By New Worker
Cinema Correspondent
The
term dinosaur is often a by-word for anything either actually dead or in some
way out of date. A few years ago anyone
who suggested that rampant privatisation, or perhaps said that the water
industry should be taken back into public ownership, was described as one.
These creatures actually died out about 65 million years ago probably
the result of an asteroid hitting the planet. But in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic
World franchise, through very clever genetic engineering, they have been
brought back to life.
These films, based on the books of Michael
Creighton are a more traditional type of science fiction; in many ways closer
to the original science fiction stories such as Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. These stories exaggerate
the scientific possibilities and play on the fears, generated by them, of the
contemporary age.
The opening scenes make parallels between
an imagined re-extinction of the dinosaurs on a Costa Rican island and actual species
faced with extinction. We see Dr Ian Malcolm, played by Geoff Goldblum, who
features in the earlier Jurassic Park films,
argue against a rescue plan for the dinosaurs. Arguing for a rescue plan are a
kind of dinosaur Greenpeace led by Claire Dearing, the lead character in the earlier
Jurassic World.
The most recent film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, like most action adventure films,
has its heroes and villains. The heroes are, of course, Claire Dearing, a
corporate events organiser played by Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, Spider Man III and As You Like It). She is aided by Owen Grady, a former US
marine played by Chris Pratt (Jurassic
World, Guardians of the Galaxy
and The Lego Movie) and they are
assisted by a computer nerd and some kind of eco-vet. But it is the film’s villains
that pose the more interesting questions.
The film gives the impression that
capitalism, and more to the point giant entertainment corporations, are
entities created by kindly, paternalistic old men with philanthropic ideas who
just want people to enjoy themselves, provided, of course, if they can afford
the entrance fees. This wonderful system is somehow spoilt by nasty, bean-counting
accountant types who ruin it all by wanting to make a profit.
Anyone with a knowledge of capitalism’s
history over the last few hundred years might have noticed that making a profit
might just have played a small part it the system’s inner workings.
Watching the film brought to mind the institution of the theme parks. The
first were set up in in the USA by the thoroughly sinister Walt Disney; who far
from being a nice old man who just wanted people to have fun was, in fact, an
anti-Semitic, union-busting racist.
The film’s villains are essentially the
bad capitalists. Those who appear really bad are Russian arms dealer types who
wish to use dinosaurs for military purposes. But people have been using animals
for military purposes since the Bronze Age; although this was mostly tameable
mammals as opposed to predatory reptiles.
In one of the scenes dinosaurs are
auctioned off for large sums of money. The creatures start to run amok and
well, eat people. This is what many of the audience, like the crowds in the
Roman arena, have been waiting for. It is in this scene that one of the
cowering billionaires pushes his wife, girlfriend or other female consort into
the path of a somewhat angry carnivorous monster.
The film contains not only good and bad
capitalists but also good and bad dinosaurs.
An example of one is Blue, a velociraptor trained and reared by Owen
Grady, who actually becomes a character in the film. I almost laughed out loud
when I saw back footage of Grady with the dinosaur behaving more like a kitten
or a puppy. Now, I’m not dinophobic but
velociraptors were highly dangerous, predatory reptiles not capable of the
emotions shown by mammals. Still it is science-fiction, after all.
Suffice it to say the film does contain a
lot of nonsense from an ideological perspective and from what could be
described as ‘Science Comedy’. But if you are at a loose end and are able to see
through much of the nonsense (and if you are reading this paper you probably
can) it still might be worth a visit to your local multiplex.
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