician in a coma. This might give one hope for a deviation from the common stereotypes of mathematicians, but the reader discovers that the preoccupation with math caused the coma, and, through flashbacks, that the mathematician is quite a tragic individual in many (and bizarre) ways.

Off to the Movies

In the movies that feature math teachers, positive portrayals exist (e.g., Stand and Deliver, Musca & Menendez, 1987). However, the emphasis is clearly on these characters as teachers -- not mathematicians. In terms of movie characters as mathematicians, the theme rings true here as well: Mathematicians rarely feature as movie characters, but when they do, they have some problems!

Good Will Hunting (Bender & Van Sant, 1997) features Matt Damon as Will, a janitor at MIT who is actually a mathematical genius. Problematic issues that Will deals with in this movie stem from the clashing of his working-class roots with the pressure exerted by math professor Lambeau, who discovers Will and wants to pull him out of the lower class and into doing something worthwhile with his life. The pompous and elitist Lambeau is the mathematician in the movie. His interest in Will is self-serving. He wants to use this young man's abilities to aid him in his own research; Lambeau fails to consider Will's own dreams and ambitions. In this movie, the mathematician is not mentally ill, nor socially inept. Rather, the mathematician is a selfish elitist. Lambeau expresses the attitude that he must save this boy from his loser friends. Lambeau is above the masses, and cannot live in their world. Lambeau does not present a character that the audience wishes to emulate.

Sneakers (Lasker, Parkes & Robinson, 1992) presents a minor character who is a mathematician. The character is killed off early in the movie, but we find him portrayed as a genius -- the creator of a code-breaking computer chip. This mathematician's appearance strays from the "nerdy" stereotype. He has long hair and wears flashy clothes. His arrogance features prominently. Like Lambeau in Good Will Hunting, he expresses disdain for the masses of people who cannot grasp the depth of his intellect. Although not nerdy nor necessarily socially inept, this character puts his work ahead of an obvious love interest. While this beautiful woman friend tries to seduce him, he remarks "I must return to my work."

Consider the movie, The Mirror Has 2 Faces (Streisand, 1996), in which the mathematician (a college professor) is portrayed as a nice man, but socially inept. Though an author of well-received books, his performance in the classroom is poor; he cannot relate to the students. His marriage proposal sounds like a mathematical proof, and the response at the end given by his intended is "huh?"

In Pi (Watson & Aronofsy, 1998) we find a brilliant mathematician who struggles with schizophrenia and paranoia. He cannot handle social interactions of any kind. There are six deadbolts on his door, and he suffers from migraine headaches. Kasman reviews the movie on his website (see our first endnote) and concludes that "the moral seems to be: it is better to get a lobotomy than to be a mathematician."

A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr. (Howard, in production) will be released in December 2001. Nash was a famous mathematician and also a paranoid schizophrenic. Although this movie is based on a true story (so the writers have not created the mental illness), why is his mental illness selected as such a salient aspect of his life? We suppose it is interesting ... At least a handsome actor (Russell Crowe) is set to portray him!

Female mathematicians fare no better. In A Hill on the Dark Side of the Moon (Sundberg & Hjulstrom, 1983), the portrayal of the mathematician Sonya Kovalevskaya prompted an anonymous mathematician to remark "That movie says that to be a female mathematician you have to be ugly, neurotic, and a bad mother." In Antonia's Line (Cornelisse, de Weers, de Wolf, & Gorris, 1995), a minor character (a mathematician) repeatedly chooses mathematics over her infant child. Her mothering skills are at best absent and cold. In IQ (Baum & Schepisi, 1994), the female mathematician is smart about mathematics, but not about anything else. She also lacks any social confidence or skills. In It's My Turn (Elfano & Weill, 1980), we find a portrayal of a moderately successful, but clearly flustered, female mathematician.

And mathematicians in plays do not fare any better. In Proof (Auburn & Sullivan, 2000), meet Catherine, a daughter of a mathematician, who herself is a mathematician and who becomes involved with a mathematician. Catherine struggles with tremendous family issues and her own mental illness. Her father suffered similarly with mental illness, but what is especially interesting about the mental illness is that the "genius" portrayal does not go along with it. This time, the portrayal is clearly about an ordinary mathematician. Yet, the author of Proof states the following: "I think there is some connection between extremely prodigious mathematical ability and craziness. I don't think that math drives people crazy, but those with edgy or slightly irrational personalities are drawn to it." We use this quote not as affirmation that "strange" personalities are drawn to mathematics, as we do not believe that premise. Rather, we use the quote to say that this portrayal of mathematicians is, at least at times, premedit ated!

Now, many of the famous mathematicians were indeed mentally ill, but there is no reason to necessarily believe that mental illness runs high among mathematicians in general. In addition, many of the most famous thinkers in various fields were mentally ill, yet this is not a common portrayal of great thinkers outside the hard sciences -- math, in particular.

In Closing: Perceptions of Mathematicians

In research done on elementary school students' perceptions of mathematicians, under the direction of "draw a mathematician and write a caption," students drew bald men with glasses and beards, who were working at a blackboard or a computer. Examples of captions include:

* Mathematicians have no friends, except other mathematicians, not married or seeing anyone, usually fat, very unstylish, wrinkles in their forehead from thinking so hard, no social life whatsoever, 30 years old, a very short temper.

* Mathematicians are people who think really hard and never have sex.

Based on the kinds of images of mathematicians promulgated in our popular culture, we have to wonder how encouraging this is for drawing young people into the field of mathematics. [2]

The terms, characterizations, and images that people conjure up reflect what is available in the popular culture. When you meet a mathematician who fails to fit the stereotype as here presented, do you revise your image of mathematicians, or simply assume that the person is an exception to the rule? Your response to this question may reflect, in part, the power of these popular culture images.

(*.) Janelle L. Wilson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Carmen M. Latterell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics/Statistics at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

NOTES

1. Alex Kasman, a mathematician from College of Charleston, has compiled a list of written fiction (including novels, short stories, and plays) in which a character (either major or minor) is a mathematician. His web site, http://math.cofc.edu/ faculty/kasman/MATHFICT/Default.html, lists the titles and gives a synopsis of each. Currently, he has approximately 60 entries that we consider to be truly works of fiction with a mathematician as any type of character. Out of this, approximately 45% have characters who are troubled. Another approximately 20% have characters who are "mad" in a science-fictional sense of the word.

2. We once pilot-tested a Likert scale survey that we had written to measure attitudes towards mathematics of a group of math majors. Even these people had an image of mathematicians as to be respected, hut not aspired to. They responded in the positive to such statements as: Mathematicians are nerdy. I'd rather be beautiful than good at mathematics. Mathematicians are dull. And in the negative to such statements as: Mathematicians are sexy. I would rather my child be good in mathematics than good in sports. Yet, they did respond positively to these statements: I really admire people who are good in mathematics. I respect people who are really good in mathematics.

WORKS CITED

Auborn, D. (Author), & Sullivan, D. (Director) (2000) Proof [Play] (City Center, New York, NY.)

Banville, J. (1986) Mefisto. Boston: David R. Godine.

Baum, C. (Producer), & Schepisi, F. (Producer & Director) (1994) I. Q. [Film]. (Available from Paramount, Hollywood.)

Bender, L. (Producer), & Van Sant, G. (Director) (1997) Good Will Hunting [Film]. (Available from Miramax, New York.)

Boyd, W. (1995) Brazzaville Beach. Marietta, GA: Bard Books.

Buffet, J., Guth, R., & Mayer, P. (1999) Math Suks [Recorded by Buffet, J.]. Coral Reefer Music.

Chiang, T. (1991) Division by Zero. Hanover, PA: Doubleday.

Cornelisse, G., de Weers, H., de Wolf, H. (Producers), & Gorris, M. (Director) (1995) Antonia's Line [Film]. (Available from Fox Lorber Films, South Burlington, VT.)

Doxiadis, A. (2000) Uncle Petros & Goldbach's Conjecture: Mathematical Obsession. New York: Bloomsbury USA.

Elfand, M. (Producer), & Weill, C. (Director) (1980) It's My Turn [Film]. (Available from Columbia Tristar, Burbank, CA.)

Goddard, R. (1997) Out of the Sun. New York: Henry Holt.

Goldstein, R. (1993) The Mind-body Problem. Toronto, Ontario: Penguin.

Howard, R. (Producer & Director) (In production) A Beautiful Mind: a Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr. [Film].

Lasker, L., Parkes, W. (Producers), & Robinson, P. (Director) (1992) Sneakers [Film]. (Available from Universal City Studios, Los Angeles.)

Musca, T. (Producer), & Menendez, R. (Director) (1987) Stand and Deliver [Film]. (Available from Warner Brothers, Burbank, CA.)

Schogt, P. (2000) The Wild Numbers. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.

Streisand, B. (Producer & Director) (1996) The Mirror Has 2 Faces [Film]. (Available from TriStar, Culver City, CA.)

Sundberg, P. (Producer), & Hjulstrom, L. (Director) (1983) A Hill on the Dark Side of the Moon [Film]. (Available from Swedon 7.)

Watson, E. (Producer), & Aronofsky, D. (Director) (1998) Pi [Film]. (Available from Artisan, Santa Monica, CA.)