Just Because You Can...
The ever-quotable Dr. Ian Malcolm makes this theme concrete with what is arguably the film’s most memorable quote: “your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.” The issue at hand is the ethical dimension of scientific progress, especially as it concerns violation of things that have always been determined to be inviolate. Ethical questions about cloning extinct species to introduce them into an environment for which neither the animal nor the environment is prepared are purely the domain of theoretical science as until science has progress to the point of creating the technology to do it. Dr. Malcolm’s words implicitly suggest that if society waits for science to catch up with ethics before discussing theory, it will already be too. The film’s treatment of this theme heartily urges that ethical considerations often need to weight more heavily on the drive toward “should” before effort is placed into the “could.”
Capitalism Corrupts
Jurassic Park is a not just a movie that transformed cinematic special efforts forever, it also transformed movie marketing. Long before the film finally hit theaters, nearly every American who ever got out of the house probably saw some merchandise with the iconic Jurassic Park logo stamped on it. As a result, it can be hard to swallow the argument that the most pervasive theme in the film is its blistering critique of capitalism. The lawyer who suggests raising admission prices to turn the park into the exclusive domain of the rich gets eaten while on the toilet. The computer genius whose greed leads him into the murky waters of corporate espionage comes to a particularly ghastly end. The highly suspect DNA cloning process that brings dinosaurs back from extinction is funded by John Hammond not for the purpose of study, but for entertainment of paying customers. Meanwhile, in the blink of an eye this obviously still-not-perfected scientific advancement has brought any number of career disciplines to an end and made people around the world instantly unemployed and unemployable. Far from undermining the argument that the film is an acutely harsh critique of capitalism, that Hammond gets to live (unlike in the book) and still enjoy the presence of two grandchildren who came within an inch of being slaughtered many times over may well be its single greatest indictment of the inherent amorality and unfairness of the system.
Mad Science
The film also examines the theme of science run amok from a millennial perspective. The long tradition of mad scientists in film traces back as far as cinema itself, but is deeply rooted in a pre-Industrial Revolution ideology. Mad scientists have always been isolated individuals operating on the outskirts of society and distrusted by the citizenry because of a perceived desire to transgress the natural world by treading into God’s domain. And, of course, they were scientists with no funding and forced to rely on sinister measures by grave-robbing and secret labs. Jurassic Park reveals that barely more than half a century after the mad scientist trope was firmly established things had changed so much that everything was topsy-turvy. Today’s mad scientists pushing the limits of what must considering “natural” are not actually scientists but the corporate executives pushing for it. Far from operating on a shoestring budget, billions are pour into “mad science” research and experimentations. And rather than the monomania of wanting to be god, guys like John Hammond just want to sell stuff and make money. Of course—at least in Hammond’s case—some of them still resort to grave-robbing.
