Hollywood Utopia

anthropomorphic discussion, which concludes that the only viable ‘nature’
represented is ‘human nature’ (cited in Cohen 1996: 306). Such synthetic nature
is unfavourably contrasted with the more problematic yet proactive agency within
recent science fiction texts, to be explored in the final chapter, where so-called
non-human agents help construct radical post-foundational ethical norms for
humans as eco-sapiens.
Faden’s final conclusion is that the ‘synchronisation between apparatus and
emerging technologies often results in the shift from spectacle to a self-effacing,
invisible style’ which ‘produces a model detailing the trajectory from the
introduction to the standardisation of such new technology which is very much
reductive’ (Faden 1999: 77). Vivian Sobchack, however, remains much more
optimistic about special effects and confidently affirms that from the making of
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), special effects in mainstream science
fiction ‘have been transformed from signs of a rational and objective science and
technology to representations of a joyous, and sublime intensity - thematically
linking postmodern culture’s new “detached”, “free-floating”, and “liberated”
sense of emotional transcendence with the transcendental’ (Sobchack 1997: 287-
8). Combining special effects and live action, or at least prioritising between the
historically accurate and the playful but sublime expression, has become a
challenging prerogative for blockbuster texts which extensively use special effects
and often contradictory notions of ‘realism’ (as explained by André Bazin, for
example) 25 in the creation of their mise-en-scène. Yet all forms ostensibly endorse
the goal of capturing a sublime evocation of ‘nature’, as in the analysis of Twister
above. Sobchack’s utopic assertion, I would contend, effectively negates Faden’s
reductive reading of special effects and explains how the narrative projection of
such texts privilege the pliability rather than the fixity of such (simulated) images,
while speaking directly to audiences within an ecological and ethical framework.
This can be most clearly illustrated by the first encounter with the simulated
dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.
After a number of pre-credit scenes away from the site of adventure and necessary
for the film’s exposition, various experts, including a financial agent, finally reach
the island together with Hammond, the primary architect of the park. Music
reaches a crescendo as the helicopter approaches sight of land and traverses the
majestic shoreline, navigating its way into the inner secrets of the island. To reach
the ground the helicopter has to directly descend, which dissects the landscape and
effectively draws the audience down into the heart of this exotic environment. The
descent is framed by a magnificent waterfall, which is conventionally indexical of a
pristine environment as in Emerald Forest. Finally reaching terra firma, the experts
progress in two Disneyesque jeeps conspicuously displaying the Jurassic Park logo
across their bodywork. Driving through the lush pasture, the vehicles stop to ‘enjoy
the view’. The choreography of touristic pleasure leading to spectatorial pleasure
2 Nature Film and Ecology 73