2. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler Represent Older Moviegoers
As the resident dinosaur experts on the team, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are very impressed with what Hammond has been able to accomplish, yet express their concerns during the aforementioned lunch scene. Despite being amazed at the possibilities science presents, they're afraid of what acting in the light of discovery can do in the grand scheme of things. In a way, these two characters are similar to older film fans who have learned to appreciate things like solid direction and quality writing over special effects. We may marvel at the technical evolution as CGI becomes more and more realistic, but we've seen what happens to genuinely talented people like Lucas, Cameron, and to a lesser extent Peter Jackson as they focus on pushing the boundaries of movie technology further. The first wave of blockbusters (including films such as
Jaws,
Star Wars,
Alien, and
The Terminator) had to make do with what was available and those restrictions ultimately made the films better. Forced to place an emphasis on character and plot, the directors of these movies couldn't rely on special effects alone to carry the film. But nowadays, it's so easy to just throw a bunch of explosions up on the screen to draw people in. Older moviegoers, who look for things such as character arcs and solid stories, are concerned that the continuing improvement of photorealistic CGI will have a negative impact on the film industry, particularly those crowd-pleasing blockbusters we all love to watch. It's hard to watch the
Jurassic Park lunch scene and not picture Michael Bay in Hammond's place trying to sell everyone on the potential of
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. "It's great! Look at what our technology was able to accomplish! How can we just sit here when all this stuff is available for us to use? How can this be bad?" I'll quote Ian Malcolm again. "You never stopped to think if you should." And that sums up the attitude of older moviegoers who are unsatisfied with just another effects-driven flick with no real substance.