Hollywood Utopia

esearch observed at the beginning of the film. In the novel Hammond is devoured
by dinosaurs of his own creation and is thus brought down by the chaos theory that
Crichton uses as a metaphor for things as they really are. As in ‘Paradise Lost’, the
God/father-figure survives the rebellions of his own creations.
‘In the end, Adam and Eve leave Eden hand in hand as equals in humble knowledge
of their mutual frailty and mutual need for each other in the chaotic world’,
realising they ‘must henceforth live in’ but remain ‘unable to command’ (Hawkins
1995). Consequently, ever since the Fall, 32 the image of eternal stability, even
universal deep ecological certitude, invariably seems unappealing. Aesthetically, at
least, human nature appears to embrace chaos and unpredictability. Conversely,
however, the unrelieved portrayal of chaos in itself promotes the desire for order to
reassert itself, like the seasons in nature which can be appreciated most clearly
through the film’s closure.
Jurassic Park and Closure
As the protagonists finally leave the hitherto idyllic island in a helicopter
(reminiscent of the guilty flight from Vietnam), after having destroyed the
atmosphere and natural environment, ecological messages and ethical positions are
‘cognitively’ signalled and framed for the audience as well as for the protagonists.
The final helicopter’s ascent casts shadows on the landscape below, echoing the
first visualisation of the helicopter in the film which inadvertently re-buried
‘authentic’ research by scientists who cared nothing for glamour and celebrity.
Screen time is provided for addressing a number of conflicting ecologically framed
questions focused on both protagonists and, by extension, screen audiences.
Unlike the mechanical bird which first arrives on the island, bringing with it ‘the
viruses of commerce, law, greed, power and self-deception, which flourish under
the culture of Yankee imperialism’ (O’Neill in Cohen 1996: 307), by the end of the
narrative, as the remaining protagonists ascend out of the ecocidal nightmare, I
would suggest colonial residues have been disrupted and more all encompassing
ecological questions have come into focus both visually and thematically.
The main protagonist’s specialist cognitive experiences have become radicalised
by exposure to such an ecological experiment which negates the often forgettable
fairground/fairytale ride or pleasurable simulacrum as defined by Baudrillard and
embodied within much of the Disney oeuvre. The tool of special effects in the film
allows audiences to grapple with evolutionary and interactive nuances of ‘nature’.
In particular, audiences can observe in the faces of the protagonists what they have
learned and internalised as they are silently individuated by the final probing
camera. As affirmed by Faden, such intimacy is very rare in SFX-driven films, since
they often dramatise background perspectives over and above the foreground.
Unlike the innocent gaze of the protagonists at the start of their adventure as they
2 Nature Film and Ecology 77