Steven Spielberg is a cinematic giant whose creative vision has left an indelible mark on the world of film. As a prominent figure in the realm of auteur directors, Spielberg's distinct style and thematic choices have influenced generations of moviegoers. In this blog post, we explore Spielberg's auteurship through the lens of his groundbreaking film "Jurassic Park," delving into the director's signature elements that have helped shape the movie landscape.
Steven Spielberg is renowned for his ability to create compelling narratives that blend spectacle, emotion, and imagination. His directorial approach often centers on relatable characters facing extraordinary circumstances, eliciting empathy from audiences while offering a sense of wonderment. With a career spanning genres from adventure to drama and science fiction, Spielberg's mark on cinema is unmistakable.
"Jurassic Park": A Spielbergian Odyssey
Released in 1993, "Jurassic Park" stands as a monumental achievement in cinematic storytelling. Based on Michael Crichton's novel, the film transports audiences to a prehistoric world where cloned dinosaurs roam. Spielberg's mastery over suspense, spectacle, and emotional resonance is evident throughout the film, making it a quintessential example of his auteurship.
- Emotionally Resonant Characters: The Spielberg Touch
At the heart of Spielberg's auteurship is his knack for creating characters that audiences can deeply connect with. In "Jurassic Park," characters like Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and the two children, Tim and Lex, navigate the awe-inspiring yet perilous dinosaur park. Spielberg's focus on their personal journeys and relationships adds a human dimension that elevates the film beyond its spectacle.
- Theatrical Spectacle: Immersive Visual Storytelling
Spielberg's ability to captivate audiences with breathtaking visuals is exemplified in "Jurassic Park." The grandeur of the dinosaurs is presented through a combination of groundbreaking visual effects and practical animatronics, making the creatures feel remarkably lifelike. The director's attention to detail, framing, and camera movement creates an immersive experience that draws viewers into the heart of the action.
- Themes of Human Ambition and Responsibility
"Jurassic Park" is more than a tale of ancient creatures brought back to life; it explores the ethical and moral implications of scientific advancement. Spielberg uses the hubris of John Hammond, the park's creator, as a cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked ambition. This theme of playing with the forces of nature underscores Spielberg's recurring exploration of human responsibility and the potential consequences of our actions.
Discussion Questions:
- How do the characters' personalities and relationships in "Jurassic Park" make you feel more connected to the story? How does Spielberg's focus on their emotions and challenges help you relate to the film's fantastical elements?
- "Jurassic Park" is filled with exciting dinosaur scenes, but it also explores important ideas about scientific ethics and human responsibility. How does the film make you think about the choices people make when they try to control nature? Can you find any real-world examples that relate to these themes? Maybe even what you have learned about in other classes
- Lastly, Did you like the film? Why/Why Not? Have you watched any other film by this author? Which one is your favorite?
1. In the end, this is a very human story, it shows our characters all of rather different extractions reacting to the peak of wonder and joy, contrasted with the peak of terror. To pick out some highlight characters, Alan Grant, John Hammond, and Ian Malcolm. To start with Alan Grant is a man content with his life, he likes digging up dinosaurs, hanging out with his lady, and being befuddled by new technology despite his immense intelligence. But, the film shakes up his perspective in a big way, he learns the joy of caring for children, that there is more to life than the dig, and that what’s really important are the ones you love. This is all achieved through his seeing dinosaurs, meeting Tim and Lex, and having a near-death experience with his lover. We connect with Grant in that he knows what he wants and eventually becomes a little more human throughout the film. This grounds the film as to endure it to your mind. Ian Malcolm serves as the foil to Grant in that he has a really big personality that sometimes clashes with Grant, especially regarding how he talks with Satler (Grant’s lady). His journey is interesting because he and Grant learn that when the chips are down and they must make the smart decisions to stay alive they aren’t all that different, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t insanely comedic on screen. This is why the audience likes Malcome, he may not be the most likable guy, but boy, is it funny watching him have a moral compass and somehow have the best perspective from the start, such as lines like “Life finds a way.” and “God creates dinosaurs… God destroys dinosaurs… God creates man… Man destroys God… Man creates dinosaurs…” He and the other characters improve from his perspective despite his flamboyant personality. And last but not least, John Hammond we connect with his drive, because we have all had something fail so we try so hard to get the next thing right, that it may go wrong, but in the end we keep trying. Thus, the inherent Humanity of the story. That is not even mentioning Denis Nedry representing greed and the ungrateful side of the human experience.
ReplyDelete2. It is crazy how much of a cautionary tale this is. A real poignant line in the film is said by Alan Grant (Sam Neill) “Dinosaurs and humans are separated by 65 million years of evolution, they were never supposed to coexist, but now they are forced to…” something like that and I think that’s a very true statement. I believe based on my interpretation of the scriptures that there was a time when dinosaurs were living with humans on Earth, destroyed in a flood or because of a meteor that hit Earth and plunged her into an ice age between the days of man and beast I do not know. Still, I do know that tampering with nature is never the best idea as was seen in the film. Look at the Irish potato famine, where they nearly starved to death, or the plague in Interstellar (not a real-world example, but I watched that movie for the first time recently and it was rather good) Both of these things rejected inherent genetic diversity needed for a stable ecosystem and paid the price. Another thing that relates to this is over or under-hunting, you can get a doe tag in the Midwest because of the overabundance of Deer because they're harming the environment. But that is the kicker with free will, we can do whatever we like, no matter the consequences, whether that is making dinosaurs or only planting potatoes.
Delete3. Did I like this movie? I love this movie, it may be my favorite Spielberg, It is just so awesome. Not only are the Dinosaurs stellar, the world-building masterful, and the plot amazing, but it’s a Dinosaur movie that makes me care about the characters. Often in these big visual effects heavy world massing Sci-Fi films (I will use Transformers as my example) the human characters aren’t terribly compelling, Shia Labeouf in Transformers (2007) is nothing more than a dumb kid who gets lucky and gets the hottest woman at his school (Megan Fox, again no character, just there for the male audience to say, “She was hot”). But in Jurassic Park, we get a deeply human story about facing our mistakes and how we respond to adversity, about how the most important thing in life is the ones we love and that we shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature. Further adding to the world-building, the score is immaculate John Williams and Hans Zimmer are the greatest composers ever (I am listening to Mountains from Interstellar as I write, it is peek). Before I move on, I must talk about my favorite scene, they have just arrived on the island and are in the Jeeps and Sam Neil sees the Dinosaurs for the first time the score is playing loud and you get all this magic filling your veins, sends shivers down my spine when John Hammond Says, “Welcome to Jurassic Park.” Similarly, this has one of the best logos ever, the red, yellow, and black is iconic I have mostly Blu-rays in my collection but of the few 4ks the Jurassic Park one is the best by a mile, it is just a black background with the logo on the front, tough to say the least. Enough about how awesome this movie is, the question it brings up is where it ranks among other Spielberg films, which is such a tough question to answer considering the man is a living legend with a filmography the likes of which may never be topped (Nolan maybe), I love a lot of Spielberg flicks: Indiana Jones is such an icon that he helped mold, the best Indy film is Last Crusade in my opinion… Jaws is the best shark movie of all time… Saving Private Ryan, is quite possibly the best war film of all time, Schindler’s List, the list goes on. But if I had to pick a favorite it may have to be Saving Private Ryan, but in the end that may change. Before I end, I thought I might share some hot takes: 1. The Terminal, an underrated gem 2. E.T., other than the Star Wars reference and the Iconic moon thing, is boring as all get out, one day I will give it another try, but I feel E.T. didn’t transcend kids movie in my eyes. 3. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is dumb but has some redeeming qualities.
As we enter the vast world of Jurassic park we meet the main 4 cast Ellie, Alan, Ian and John. Throughout the beginning of the film the watcher is almost supposed to somewhat dislike Alan as the story seems to set the tone like that, furthermore when we meet John in the trailer, he has a robust personality and booming tone of speech, this helps imply that we should like him as his personality is very likeable. As the film progresses the story takes a turn, John's ways aren't ethic, and he hasn't put enough thought into bringing back the extinct. Throughout the turner point and or climax as the tornado begins to show true colors amongst the cast we see a new side of both John and Alan, Alan takes a role as the likable characters as he takes on caring for Johns two grandchildren in the forest amongst deathly creatures, on the otherhand John seems to be somewhat freaking , he is seen not taking charge and making others go in his place. This duality of the story and film change are likeability and for a better understanding as we unfold true colors over the characters. We may also see the use of facial expressions. In almost every scene Steven Spielberg uses this technique masterfully as we get to fully understand the emotions, and ideas of the characters throughout the sometimes seemingly exaggerated expressions. These elements mixed with the otherworldly setting add for a amazing combo.
ReplyDelete2. As the film progresses and the characters get to Jurassic Park we unfold lots of new information as the crew is very sceptical and dont bother to share their ethical and moral opinions one of my favorite line from the film is when Ian states "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God." In my opinion this line is incredibly impactful as we start to see how the characters emotions change after the harsh truth of what its like to have dinosaurs back, this line also emphasizes views and different stand points over dinosaurs. The film also enjoys mentioning how dinosaurs and humans have been apart for 60 million years this is another very important factor as John has just slapped a bunch of instinctual creatures on the earth without them ever adopting the new way of living. This idea of Blindsighting nature and completely forgetting about laws adds a new level of speculation of how the earth could be affected not just cause John brought them back but that nature killed them for a reason and tampering with these can never go right from what we've seen as people.
3. I personally love this film it captures a ton of amazing film elements and emotions that all capture the perfect film, Steven Spielberg was not messing around when creating this and something I find even more impressive is the fact he released two films during this year, Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List both box office hits and some of his biggest if not biggest film he has made and has left a mark on the film industry as a whole. To anyone out there that hasn't experienced this amazing movie series, I highly recommend it, but hey that's just a theory, a film theory.
This is a movie about dinosaurs being resurrected and they kill people, this is really not a very realistic movie, yet you connect to the characters and worry about them. Spielberg focuses on the character’s emotions because it ground this story and keeps viewer’s glued to the screen with characters that you can connect with, so when the characters are put in a dangerous situations you can’t help but to pay attention, this is a very good way to crate tension that many films use. I recently watched Godzilla minus one, and i was watching a video about it after and the video brought up a very interesting point, when you have a big monster, and you have a character, to tell a compelling story you have to connect both, and that is something really hard to do, how do you create a rivalry between a big monster and just a regular human, Godzilla minus one finds a really interesting and compelling way to do this (the movie is really good, i recommend ) and i feel like Jurassic park also does this. By focusing so much on the character's emotions, in a way it connects the dinosaurs to the characters and makes you fear for the characters.
ReplyDeleteJurassic park tackles some pretty interesting topics, that really make you think. I talks how people play god and try to control everything, but nature can’t be controlled, this movie is a warning to people. The movie makes you think about these topics because they are asked by the characters in the movie especially by Eli Malcolm where he asks these questions basically to the audience. The story of humanity is just that wanting to control nature, we control nature to get food to survive and here it takes it to the extreme it asks what if we could resurrect animals that are supposed to be dead?, what if we create life that is not supposed to exist? ,and that would seemingly seem like a very fantastical concept, but with the rapid advancements of technology this may not be far of from reality, in fact it is already possible to clone animals and this has brought up many important discussions whether this is ethical or not.