The Borderland between Education and Entertainment - Popular Science Lectures and Educational Films in Nineteenth Century Britain

This paper explores the characteristics of the term “educational film,” which was frequently used in late 19th to early 20th century British cinema, situating this concept within the historical context of Victorian popular science lectures and the emergence of educational films. Through this analysis, the study highlights three key aspects of educational films. First, the modes of production and exhibition of educational films inherited and transformed the lecture format practiced in venues of popular science. Second, the hybridity of educational films can be understood within the historical context of the negotiation between education and entertainment, which was already evident in the practices of popular science lectures. Third, the invention and refinement of the cinematic apparatus were closely linked to the practices of popular science. To support these arguments, this study examines the cultural and media environment surrounding the Royal Institution and the Royal Polytechnic Institution, which were key venues for popular science before the 1851 Great Exhibition. It focuses on prominent popular science lecturers such as John Tyndall and John Henry Pepper. Additionally, it analyzes the routes through which Cecil Hepworth and George Smith entered the field of filmmaking around 1896, as well as their early cinematic practices within the context of popular science. The domain of popular science functioned as a liminal space where education and entertainment, scientific demonstration and magical spectacle, experiment and illusion, rhetoric and visuality were intertwined. This characteristic suggests that, regardless of the educational images projected through optical devices, they inevitably acquired a supernatural and mysterious quality upon projection. In conclusion, just as popular science lectures sought to educate audiences about the limits of human perception through projection devices, early cinema’s approach to education was not merely about transmitting specific content. Instead, it symbolized an effort to transform the magical nature of cinema into a form of self-reflective contemplation.