I love movies! I started teaching geology classes and kept getting questions based on an understanding of geology that came from disaster movies. That's when I realized I could teach geology by showing what was wrong with movies. I hope that students take away some understanding of how our Earth works, and that often, it's even cooler than what they show in the movies
Semesters offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2026
Course developer: Dr. Max Christie, Senior Lecturer, Earth Science & Environmental Change; teaching in LAS for 8.5 years
How would you describe the course to someone unfamiliar with the subject?
Hollywood loves a disaster. We've all seen movies with volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis all within the first twenty minutes. But how do those actually work and what has Hollywood got right...and what has it got wrong? In Hollywood Rocks! we take a look at these movies to figure out how the Earth actually works and what's pure Hollywood. Come learn a little about our Earth and watch some fun movies while doing it!
What made you want to create this course?
I love movies! I spent a lot of time as a kid making my own, and thought about filmmaking as a career. Fortunately for everyone, I decided to be a geologist instead. I started teaching geology classes and kept getting questions based on an understanding of geology that came from disaster movies. That's when I realized I could teach geology by showing what was wrong with movies, and the class was born.
Were there any challenges you faced while designing or teaching the course? How did you overcome it?
Any new course is challenging to develop, and I got a lot of help from Dr. Andy Freed at Purdue who has taught a similar course for years. As is often the case, one of the most challenging things is figuring out a way to show what was wrong with the movies without confusing everyone. I had to really separate the fact and fiction in the course.
Now that you've offered the course at least once, what do you hope students took away from it the most?
I hope that students take away some understanding of how our Earth works, and that often, it's even cooler than what they show in the movies!
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