Welcome to Jurassic Park

"The world has just changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look... Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?" — Dr. Alan Grant, "Jurassic Park"

There are some movies that bring you back to a time and place in your life. For me, one of those movies is "Jurassic Park." I was 12 years old, about to begin sixth grade, when I saw "Jurassic Park." It's one of the first movies I have vivid memories of seeing in the theater.

When I see "Jurassic Park," though it's been 22 years since it was released and I've seen it many times as an adult, I'm still transported back to what it felt like to see it through my 12-year-old eyes. It was a movie full of wonder and excitement, something I'd never seen before. That was director Steven Spielberg's specialty during that period in his career. He made movies that captured wonder and ended on peaceful notes — even when the story called for something darker.

After seeing "Jurassic Park" on the big screen, I convinced my mom to let me buy the book, and I read it. It was a darker vision of that same story, but fascinating just the same. It started a life-long love affair with Michael Crichton, the book's author.

As an adult, while the sights still fill me with a sense of wonder, my older self is drawn to the deeper themes of the story. Crichton was a medical doctor, and he wrote most of his books about the cutting edge of medical and scientific technology, but he did so from a cautious mindset. That's true of "Jurassic Park," too.

The novel was released in 1990, before cloning became all the rage. Yet it makes salient points, even today, about how far is too far when it comes to technology. In short, it looks at the dangers of playing God.

I think the line  that has always stood out to me is when Malcolm looks at Hammond and says, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Another key component of this argument is what we, as humans, can control. Dr. Sattler says, “Control is the illusion. You never had control.” She’s of course talking about the park, but I think that’s something we can apply to our lives. I think there is a tendency for us to feel like we’re in control and can maintain that control, but that’s not realistic.

In our modern world there has been little effort made to regenerate dinosaurs, but there are certainly areas where scientific advancement and research are pushing up against tough ethical questions. There has been debate about the use of stem cell research and there are also efforts being made to create human clones. Scientists have already begun cloning animals, we are probably even consuming cloned animals as part of the food supply, and it seems it’s only a matter of time before human cloning is achieved.

I think men have always reached beyond their own understanding. There are examples throughout human history and even in the Bible. If you think about the story of the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis, that’s what was happening there. Men united to build a tower that stretched to the heavens. It wasn’t to glorify God, it was to glorify the achievement of man. God responded by confusing their language — creating language barriers — and scattering the peoples throughout the Earth.

That’s what Malcolm was driving at in questioning Jurassic Park, it wasn’t their technical ability but rather a moral and ethical question. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Pride goes before the fall.” That’s actually adapted from the Bible. Proverbs 16:8 says, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” 

Those of you who’ve seen the movie know that it ends on a somewhat uplifting note with the three scientists, Hammond and his grandkids flying away. Of course, the book didn’t have quite as rosey a wrap-up, particularly for Hammond. In the book, Hammond is actually literally consumed by his creation. It adds a further cautionary note to the book, which sometimes draws a literary comparison to Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” because of some of its plot elements.

This was a very Spielbergian ending to this story. For much of his early career, Spielberg was known for lightening the tone of his films and having some kind of happy ending. He did the same thing with his adaptation of "Jaws." That movie ends with Chief Brody and Hooper paddling home cracking jokes. The book “Jaws,” written by Peter Benchly, is much darker. In the book Hooper has an affair with Chief Brody’s life, and near the end of the book he’s eaten by a shark. But Spielberg didn’t think infidelity and shark murder made for a good time at the movies, so he hired Richard Dreyfuss and made a horror movie into a sort of buddy comedy.

That’s sort of what he did with “Jurassic Park.” In the book, Dr. Malcolm dies — though in his most misguided moment Crichton resurrected him in the book “The Lost World.” In the book, John Hammond is eaten by his dinosaur creations as he’s running away. In the book, Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, Tim, and Lexie are taken to a Costa Rican prison after being rescued.

The book begins with a series of vignettes about the dinosaurs attacking and harming people on the mainland. And the book ends with the characters getting an unhappy ending, the park being a complete failure and the Costa Rican government firebombing the island to kill all the dinosaurs. It’s not a happy ending. The book makes a stark point about the consequences of overreaching.

When I watch "Jurassic Park" I still love the majesty and the world of dinosaurs. I love the soaring scenes and sights. But I'm also weary of the larger lesson — just because you can doesn't mean you should.