10 Movies With Hidden Subtext You Totally Missed
2. Jurassic Park Is About Fear Of Parenthood
Jurassic Park is about more than an amusement park full of prehistoric reptiles. The perils of playing god is a foreground theme, but there's a lot going on beneath the surface too.
There's a sneaky subtext about overcoming the fear of parenthood, personified by Alan Grant, who is reluctant to procreate with his broody partner Ellie Sattler.
This theme stares the audience in the face come the ending when Doctor Grant, having actually spent time with kids, appears to have warmed to them, and would likely have gone on to have them with Sattler had Jurassic Park III not ruined everything.
The call-backs to this concept are on display throughout the film. The apparatus the palaeontologists use to look at the raptor skeleton in the opening scene is supposed to resemble an ultrasound machine.
Later in the movie, the two doctors watch on as a dino baby is born, and Sattler gets to use her maternal instincts when caring for the sick triceratops. There's so much symbolism around the theme of parenthood.
In Jurassic Park, life found a way to overcome biological hurdles and endure, and within the confines of its two main characters' relationship, it found a way to overcome social hurdles.