Themes In Jurassic Park

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Themes in Jurassic Park

Released in 1993, Steven Spielberg’s ground breaking summer blockbuster ‘Jurassic Park’ contains many themes, such as parenthood, money and greed, and the ethics of science. In this essay I will explore these themes and show how the director illustrated them in this film.

In the film, Jurassic Park’s owner John Hammond is being sued millions of dollars after a man is eaten by one of the raptors at his park. The lawyers say that in order to keep it running he needs endorsement from experts. Hammond seeks out the help of Palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant and his girlfriend Palaeobotanist Ellie Satler. The two of them, along with physicist Dr Iain Malcolm, are flown to Jurassic Park and are initially stunned by the huge, genetically engineered dinosaurs. However, when the dinosaurs escape and leave them fighting for their lives they decide not to endorse the park after all.

The theme of money and greed is developed throughout the film. One of the fist times we see this theme is when John Hammond says: “we spared no expense”. He says this phrase again and again many times during the film, which shows us that Hammond has more money than sense, and believes that money will solve everything.

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To highlight greed even more, Spielberg created the character Dennis Nedrey – the epitome of greed. The very fist time we see Nedrey he is gorging on food at a restaurant, and when the bill comes through he says to his companion: “don’t get cheap on me.” The next time we see him when he is working on Jurassic Park’s computers, his desk is littered with food packets and he goes to the vending machines repeatedly. We see him and Hammond arguing about financial problems at the park - he demands more money boasting about how good he is ...

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