Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music and Entertainment
‘Jurassic World’ – No dinosaurs with pink feathers, but questionable ethics

‘Jurassic World’ – No dinosaurs with pink feathers, but questionable ethics

Last updated on: June 11, 2015 at 1:40 pm by Sister Rose

‘Jurassic World’ – No dinosaurs with pink feathers, but questionable ethics 2015-06-11T13:40:12-06:00 Sister Rose

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Indominus rex readies her attack in “Jurassic World.”

Below is the feature article I wrote on the science and philosophy in “Jurassic World” but I want to add a couple of things. First, the engineering science of Dallas Bryce Howard’s high heeled shoes ought to have been mentioned. She wore them throughout and I think she even walked backwards sometimes. This feat defied nature. I would have mentioned the dinosaur brain science but I was not able to hear everything that Professor Horner said about this at the press day event. But it was very interesting – something to do with cranial and pelvic space in birds and dinosaur skeletons. (Go figure.)

Here’s the article posted on the National Catholic Reporter site:

As one character in the new film “Jurassic World” says about the trendy new theme park of the same name: “Nothing in Jurassic World in natural.” It seems like the same can be said for the new film, too.

“Jurassic World,” which hits theaters Friday, is the fourth film in the franchise based on the original 1990 novel Jurassic Park by the late Michael Crichton. The first film, “Jurassic Park,” was released in 1993. It told the story of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), head of InGen, a bioengineering company, who created a theme park with cloned dinosaurs on an island off the coast of Costa Rica.

The dinosaurs were cloned by using DNA extracted from their blood found in mosquitoes that were preserved in amber. Because the DNA strands were not complete, the DNA of frogs was spliced in, and voila! Cloned dinosaurs.

Things did not end well when the dinosaurs, all cloned as females so they would not breed, start breeding, because like West African bullfrogs, they can change gender in a same-sex situation. Two Velociraptors attack the people still on the island but the Tyrannosaurus Rex kills them and the people escape. The paleontologist, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) had a theory that dinosaurs share DNA with birds, not frogs, which is why Jurassic Park fails — at least for a while. Questions about the ethics of genetic engineering and messing with nature abound.

Now 22 years later, Jurassic World is a thriving theme park, with 20,000 visitors daily. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the highly focused career-oriented park operations manager who is all about the numbers, profits, and stock shares. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a former Navy man, is the Velociraptor trainer. Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) of the Masrani Corporation owns the park that reflects the dream of John Hammond. Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio) is the head of security for InGen that still clones the dinosaurs for the park. The lab is still headed by the chief geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong).

And because Simon told Wu to make something bigger and better to keep people coming to the park (because the young people are getting bored), he and the technicians create a dinosaur hybrid, Indominus rex (so named because it is easy to pronounce) by splicing together the DNA of four other dinosaurs: the Giganotosaurus, Rugops, Majungasaurus, and Carnotaurus.

When Indominus rex escapes the paddock the action really begins.

At a press event June 9, held fittingly in the Dinosaur Hall of Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the renowned paleontologist Jack Horner, who served as technical advisor to all the Jurassic Park films, talked about the science in the current film.

He explained that the dinosaur skin and colors, for example, were probably not as depicted in the film but were probably more colorful because of feathers, like the birds with which they share DNA. While he would have liked them to be more realistic, the current depiction needed to be consistent with the original film and pink feathers on dinosaurs, while possible, would probably not be acceptable to the audience.

On the wall of the museum it says, “From dinosaur skeletons we know that they were once living breathing animals much like us.” But when Horner addressed what dinosaurs actually sounded like, he admitted that we really don’t know. Because they are related to birds, their sounds were probably high-pitched but the bigger the dinosaur, the lower the sound. Regardless, the dinosaur sounds in the film are imagined.

Horner also said that despite the premise of the film, no one has ever found dinosaur DNA though some protein has been discovered. DNA could never have survived for the millions of years that have passed since dinosaurs roamed the earth. In fact, DNA would be degraded after 6.8 million years.

This has not stopped scientists from trying to bring back the dinosaurs, however, the Woolly mammoth included. Scientists believe it is possible to sequence its genome because it became extinct less than 100,000 years ago. And they think they can insert mammoth genes into elephant genes and create a species, something like a “hairy elephant” according to The Telegraph. If they can do this, the animal will have a home at the Pleistocene Park in Siberia, the closest anyone has come to the idea of a Jurassic Park anywhere.

While not cloning, this transgenetic engineering process is not new. Horner mentioned the “dino-chicken” that biologists created by turning on ancestral genes in a common chicken, resulting in embryos having dinosaur-like beaks (in other words, tinkering with genetic proteins and molecules). I asked Horner if these dino-chickens were bred and made their way into the wild what would happen. He found this amusing and said if they laid eggs they would be ordinary chickens, not dino-chickens. He said the purpose of the dino-chicken experiment is not to clone dinosaurs, but to advance research that could have medical implications such as re-growing vertebrae to heal injuries. I found his answer amusing because what is to stop any of this scientific research from going beyond its original intention?

Ethical questions abound in “Jurassic World” and they are about more than science. Tampering with nature has its limits, and the people running Jurassic World have not learned from their own history. Now scientists are engaged in hardcore transgenetic processes for the sake of profit and entertainment that includes a dinosaur petting zoo and rides, gift shops selling toys and replicas of dinosaurs along other theme park paraphernalia, product placement and corporate sponsorship logos, in addition to creating the hybrid monster, Indominus rex.

Then, add the law of unintended consequences … CLICK HERE to continue reading

Paleontologist Jack Horner and moderator Michael Shermer participate in a “Jurassic World” Q&A at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 in Los Angeles, CA
(Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)

Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) in “Jurassic World.”

Adult Faith Formation

Commerntary

Film History

Popular Culture

Spirituality and Media

Science

Previous Post

June 2, 2015

'Flannery O'Connor: Faith Fired by Fiction' my book review

Next Post

June 19, 2015 ‘Batkid Begins’ – a wish with a life of its own

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Adolescent Adult Faith Formation Advertising Analysis Animals Pets Animation art Authors Awards best pope pictures Bible BioPic Blogs Book Reviews Books books into film Catechesis Catholic comedy Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Social Teaching (CST) Catholics in Media Christian genre Christmas movies Church and cinema Cognitive science Comedy Comics Commerntary Communication Cooking Courses Critics and Criticism Dance Daughters of St Paul news Devil movies digital games Documentary Drama Economics Ecumenical Education and Technology Education: Access and Empowerment electronic Environment Events Exorcism movies Eye on Entertainment Faith and film Faith formation Fantasy Film Essays Film Festivals Film History Film Retreat Film Reviews Film TV about Ultra Orthodox Jews Food General Grace Historical thriller History Horror How to Images INNdustry with Sister Rose Internet Interviews jesuits Kindness Lectures Lent Life Lists Literature media Media analysis Media Literacy/Media Mindfulness Music Musical National Catholic Reporter New on DVD Non-violence Nonviolence Obituaries On Faith and Media Oscars Ovis et bovis et universe pecore Parenting Pastoral Communication Pastoral communications Pauline Books & Media pax christi PCMS & Online Courses Peace Philosophy Photos Planning for Communication pope francis Popular Culture Radio RCL Benziger reality tv Reflections on life and grace religion Religious Lif Research Resources Retreat Rosary Sacraments Science and faith Social justice Social Media spirituality Spirituality and Media Sports Sr Rose Faith and Media Sr. Rose movies St. Anthony Messenger Stage & Theater stereotypes story Streaming series Survey Television the bible the bible movie The INNdustry with Sr Rose the voice Theater Themes of Catholic Social Teaching theologizing violence Theology theology of violence TV reviews and notes Uncategorized Video Video games Violence VR Games War War films Women World Film Young Adult YouTube

Select a Month September 2025 March 2025 December 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 December 2022 October 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Deborah's husband?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Barak Gideon Lapidoth Jephthah