Jurassic Park (1990)
By Michael Crichton
Chaos theory; Chimera; Cloning; Extinction; Genetic engineering; Horror; Mutations; Transgenics
Dinosaur DNA is harvested to create an amusement park of clones.
Eccentric billionaire John Hammond has found a way to reproduce dinosaurs by extracting and cloning their DNA from Jurassic-era mosquitoes trapped in amber. With the help of paleontologists, molecular biologists, and mathematicians, Hammond replicates over a dozen species of dinosaurs on a remote Costa Rican island in order to create the ultimate amusement center, Jurassic Park. Though he takes precautions to control the dinosaurs – electrified fences around each of the populations, sterile reptiles incapable of reproduction – the park becomes more than its creator can handle. A series of attacks from procompsognathids begins on the mainland, yet according to the park’s directors, such attacks are impossible as the creatures have been genetically engineered to perish without daily administered supplements. Nor should the all-female populations be able to procreate, yet paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler find broken dinosaur eggs scattered around the island. They deduce that because the dinosaur DNA is supplemented with amphibian DNA in order to complete missing sequences, the dinosaurs have ensured their survival through the amphibian capability of switching sexes in gender-imbalanced populations. When power failure strikes the amusement park, the true dangers of the dinosaurs are revealed, for once they escape their electrified prisons, the deadly T. Rex and velociraptors attack the human visitors. Once designed for amusement, Jurassic Park becomes a potential threat to humanity; if the dinosaurs can escape to the mainland, there will be no means of controlling or destroying them.
Ian Malcolm, a chaos theorist hired by Hammond to analyze the park’s potential, predicted from the outset that Jurassic Park would turn disastrous, citing Hammond’s ultimately futile attempts to recreate artificially an anachronistic environment. According to Malcolm, although the genetic and environmental factors seem ideal, once actualized, the creatures’ behaviors cannot be predicted. Furthermore, the combination of amphibian and dinosaur DNA produced unexpected responses, indicating that even basic DNA combinations cannot be predicted or controlled. The park’s environment mimics, but is not identical with the dinosaurs’ original surroundings; there is no way of recreating the era’s atmospheric composition, for instance, a seemingly trivial difference which traumatizes the dinosaurs. While Grant and Sattler’s research was paramount in Hammond’s construction of the island, their discoveries led to largely theoretical assumptions about the Jurassic era. Once they enter Jurassic Park, they are astounded at their erroneous assumptions about the dinosaurs’ habits, body structures, and behaviors. Their research can only approximate actuality; they cannot determine if the disparity between theory and reality is based on the artificiality of the environment or the genetic engineering necessary in creating the dinosaurs. Although Jurassic Park may not serve as a universal warning against genetic engineering or cloning, it does present the potential dangers of reintroducing extinct creatures into modern environments, even those only recently wiped from existence.
Evaluation: Crichton’s novel still remains interesting in spite of its film adaptation and numerous sequels, and focuses more than the films on technical scientific details as well as corporate interests that influence the application of genetic technologies.
– Natalie Champ