Have you ever tried invading a home where a dinosaur is the man (or lady) of the house? The Lost World: Jurassic Park sinks its teeth into certain issues that make our hearts race – gender roles – leaving no room for escape once you step inside.
I was transitioning into high school when its VHS tapes were available at video-rental stores – how I miss the late 1990s. And I became a secret admirer. Why? Because the very mention of the title made every guy I studied with, from high school to college, condemn the movie.
Was The Lost World: Jurassic Park all that bad? Its lead character, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), faces his fear of dinosaurs, like his feminine counterpart in Aliens, Ellen Ripley, did. And the guys cheered more for her overcoming her fear and proving her worth in a man’s world.
Ian is haunted by a near-death experience in Jurassic Park, a theme park featuring dinosaurs as tourist attractions. Imagine how terrified he would be upon hearing that his girlfriend, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), readily ventured into a remote island full of dinosaurs. Ian charges to her location like a knight in shining armor, only to learn that Sarah doesn’t want to be a damsel in distress.
When Ian and Sarah argue like a married couple, they come across as equally educated. Yet it is Sarah who feels the pressure to convince Ian to believe in her. Ian’s daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), looks up to Sarah more than any female babysitter. The two ladies share a common sentiment – Ian neglects their personal goals. Do they have to live up to his expectations? Their run-in with hungry dinosaurs, and power-hungry men, will settle their disagreement.
A hunting party, led by Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), arrives to capture dinosaurs for Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) and his new-improved Jurassic Park enterprise. Their helicopters approach the island the way medieval-age European sailors did while exploring untamed lands. For the new arrivals, dinosaurs are meant to stay chained, live in cages and entertain visitors when summoned. However, the animals are stronger than human slaves, so with a little help from Ian and his team, they break free.
Later, inside a trailer, Sarah’s motherly instincts come out while nursing an injured infant dinosaur. Ian comes over, like a man returning home after a bad day at the office. The infant’s parents pay a visit, collect their little one as if it were a kindergarten school, only to return and attack the trailer.
Once Ian and Sarah survive this, they are shaken. This experience teaches them a lesson in raising children. They have learned how to take care of Kelly. But their struggle to survive is not over – they have to learn to create a symbiotic relationship with Tembo and Ludlow.
Tembo later sees Sarah smearing blood on a leaf and checks if she is okay. Then they find a location to set up camp.
Later that night, Ian and Tembo hold a meeting outside the camp for an update. In that time, the baby dinosaur's parent shows up near the cave (actually tent) in which Sarah and Kelly are sleeping. At a bad time, when the 'man of the house' is absent.
This leads to a chase sequence where Sarah and Kelly hide in a cave. The scene ends with Ian's entry.
When Ian, Sarah and Kelly venture into an even more dangerous territory, he hurts his foot, giving Sarah a chance to exhibit chivalry and help him walk. In the next sequence, all three seize the opportunity to outwit a couple of raptors. And they walk out of danger, together, and triumphant.
Now that both Ian and Sarah are on the same page, they decide to leave Kelly at home, so that the couple can resolve the dinosaur problem. They walk, as equal partners, into a death-do-them-apart situation.
At the time when The Lost World: Jurassic Park was getting released, I had just lost my father. He was the sole earning member. While we wondered where we stood, my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother became our backup. My grandmother did not cook, but my grandfather did - which was in itself a reversal of gender roles in those days. She was capable of making arrangements. If we had to travel somewhere, she made arrangements.
Whenever we decide who stays inside and who steps out, we should consider, for our survival, the possibility of adapting to every environmental change. A man may lose his job, while a woman may get hired. And if we shake the boat thinking that this will bring stability, we risk arriving at no goal.
In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Ian and Sarah were getting nowhere as long as they strayed away from one another. They kept debating with each other till the dinosaurs helped them find a middle ground.
They discover the roles that they have to play in this lost world of ours.
Ian Malcolm is no noble hero. He opens and shuts doors at the right time, like a wife managing a house. Go ahead - count the number of times he opens and shuts doors.
And Sarah Harding is no housewife. She uses the tools of her trade, be it a camera or a tranquilizer gun.
A dinosaur corners Ian and shoves him to the ground, while Sarah jumps from one roof to the next when a dinosaur pursues her.
Steven Spielberg's movie came out at a time when male-centric action-movie behemoths were at the top of their game - Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon 3-4 and Bruce Willis' Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Though The Lost World: Jurassic Park may not have succeeded as much as Jurassic Park, it did better business than the critically-acclaimed Terminator 2: Judgment Day did.
Now let's see how Mr. and Mrs. Kirby (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) will manage the home-front in Jurassic Park III.
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