Movie of the Summer - Jurassic World

Movie of the Summer

Okay, it’s summer, and what’s the movie we’re all watching? I’d dare to guess, JurassicWorld. There are rabid fans and there are the detractors.

But even with a few plot holes we can drive a truck through (such as, as pointed out by my comic writing niece, Corinna Bechko, kids piloting the rolling bubbles unsupervised and the fact that said bubbles would be rolling through dino poo) let’s face it, most of us love it.

And somebody(s) wrote it. Apparently there’s a dispute over writing credits for Jurassic World and the WGA arbitration panel ruled credit is to be shared by two writing teams. First the credit was given to director Colin Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly (and of course the original Michael Crichton gets a ‘based on the novel by’ credit). But then there was the dispute as Rick Jaffa and Amada Silver, a husband-and-wife team who’d written an earlier draft of the script were deemed to share credit with a ‘screenplay by’ credit. The dispute isn’t over though as Trevorrow and Connolly are appealing on the basis they wrote an entirely new screenplay that wasn’t based on the original draft by Jaffa and Silver.

Ah, Hollywood.

I have no intention on weighing in on who’s right, but there you are, the writer’s life.

Be that as it may, why do we love it so much (despite the ‘holes’ and glitches)? I doubt that question can be thoroughly answered, but come on, we love dinos. And on top of that the truth is we want to see said dinos chasing people (and occasionally eating them). Don’t we all have someone we’d love to put in a dino’s path? Don’t we all love excitement and danger in 3D when we can immerse ourselves and not actually be there, but feel like we are?

Works for well-written books as well. Readers love to be drawn into the story, to become part of it. There are books like the Special Edition Junior Novelization of Jurassic World 

 

and a Jurassic World book claiming it brings dinosaurs to life and I guess it sorta does using an app that lets the user move the dinos and make them bigger, etc.

It’s all escapism and fun. It’s why we have always loved story-telling in all of its many forms from earliest times. It’s what writers and creators do; write scripts and books and create worlds (whether common or very uncommon) for us all to get lost in. 

Hey, there's even a Jurassic World Monopoly (how does that work?) And if you're really into it, toys galore.

So if you’re a writer, get busy creating those worlds. If you’re a reader and movie-goer, enjoy!