Most of us, will have very fond memories of Jurassic Park. It came out when i was a school boy. It was one of the rare films,our otherwise orthodox Christian school took us to. The only other film we were taken to was Ten Commandments,without the kissing scenes. Jurassic park even managed triggered a small evolution Vs Creationism debate in my class. I was asked the most famous question "If humans evolved from Monkeys, why are monkeys still monkeys" by a fellow class mate.Nevertheless, it will be always part of our school days memories.
It had dinosaurs of all sort. The gigantic plant eating ones, the cocky venom spitting one, the TRex and the Raptors that chase the kids in the kitchen. Not just the dinosaurs, even people in the film are memorable folks. The old, fat, white and white John Hammond. The lovable parent like paleontologist couple.The uncle like guy in glasses who we keeps on rambling things we did not understand throughout the film. The little girl who knows computers and the little boy who is thrown from the electric fence. Also, last but not the least, the bald lawyer who gets eaten by TRex after he runs into a toilet. It had a lot of memorable people and scenes we will cherish for a long time.
But, have any of you seen the film lately? I stumbled across the film last year and found the film is still very engrossing. But i also realized that it has much more in it. It is not a simple science fiction thriller film. Sure, the film is very engaging and has a lot of thriller moments. But overall, the story has a lot of different dimensions.
To begin with, this one of the rare sci-fi Hollywood action film in which the human race accepts defeat and retreats. Think about every famous sci-fi film you have seen. Mummy, Godzilla, KingKong, Independence day, Predator etc etc...In all these films, in the end, the sci-fi creature dies and the main characters will survive. Of-course, there will always one supporting actor who sacrifices his life to save others. But apart from him the protagonist, his girl friend or wife, their family and every one of them will survive.Sure, in Jurassic Park also every one survives. But they don't win the fight. They will barely manage to escape and the dinosaurs will live on. They will just leave the island and in the end we even see the "When Dinosaurs ruled the earth" banner falling on the victorious T Rex.
But, why it ends this way? Even, in the subsequent parts we see that people barely manage to escape the island and retreat. To understand this lets go to the start of this story. John Hammond, who is the owner of the park explains the ambition he had in life and tells how it all started. He says he wanted to create the most amazing show in the world. So he funded a chinese genetic engineer and his team(not explained in the film but explained in the book) to clone dinosaurs. Together they succeed in recreating the most dominant creature of past. He says, he wanted to create a controlled environment inside electric fences, so that these magnificent creatures of nature can be show cased for the viewing pleasure of the people.
When paleontologists Alan and Ellie come on board to inspect and certify the park, then are amazed by what they see. Even though they are astounded by what they see, they do share their concerns about the park. However, Ian the mathematician, outright rejects the idea. He says, humans cannot control nature. We think we can but we cant. We are too small to do that and nature will always find a way. He also says that they are building a system which is too complex to control and it can break down any time. But the lawyer is thrilled about the park and he is happy that a huge fortune can be made out of the park.
But,when the storm comes in and the same time the IT guy who controls the park tries to a hack , everything crumbles. The predators break loose, follow their instincts and being to hunt. And the most advanced park in the world with all amazing technologies reduces to an uncontrollable jungle overnight.Nature subsequently expands and finds its way into all nooks and corners of the park. This we see in the subsequent parts of the film.
So, the story in my views is kind of a warning message. It warns about the ever expanding commercialization of everything. From drinking water to education to entertainment, everything is getting commodified. The world is now controlled by the big corporations and we think we are doing amazing. But what we forget and what the scientific community is warning us is, we are screwing up with the nature. We have increased the temperature of earth, we are cutting down trees at alarming rate and we are running out of fossil fuels. The world is getting complex and complex everyday. And as the mathematician suggests, complex systems are too difficult to control. Everything might just flip. This i think is the core message of the story.
But what can we do? we the common folk are like Tim and Lex in the film. All we want to do is to live a peaceful life and we cant do much except probably actively talking about. So, we have wait and see if the adults take any action about the distress signals we see. Till then ...."Hold on to your butts!"
It had dinosaurs of all sort. The gigantic plant eating ones, the cocky venom spitting one, the TRex and the Raptors that chase the kids in the kitchen. Not just the dinosaurs, even people in the film are memorable folks. The old, fat, white and white John Hammond. The lovable parent like paleontologist couple.The uncle like guy in glasses who we keeps on rambling things we did not understand throughout the film. The little girl who knows computers and the little boy who is thrown from the electric fence. Also, last but not the least, the bald lawyer who gets eaten by TRex after he runs into a toilet. It had a lot of memorable people and scenes we will cherish for a long time.
But, have any of you seen the film lately? I stumbled across the film last year and found the film is still very engrossing. But i also realized that it has much more in it. It is not a simple science fiction thriller film. Sure, the film is very engaging and has a lot of thriller moments. But overall, the story has a lot of different dimensions.
To begin with, this one of the rare sci-fi Hollywood action film in which the human race accepts defeat and retreats. Think about every famous sci-fi film you have seen. Mummy, Godzilla, KingKong, Independence day, Predator etc etc...In all these films, in the end, the sci-fi creature dies and the main characters will survive. Of-course, there will always one supporting actor who sacrifices his life to save others. But apart from him the protagonist, his girl friend or wife, their family and every one of them will survive.Sure, in Jurassic Park also every one survives. But they don't win the fight. They will barely manage to escape and the dinosaurs will live on. They will just leave the island and in the end we even see the "When Dinosaurs ruled the earth" banner falling on the victorious T Rex.
But, why it ends this way? Even, in the subsequent parts we see that people barely manage to escape the island and retreat. To understand this lets go to the start of this story. John Hammond, who is the owner of the park explains the ambition he had in life and tells how it all started. He says he wanted to create the most amazing show in the world. So he funded a chinese genetic engineer and his team(not explained in the film but explained in the book) to clone dinosaurs. Together they succeed in recreating the most dominant creature of past. He says, he wanted to create a controlled environment inside electric fences, so that these magnificent creatures of nature can be show cased for the viewing pleasure of the people.
When paleontologists Alan and Ellie come on board to inspect and certify the park, then are amazed by what they see. Even though they are astounded by what they see, they do share their concerns about the park. However, Ian the mathematician, outright rejects the idea. He says, humans cannot control nature. We think we can but we cant. We are too small to do that and nature will always find a way. He also says that they are building a system which is too complex to control and it can break down any time. But the lawyer is thrilled about the park and he is happy that a huge fortune can be made out of the park.
But,when the storm comes in and the same time the IT guy who controls the park tries to a hack , everything crumbles. The predators break loose, follow their instincts and being to hunt. And the most advanced park in the world with all amazing technologies reduces to an uncontrollable jungle overnight.Nature subsequently expands and finds its way into all nooks and corners of the park. This we see in the subsequent parts of the film.
So, the story in my views is kind of a warning message. It warns about the ever expanding commercialization of everything. From drinking water to education to entertainment, everything is getting commodified. The world is now controlled by the big corporations and we think we are doing amazing. But what we forget and what the scientific community is warning us is, we are screwing up with the nature. We have increased the temperature of earth, we are cutting down trees at alarming rate and we are running out of fossil fuels. The world is getting complex and complex everyday. And as the mathematician suggests, complex systems are too difficult to control. Everything might just flip. This i think is the core message of the story.
But what can we do? we the common folk are like Tim and Lex in the film. All we want to do is to live a peaceful life and we cant do much except probably actively talking about. So, we have wait and see if the adults take any action about the distress signals we see. Till then ...."Hold on to your butts!"
Watched it 3-4 years back and had exactly the same reactions... Extremely well-made movie that has something for everyone.
ReplyDeleteAlso, that's when I learned that Hammond was Richard Attenborough (director of Gandhi).
-Ashok.