If you grew up in the ’90s, there was probably a time in your childhood when you were very fascinated by dinosaurs. It was the days of Dinosaururomania, a fad that appeared among the youngest and that wore the Jurassic Park films.
The first of these films, directed by Steven Spielberg, premiered in 1993 and was based on Michael Crichton’s book of the same name. The investment was million-dollar, making the film one of the most expensive products to date. Jurassic Park quickly became the largest-rated film in film history (until 1997, when it was overthrown by the Titanic).
- What is the true secret of this success? In addition to a fantastic marketing campaign.
- Jurassic Park appeared at a very favorable time.
- The special effects of the 1970s and 1980s.
- However surprising.
- Were quite rudimentary.
- But new technologies that began to emerge before the Internet allowed Jurassic Park to show effects never seen before.
We, the children, are fascinated by these strange extinct animals; they seemed so real that they were recorded in our memory forever, despite the difficulty of their names, we all knew what a Velociraptor, a Triceratops and, by the way, a Tyrannosaurus rex, we also knew how to differentiate them between carnivores and herbivores, and we knew a lot of data about animals that we had never seen outside the cinema screens.
The fascination and success they generated led to the recording of their respective sequels, and adaptations were also made to a more childish audience, with the search for drawings for El Valle Encantado, directed by Spielberg.
The 1990s were marked by dinosaurs; We grew up with them and, soon after, with the arrival of the new century, it seemed that the fever had passed. Until 2015 a fourth film appeared in this sequence, titled Jurassic World. The success was not the same as the first. , but the curiosity of these children (already teenagers and young adults) awoke and the dinosaurs refilled the cinemas.
A second film from this new series was recently released, and the funny thing is that when we looked at it from an adult perspective, we realized that Jurassic Park hides much more than roars and science fiction.
Another of the secrets of success is undoubtedly the scientific moment that was experienced at the time, let us not forget that the 90s were also the time of Dolly the Sheep and that the news spoke of possible advances that, until that moment, did not seem possible.
Therefore, the idea that, from a fossilized mosquito, it was possible to draw the blood of a dinosaur and be able to clone it seemed possible and, at the same time, fascinating for the time.
At that time we did not yet know that dinosaurs had feathers and that the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex did not roar and sounded much more like that of a bird (its closest relatives), however, many scientists have helped to make the image of these dinosaurs as realistic as possible.
This first film shows a billionaire who decides to build a particular park on the island of Nublar, and his team of scientists resurrected these dinosaurs by combining the dna remains found in mosquitoes with frog DNA to fill the gaps.
The park owner decided to hire paleontologist Alan Grant and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler to join the evaluation committee.
The two specialists are fascinated to discover these species, as they have devoted their entire lives to their study, however, from the beginning, we see how they question some of the decisions that have been made and the morality of the park.
The species created are all female because in this way they would prevent their reproduction and could control the population of dinosaurs, however, the DNA of some frogs used in cloning comes from a species that, when found in a unisex environment, is able to change sex.
Therefore, these dinosaurs are able to reproduce in the same way as frogs, thus demonstrating that life always finds a way, and that the struggle for survival is always present in all species, adapting to changes according to the theory of evolution.
In this way, the film highlights the eternal dilemma of science, the “game of being God”, and leads us to wonder whether human beings should really decide the lives of other species.
Throughout history, we have seen a large number of animals disappear from the planet because of human intervention and whimsy; Dinosaurs, on the other hand, became extinct by decision of nature, without human intervention. Is there any interest in reviving an already extinct species or is it not simply another man’s whim?
Despite the fantasy, Jurassic Park is very close to our reality, offering an ethical discourse about our own actions, about the specifics we live on a daily basis. We believe that we can decide their life, their reproduction, their food, and we even give them a role so that they are at our service: the pig is the food, the foxes are the coats, the dogs are friends and the monkeys, fun.
The latest films in the series have re-aroused our curiosity, but now we want to know more about the real message they’re trying to convey. At Jurassic World (2015) we see that dinosaurs continue to live on the island of Nublar. now transformed into an amusement park with technology worthy of today.
The park exhibits its animals as if it were a zoo, all to satisfy human curiosity and for the enjoyment of some people. Any amusement park that wants to continue attracting the public must innovate, and better than mutating a dinosaur is exhibiting to the fullest. terrible specimen of all time, a species created by and for humans: the Indominus rex, a very attractive name for old and new visitors to decide to spend a weekend of adventures on the island of Nublar.
As in previous films, this endeavor will make many forget that those who live in the park are living beings, beings that should not be exposed to the public as if they were attractions; this whole game will have, as in previous films, catastrophic consequences. that will make us rethink the limits of science and, above all, our own ethical conscience about the rest of the species.
In the latest film, Jurassic World: Threatened Kingdom (2018), the plot follows a very different path: the island has been abandoned, but the dinosaurs still live there, that’s when an erupting volcano threatens the existence of these species. hence two opposing parts emerge: those who believe that nature itself corrects the mistake made during its cloning and those who, now that dinosaurs have come back to life, think that we should avoid extinction.
A complex moral debate that constantly resembles the life of zoos, the abuse we make of all non-human species, selfishness and the idea of human superiority, a critique that many people did not realize in childhood, but for which, today, he should be grateful.
Are we really aware of our impact on nature, both on the environment and on other species?From the purest fantasy, Jurassic Park puts many everyday acts on the agenda and invites us to think that, if we really want a better planet, we must think about the treatment we give to the rest of the species that live there.
“The secret to a happy life is to accept that we are never in control. “Jurassic Park?