Discussing
Jurassic World’s Cruelty Toward its Creatures

Josh Larsen

Josh Larsen
June 13, 2015

If Jurassic World is a far cry from its ancestor, that’s partly because it’s missing Jurassic Park's sense of respectful wonder.

Erik
June 17, 2015

Are you sure you're not confusing what happened into the film with the statement the film was trying to say? Just because there is wanton destruction of animals in the film does not mean that the studio is in favour of it.

I found it to be a rather apocalyptic distopian film decrying of the effects of messing with nature to breed a "monster"

Josh Larsen
TC Staff
June 17, 2015

Fair question, Erik. There are a lot of speeches about the dangers of "messing with nature," so that's clearly what the movie wants us to hear. But I usually find it more revealing to watch what a movie does, rather than listen to what it says. To me, Jurassic World's heart was not in the warning (no matter how many boring speech scenes we get) or in the wonder (which Jurassic Park's was), but in the "thrill" of its deaths. Simply comparing the kill count (human and animal) between this and Jurassic Park is revealing.

Jim Puliafico
June 25, 2015

You're SeaWorld point is right on. And, while not including specific or discrete references to the recent SeaWorld issues and positions, the JW story definitely hints at those things.
For me, this was most noticeable in Chris Pratt's character's position as the 'caretaker' and mildly vocal proponent of how the animals should be handled; ie. "the only thing they know since birth is the inside of this paddock". This line alone instantly brought to mind SeaWorld's problematic model for it's whales and other animals.
And while I understand your criticisms and had some of the same huge problems with this film, I'm a bit confounded as to how much I ended up enjoying it as entertainment.

Josh Larsen
TC Staff
June 25, 2015

In Reply to Jim Puliafico (comment #27268)
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Jurassic World is "entertainment" insofar as we define entertainment as simply being bigger, louder, brighter, something-er than whatever our previous piece of entertainment was, a strategy that obviously still works for some audiences but usually leaves me exhausted.

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