10. Jurassic World Audiences Are Offended By "Pachycephalosaurus" Dinosaur Name
To start with an incident of perceived racism that was probably blown way out of proportion (and likely should never have been a major "thing" in the first place), think back to Jurassic World, the long-awaited sequel to Jurassic Park - and a film that went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of all-time, raking in just over $1.6 billion (and counting). The accusations of racism that were thrown at Jurassic World stemmed from the name of a particular dinosaur breed - the "pachycephalosaurus." During the events of the film, these dinosaurs - as one might expect from a Jurassic Park movie - escape from their enclosure, which results in one character uttering the line: "The pachys are out of containment. Heard in context, of course, the line is harmless, and yet some folk were shocked to find it in the movie, having thought they'd just heard the line: "The Pakis are out of containment," in reference to a racist term (most prominently heard in the UK) for those born in Pakistan. That's not what they heard, of course: it just happens that the ethic slur isn't particularly well-known outside of the UK and the filmmakers completely overlooked its inclusion. So, yes, this was pretty much a non-issue from the start, but it didn't stop a lot of people calling out Jurassic World as an inherently evil and racist product as a result.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
