Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

        The Philosophy of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

By: Julia Mihic

        The Jurassic Park Series has reaped much success over the course of its existence and has been a conversation catalyst for controversial debates about evolution and cloning. The popular American science fiction franchise has adopted a new, modernized look with its successor, Jurassic World (and the trilogy to follow it), and with it, came a new onslaught of debatable topics along with those previously mentioned. The movie that has seem to bring on the most controversy, however, would have to be the second movie of the Jurassic World Trilogy, known as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, for this film is recognized to be the most emotionally fascinating and consisting of the most “surprisingly dark moments” of the entire franchise thus far. The apparent philosophies about the issues in changing the course of natural history, human cloning, and tough moral decision making for the characters, are what make the movie the epitome of controversy.

        The film opens up by picking up where the preceding movie left off, but in occurance 3 years later. After the Jurassic World Theme Park fell under the control of the dinosaurs, the prehistoric reptilians were left to roam free on Isla Nublar. However, the island’s volcano was predicted to erupt at any moment, which would inevitably claim all the lives of the dinosaurs in a micro extinction event. This influenced the U.S. Senate to coordinate a hearing in Washington D.C. to figure out whether the dinos should be spared or left to die. This consequently created two groups with completely polar stances: one group was affirmed in the belief humans should launch rescue operations to save the dinos, while the other group was affirmed that human intervention is unnecessary and the dinosaurs should be left to die.

        This debate ensues within the hearing as Dr. Ian Malcolm takes the stage to state his testimony. This infamous doctor made an appearance in the first Jurassic Park movie, and was known for his opposition to John Hammond’s genetic experimentation and creation of the dinosaurs. Given that expository information, it is of no surprise that Dr. Malcolm stood by the same doctrine and therefore, favored the notion of leaving the dinosaurs to perish under the flames of the volcano. He testifies that the dinos should be allowed to perish to correct Hammond’s mistake of making them in the first place. This philosophy boils down to the volcanic eruption representing nature trying to correct itself, or, that God trying to correct the natural order of the living, considering the dinosaurs were officially created, therefore, they can never be apart of the natural order. He also claims that curiosity will kill the cat, meaning if they are not rid of, humanity’s greed will drive us into eventually eliminating ourselves by pushing the boundaries of experimentation too far (such as using the dinosaurs as weapons of war).

        Meanwhile, a group known by the name of the Dinosaur Protection Group, were pushing limits in advocating for the rescue of the dinosaurs. Jurassic World’s former operations manager, Claire Dearing, was the president of the organization and relentlessly debated sparing the lives of the dinosaurs to the Senate. She made an appearance in the first Jurassic World movie as the famous protagonist who ran from a T-Rex in heels like a badass. Though she faced trials and tribulations with the dinosaurs on a personal level, she argues that the dinosaurs deserve the same protection rights as other endangered species. Since it was the work of humans that brought the dinos back into existence on the planet, it is humanity’s responsibility to protect them and grant them a right to live. The philosophy behind this argument is that in letting them die and arguing that they were never meant to exist in the first place, invalidates their right to live just like any other being on this planet, regardless if they were artificially created or not.

        Another controversy that has been brought up in the movie is the issue regarding human cloning. John Hammond had a colleague named Benjamin Lockwood who helped create the cloning technology used to revive dinosaurs. However, Hammond broke ties with Lockwood after he used the technology to create Maisie, a clone of his deceased daughter, for Hammond strongly disapproves of human cloning. The decision on whether or not Maisie’s existence is valid, becomes apparent in the scene of the movie with the highest stakes.

        After a corrupted rescue mission, Claire is faced with a dilemma of either saving the dinosaurs by releasing them from their holding cells into civilian territory, or leave them be to eventually suffocate due to a hydrogen cyanide leak within the facility, ridding the planet of the last dinos in existence...again. Claire hesitates, but decided against releasing them. However, Maisie decides to release the dinosaurs on her own. She states that the reason why is because although they are clones, they deserve the right to be alive just as much as she does. She made a decision based on the empathy she feels towards them, considering she is also artificially constructed. In making this decision, she also makes an affirmation on validating her own existence as a clone. The video below is said scene and I believe it does a great job at making the viewer empathize with Maisie for it really tugs on the heart strings.

MAISIE RELEASES THE DINOSAURS 

        The principle writer behind the plot of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, had remarks regarding the controversies present in the film. Regarding the idea of human cloning, Colin Trevorrow said that "we're so much closer to cloning humans than we are to cloning dinosaurs...To have a character [such as Lockwood] who has such deep love and has felt such loss and the inability to go on, I think is something we all feel. So the idea that you might be able to bring someone [such as his daughter Maisie] back in that way is emotionally grounded in a very universal idea. We want to tell a story about where we are now, which is that we have messed with science, we have fundamentally altered our world and now we're dealing with the consequences."


Quiz:

1. Name a few of the controversies prevalent in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. 
2. What is the argument against the cloning of living beings?
3. What type of cloning was John Hammond specifically against?
4. What was Maisie’s justification for releasing the dinosaurs from the holding facility?

Discussion Questions:

1. Which side of the debate do you agree with? Is Maisie validated in her decision to release the dinosaurs? 
2. If someone you loved was killed in front of you, but someone created a copy of them that was perfect right down to the atomic level, would they be the same person and would you love them just as much? 
3. Should humans be allowed to play the “role of God” just because technological advancements makes it possible to do so?