Not Everyone Wants to be Bruce Jenner: A review and defense of ‘Jurassic World’
Well, that was a treat that was quite unexpected. Jurassic World was absolutely marvelous and a stunning fourth addition to the Jurassic Park movies. I anticipated that it would be good, even that I would enjoy it—but I did not expect it to be such a respectable tribute to the original movie while at the same time standing on its own. There are so many things great about Jurassic World that I could literally write about it for days on end and not touch everything I’d like to say. So for brevity I’ll focus on an aspect of the film that is quite clearly a source of some of the negative reviews from progressive sectors of the media—and that is the clear definition of the alpha male—and how that calculated approach is aimed at appeasing a hungry audience craving such definitions in a generation of watered down bravado. Chris Pratt was actually wonderful in the movie as a very strong alpha male character while Bryce Dallas Howard’s character was extremely comfortable in her femininity by the end of the film. It was an unusual approach that offered no apologies.
When Joss Whedon Tweeted, “I’m too busy wishing this clip wasn’t 70’s era sexist. She’s a stiff, he’s a life force – really? Still?” The Avengers director was referring to a clip showing Howard and Pratt speaking where it was obvious that the male character had the alpha position over the female. Whedon suggests that if a film does not diminish a male character in modern cinema into some sort of beta male—that the presentation of the material presented isn’t relevant in the modern age. The Tweet was designed to put pressure on director Colin Trevorrow, Steven Spielberg and the executives at Universal Studios which thankfully they didn’t listen to. This explains a lot about why I didn’t care much for the second Avengers film, Age of Ultron. Whedon I thought tried too hard to make Scarlet Johansson an alpha type when her character on-screen obviously wanted to submit to the Incredible Hulk. Maybe if she had loosened up a bit the Hulk would have stuck with her. Just a little advice, Joss—it’s free. Joss is riding a franchise built by Stan Lee, so it’s hard to screw it up—but his progressive approach is costing the Avengers money. Sure it’s doing good business, but it could be better. There is much more to be made if the filmmakers would listen to their audience instead of trying to cram progressive diatribes down their throats. Some people want their males to be alpha and their female’s beta. It makes for good sex and happy couples. Not everyone wants to be Bruce Jenner. Thankfully the filmmakers of Jurassic World ignored a lot of the progressive product placement in their film favoring audience satisfaction instead.
One particular scene which I thought was actually quite remarkable was when a tattered Claire was laying on the ground behind the protective foot of the classic T-Rex while it was protecting her from the movie’s villain, the Indominus Rex. It reminded me of a classic King Kong movie with Fey Wray off to the side being protected from a threat. Claire was a very competent career woman who was running the whole park. It wasn’t her fault that the Indominus Rex got loose and ate all her visitors. But over the course of the film she loosed up and embraced her femininely attributes a bit more through her character arch to arrive at the end a willing beta to Chris Pratt’s alpha. That might be out of fashion in Hollywood, but it’s quite what people in the theater audience wanted to see—because it’s what they want in real life.
Chris Pratt’s Owen character several times throughout the film firmly established himself as the alpha character even explaining to Claire’s nephews his relationship to the raptors. They obeyed him because he was the dominate male even to the point where he could ride a motorcycle through a rain forest with the raptors hunting with him. The nephews seeing this tell Claire, “you’re boyfriend is a badass.” There was a very obvious embrace of Pratt being the alpha during the entire film and it was Claire’s task to realize that she was a beta in an alpha disguise and to realize that through the movie’s tribulations. And there is nothing wrong with that. If audiences didn’t like that type of thing, they wouldn’t go see the movie and have such wonderful memories of the previous films.
What makes the Jurassic Park movies work is the primal understanding of animal behavior. Humans are in fact animals and have raw needs similar to any dog, cat or gold-fish. The Daily Beast recognized this trait in its review of Jurassic World calling the movie a “sexist mess” because the theme of the story is “about a woman’s ‘evolution’ from an icy-cold, selfish corporate shill into a considerate wife and mother.” That assessment is true, Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady as a swashbuckling, macho, ex-military velociraptor trainer helps her find that realization, but it is her character arch to find it—which she does. At the end of the movie there was applause from a packed theater—some even stood and clapped. Obliviously mainstream America stands apart from Joss Whedon and reviews like The Daily Beast—Whedon even deleted his Twitter account and backtracked a bit on his comments. If he wants his Avengers films to hold up into the future—he better take some notes because 50 to 60 years from now Jurassic World will still be a beloved movie whereas the Avengers risk being viewed as dated and out of touch with the human experience. Feminism in the way that progressives present it is not appealing to the masses—only the levy supporters and Santa Monica neurotics sipping lattés over cold cuts sending text messages to the person sitting next to them.
For me the best part of the movie was the ending. I loved the first movie and thought that there was no way to ever recapture that raw, primal—yet heroic ending—but Colin Trevorrow absolutely nailed it. Tears were streaming down the faces of the people sitting around me and it was quite spectacular and deeply satisfying—especially for fans of the original movie. I’m not going to spoil it for those who have not yet seen it. But I will say this—read my article about the T-Rex Café in Orlando and you’ll understand why it’s such a wonderful ending. CLICK HERE to review. I hope because of Jurassic World that there is a T-Rex Café in every North American city. I would eat in it once a week if there was one in Cincinnati. That name had great meaning to me before Jurassic World. After the film it has even more.
I love dinosaurs, I love paleontology. I love The Dinosaur Store in Cocoa Beach, Florida, the T-Rex Café in Orlando and Jack Horner in Montana—along with the great work that he does every day in the world of DNA sequencing. There is optimism in science that is unlike anything the human race has ever endeavored to venture in to. Jurassic World is in love with science, human potential, and the dangers of raw primal urges that get out of control. My great fear in going into Jurassic World was that Colin Trevorrow would miss the mark and taint the great franchise that Jurassic Park is. I was afraid that he’d put a dagger into it to the extent that Universal Studios in Florida might actually shut down my favorite part of their great park due to age and irrelevancy. But what I found was a film that breathed new life into the classic dinosaur movie and invented characters that were actually likeable—and mainstream. In a time where the media is telling us that Bruce Jenner is normal and that even the Hulk will walk away from an overly masculine woman in the Black Widow—Jurassic World doesn’t try to cram feminism down our throats behind the thrills of an action film. Instead it aims to give the audience what they paid for and ignite in millions of little kids a love of science and the ancient past in the form of heroic dinosaurs.
Rich Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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