Dinosaurs are the Coolest Forever
Dinomania as it seems to be called was something that swept
me up as a pup. I would spend hours
scouring any book that was about dinosaurs some of them fairly dry material
with little pictures just to get a further understanding of the ancient
creatures. I think that I was fairly
normal growing up but I loved and still love dinosaurs. I think there is something primal and very
intimidating about knowing that these creatures ruled our world far longer than
mankind has been an identifiable species.
I do believe that Jurassic
Park was a turning point in the social
conscious of America
on the view of dinosaurs. Suddenly we
had thee majestic wonders that were relegated to pictures, such as those done
by Charles R. Knight, and now we have realistic moving imagery that was alive
at least on screen. It was in my mind as
world changing for dinosaurs as the first painted images were. Now we had moving and breathing creatures
that we could identify with, that acted in ways we would expect from powerful
wild animals and they were the stars of the show.
Sure we had human elements and characters to follow, but the
dinosaurs were the center of the story and they are what captivate us. In my mind that was a watershed moment for
Dinosaurs, soon we would get more computer generated images of dinosaurs in
other films and documentaries to better bring the ancient creatures to life. It is as if we are consistently trying to resurrect
the past using the fragments we find all around the world.
I think attitudes and ideas of dinosaurs have changed over
time from them being big dumb animals, essentially giant lizards to a creatures
that are swift, intelligent for animals, and very much graceful. They move now, we can watch documentaries with
photo-realstic creatures moving about a world that existed millions of years
ago, a world without the touch of man. Perhaps
a significant draw, to know that mankind was not even an inkling when such
creatures reigned over the world.
Or it could just be that dinosaurs are freaking cool.
posted by Vanifae @ 5:45 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Yea Jurassic Park definitely stands out in my mind too. The CGI in those films was nothing short of incredible and they still hold up to this day.
Dinosaurs are definitely one of the coolest parts of history. In my mind its amazing how the planet changes throughout different eras. The dinosaurs ruled the early millions of years during the development of the earth. They were the dominating species and were in abundance. After the ice age they made way for many dominating civilizations such as the Mayans, Aztecs and of course the Roman Empire. The thought of how life and the planet intertwine is amazing.
Dinosaurs are still a part of our lives today through energy. As scientists say oil is made of prehistoric animals that have seeped into the earth over millions of years. They are integral to the industrial society we live in today.
I've always been intrigued by the concept that dinosaurs "ruled the earth"....we slip into it automatically, but I wonder why it's so important to us to always attach this idea to the existence of dinosaurs. It's not just that they're big or scary ... if so, we would say, perhaps, that whales "rule the ocean" or sharks "rule the ocean"? Is it that we identify humans with dinos (that is, we "rule the earth" today, as our counterparts did in the past?) JP would seem to be a battle perhaps for who "rules" JP, at least, them or us, and we don't seem to have what it takes since in that movie the humans have to relinquish the park!
I think because we see ourselves as the owners and rulers of the earth. Dinosaurs were powerful creatures though I doubt they had a sense of ownership of the world, but being human beings we attribute anthropomorphic traits to them to better identify with them, we do this all the time with animals. Lions are kings, owls are wise, and other traits that we attribute to animals such as loyalty and man's best friend as the dog.
good point about how we are fond of anthropomorphizing the creatures around us -- and that's why it is so interesting that we choose "ruled the earth" for dinos. So we identify particularly closely with dinos as "rulers of the earth" because so are we....but since they became wiped out, extinct, kaput...does our mutuality with them as "rulers of the earth" include a bit of anxiety about our status? Could be!?
Humanity is determined to find their own terminus, it is an obsession that I do not think we will outgrow. So the idea of rule means that it I'll end, kings die and as we re king, our death is inevitable.
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