Animated About Evolution

02/02/2009

How Wallace and Gromit were enlisted in a reading campaign to teach kids Darwinism

by Thomas Quinn
‘Look Gromit, a dinosaur!’ It is something of a revolution: Nick Park’s cuddly plasticine creations supporting a reading campaign inexorably linked to the theory of evolution. The cheese-loving stars of such Oscar winning fare as The Wrong Trousers and A Grand Day Out are this month featured on the cover of a Quick Read version of The Lost World.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 ripping yarn about a group of adventurers who travel to South America in search of dinosaurs is the focus of the One Book – One Edinburgh 2009 campaign. It was chosen because this year marks a series of anniversaries: 150 years since Doyle’s birth; 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species; and 200 years since the birth of its author, Charles Darwin.

The scientist’s birthday – February 12, known as Darwin Day – even falls during the campaign. For Linda Dryden, a reader in English literature at Edinburgh’s Napier University, The Lost World is one of the most influential books of its era.

“It drew on the stories of Henry Rider Haggard which preceded it, adventures such as She and King Solomon’s Mines, but added a twist of its own,” she says. “It was one of the first novels to feature dinosaurs and you can see its influence today.

“Doyle’s style was quite journalistic so it reads in a very modern way. It is exactly the kind of book that will appeal to younger readers and get them excited.” Indeed, Doyle’s plot, which concerns a lost world inhabited by dinosaurs, pterodactyls and primitive men, will seem familiar to any 10-year-old who has seen Jurassic Park or ITV’s Primeval.

“Many people forget that Arthur Conan Doyle was from Edinburgh. He was raised here before moving to England and Sherlock Holmes was inspired by one of his teachers at Edinburgh University,” adds Ali Bowden, a director of campaign organisers Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust.

“The Lost World draws a lot on Darwin’s ideas of evolution and the scientific concerns of the day. Similarly, Darwin studied medicine in Edinburgh – so there are many reasons why it is an appropriate subject.”

The Darwin link means the 2009 campaign won’t just be distributing free copies of The Lost World to schools and libraries in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bristol (home to Wallace and Gromit’s Aardman Animations), but will also include a biography of Darwin in graphic novel form. The obvious intention is to attract young people not just to reading, but to the subjects at the heart of Doyle’s book and Darwin’s work: science, evolution and, by extension, genetics and DNA.

There is no question we face a literacy time-bomb in this country. One recent survey revealed that children now indulge in as much as six hours of “screen time” (computers and television) each day, while the average reading time is just 36 minutes. Campaigns like One Book – One Edinburgh 2009 are attempting to redress this by introducing the idea of reading for fun.
However, by choosing Darwin as one of its subjects, One Book is highlighting something else: namely that, for the vast majority of us, evolution has ceased to be controversial.

“Oh I do hope so. I really do,” says Bowden. “We live in a country where we are free to debate and that is as it should be, but the theory of evolution has been debated and it stands up. I don’t think there is any argument for creationism.”

Creationists, of course, believe that 6,000 years ago God took just six days to create Heaven and Earth and all the creatures we see around us now. They view Darwinism as an atheistic cult and modern science as a tissue of lies. If this strikes you as fanciful, it is worth remembering that when Darwin himself grew up, creationism was the only theory in town. “Evolution was an idea that had come out of radical France – it suggested that men were simply animals, a heretical idea at the time. To be known as an evolutionist during Darwin’s childhood had a similar stigma to being known as a paedophile nowadays,” says James Moore, Darwin’s biographer.

“Darwin knew his theory was massively controversial which is why he kept a lid on it for 20 years before finally publishing The Origin of the Species in 1859. He only used the term ‘evolve’ once, as the very last word of the book.”

Over the decades that followed, the scientific world was split. Great figures like the physicist Michael Faraday and Glasgow’s own Lord Kelvin believed in the Genesis theory laid out in the Bible rather than evolution. Even today, the subject remains highly contentious. Republican Sarah Palin, who last year ran for the US vice presidency alongside John McCain, is the most recent high-level politician to advocate teaching creationism in schools.

Many pilloried her for it, but George W Bush is also a creationist sympathiser as are many high-profile US commentators. Roger Ebert, the US film critic, for instance,  explains on his website that oil is the product of the Great Flood 4,400 years ago, and that Noah’s ark is the cradle for all animal life known today.

It’s not just in America. Creationists are firmly rooted in the UK as well and some independent schools are known to teach the theory in religious education lessons. Biologist Richard Dawkins, best known for his book The God Delusion and perhaps the most prominent Darwinist, claims more than 99.75 per cent of scientists think the theory of evolution stands up to scrutiny.

Genetics and our knowledge of DNA, he says, have filled in many of the blanks Darwin himself was only too aware of. But while filming for Channel 4 last year, he was appalled to meet school pupils studying science in a London comprehensive who would rather believe Genesis.

Dr David Rosevear, chairman of the British Creation Science Movement and a former lecturer in organo-chemistry at Portsmouth University, is a leading spokesman for the creationist cause. Rosevear believes Darwin has been hijacked by atheists like Dawkins to further their anti-religious creed. For him, the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth is an opportunity to get “the truth” across.

“Species don’t just change from one thing into another,” he says. “Inorganic material can’t just suddenly become alive. The very positioning of the Earth in the solar system – five per cent closer to the sun and we’d burn to death, one percent further away and we would freeze – proves that a creator is involved.” Creationism, he believes, is actually growing in strength. In 2001, his organisation set up the Genesis Expo in Portsmouth, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to displays proclaiming the death of Darwinism.

“I think we are making tremendous strides. We are gaining in membership. New movements are starting up, in places like Belgium, and contributions are coming in. People are increasingly feeling they should stand up to bad science and atheism.”

Told of Wallace and Gromit’s attachment to the Edinburgh campaign, Rosevear sniffs: “I suppose it is no different from other science fiction stories, the sort of thing they have on television where people ‘boldly go’.  As long as children can understand it is fiction. The Lost World is a fiction – so is Darwin.”

The big question coming out of all this, however, is yet to be answered. Are Wallace and Gromit Darwinists or not? Their spokesman, wary perhaps of offending religious people the world over, sits on the fence.

“I really don’t know what their views on Darwin are,” says Arthur Sheriff, Aardman Animations publicist. “They are promoting an exhibition on invention at the Science Museum in London, but we’ve never discussed their ideas on evolution.”

Considering Gromit is a dog who can drive a car and make toast, I think we can all guess what their conclusions would be.

We have copies of The Lost World to give away to Big Issue readers. These can be either the original version or the abridged version for kids. There are a limited number of the abridged version, so these will only be distributed on a first come, first served basis.

To claim your copy simply send your name, address and contact number/email to The Lost World Giveaway, The Big Issue Scotland, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW. Or email editorial@bigissuescotland.com, marking LOST WORLD GIVEAWAY in subject line. Indicate whether you would like abridged or original version. One book per household.

For more information about One Book – One Edinburgh 2009, visit www.cityofliterature.com. Dr Linda Dryden discusses The Lost World with writers China Miéville, Roger Luckhurst and Adam Roberts at the capital’s Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, on February 28.