Jurassic World: why Hollywood monsters have lost their bite

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)

Now more empathic than ever, could film’s fantastic beasts be doing themselves out of a job?

Creature comforts: Rampage (inset), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Composite: The Guide
It used to be so simple with movie monsters: they tried to kill us and we tried to kill them back, which worked fine with elemental classics such as Jaws, Alien and Godzilla. But now we seem to have found a new method for killing movie monsters: empathy, which is spreading through the beast community like a virus.

The latest victims are the dinosaurs of Jurassic World, returning in forthcoming sequel Fallen Kingdom. Our hero Chris Pratt, you may remember, learned to communicate with his buddies the velociraptors. He wept at the death of an apatosaurus, but understood how dinosaurs only rampaged because of how we treated them. He felt their pain. Expect more of the same this time: rebooter-in-chief Colin Trevorrow has said that the Jurassic franchise is really about “our responsibility to the living creatures that we share the planet with”. You can’t argue with that. Although it kind of takes dinosaurs out of the monster category altogether.

They are not the only ones. A very similar scenario played out in the recent Rampage, with Dwayne Johnson and his giant white gorilla buddy, George, who helped save the world from the other monsters. And again in Kong: Skull Island. Kong wasn’t a monster; he was just lonely, and decent enough to save the humans from other monsters. Even the rebooted Godzilla turned out to be a saviour of humanity. And as for The Shape of Water – well, that saw humans and monsters get much, much closer.

Children’s movie monsters are similarly empathetic. More often than not, the message is “there’s nothing to be afraid of”. Dragons make good pets; giants are Big and Friendly; Dracula is a lonely single parent (in Hotel Transylvania 3); and the monsters of Monsters Inc don’t really want to scare children. In that movie’s cop-out ending, they discover children’s laughter works better than screams. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s director, JA Bayona, peddled similar sentiments in his previous film, A Monster Calls, in which a giant tree creature helps out a traumatised boy.

That is not to say that any of these are bad movies, but monsters wanna monster! They used to represent the unknown, the uncanny, the unspeakable. If we reclassify them as simply misunderstood non-humans, we’re effectively putting them out of a job. There is still hope: witness the terrifying predators of A Quiet Place, or – later this summer – the return of old-school giant sharks (The Meg), and alien manhunters (The Predator). But if it turns out that the giant shark is “just protecting her young”, or the Predators only wanted to test out their newly acquired massage skills, then I’m going on the rampage.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is in UK cinemas from 6 Jun


Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/28/jurassic-world-movie-monsters-lost-their-bite

 

[Mary Anne]

(Not written by me)

Now more empathic than ever, could film’s fantastic beasts be doing themselves out of a job?

Creature comforts: Rampage (inset), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Composite: The Guide
It used to be so simple with movie monsters: they tried to kill us and we tried to kill them back, which worked fine with elemental classics such as Jaws, Alien and Godzilla. But now we seem to have found a new method for killing movie monsters: empathy, which is spreading through the beast community like a virus.

The latest victims are the dinosaurs of Jurassic World, returning in forthcoming sequel Fallen Kingdom. Our hero Chris Pratt, you may remember, learned to communicate with his buddies the velociraptors. He wept at the death of an apatosaurus, but understood how dinosaurs only rampaged because of how we treated them. He felt their pain. Expect more of the same this time: rebooter-in-chief Colin Trevorrow has said that the Jurassic franchise is really about “our responsibility to the living creatures that we share the planet with”. You can’t argue with that. Although it kind of takes dinosaurs out of the monster category altogether.

They are not the only ones. A very similar scenario played out in the recent Rampage, with Dwayne Johnson and his giant white gorilla buddy, George, who helped save the world from the other monsters. And again in Kong: Skull Island. Kong wasn’t a monster; he was just lonely, and decent enough to save the humans from other monsters. Even the rebooted Godzilla turned out to be a saviour of humanity. And as for The Shape of Water – well, that saw humans and monsters get much, much closer.

Children’s movie monsters are similarly empathetic. More often than not, the message is “there’s nothing to be afraid of”. Dragons make good pets; giants are Big and Friendly; Dracula is a lonely single parent (in Hotel Transylvania 3); and the monsters of Monsters Inc don’t really want to scare children. In that movie’s cop-out ending, they discover children’s laughter works better than screams. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s director, JA Bayona, peddled similar sentiments in his previous film, A Monster Calls, in which a giant tree creature helps out a traumatised boy.

That is not to say that any of these are bad movies, but monsters wanna monster! They used to represent the unknown, the uncanny, the unspeakable. If we reclassify them as simply misunderstood non-humans, we’re effectively putting them out of a job. There is still hope: witness the terrifying predators of A Quiet Place, or – later this summer – the return of old-school giant sharks (The Meg), and alien manhunters (The Predator). But if it turns out that the giant shark is “just protecting her young”, or the Predators only wanted to test out their newly acquired massage skills, then I’m going on the rampage.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is in UK cinemas from 6 Jun


Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/28/jurassic-world-movie-monsters-lost-their-bite

Interesting POV! I have always had empathy for criminals in movies (few humans are so black and white as to be either all “good”, or all “evil”), and I certainly always felt badly for those monsters, aliens, and others deemed “bad”or “evil.” I always take the side of the undefended and the most disliked. That’s probably why I wound up working with the incarcerated and other disenfranchised humans.

This is a good thing to teach people how to understand our place in the world as protectors and not as destroyers. There are still those video games for those who want to kill, maim, murder, and destroy things. Let movies send more global message of humanity as environmental protectors, and realize that our singular actions provoke unintended consequences.

Personally, the real horrors are in our daily human world. Humans are THE scariest “monsters.” CGI animation or animatronics got nothing on us.

 

[Mia]

Used to wonder why nature programs showed only predators and prey in the process of stalking, fighting and killing. As if that was all that animals did. They rarely showed the raising of young, play or everyday life. It was continually about the top predators as the strongest killers.

When it was discovered that male lions rarely killed except for protection and reproduction and that lionesses did most of the hunting, they stopped using the term 'King of the beasts.' The more we know and understand the behavior of animals the less it seems as if it's continually Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' in endless pitched battles. There has been documented instances where members of animal groups with injuries were aided by other members of that group.

Suspect that it's a mature evolved even perspective that media begins to show something other than the extremes of life. Making animals into the 'enemies of the people' creates fear and distrust and needless slaughter. It's important to be wary of the danger of animals under certain circumstances. Yet understanding their nature or behaviour in order to avoid clashes with them is critical. Have encountered predators like wolves, coyotes, lynx and bears in the wild and they were as curious and wary of me, as I was of them.

 

[Mr Allen]

Movie monster technology has significantly improved over the years IMO.

Remember as far back as the old Monster B-Movies of the 50's? Even by 50's special effects standards you could tell the "Monster" was somebody in a suit lol.

Things have come a long way since then.

 

[Mary Anne]

Movie monster technology has significantly improved over the years IMO.

Remember as far back as the old Monster B-Movies of the 50's? Even by 50's special effects standards you could tell the "Monster" was somebody in a suit lol.

Things have come a long way since then.

I have such a fondness for those old movies! You would had to have been growing up then to appreciate them! “Sigh”

 

[Mr Allen]

We've just got back from seeing the new Jurassic World, I'd rate it 7.5/10.