Jurassic World: 5 Reasons Why Dinosaurs Shouldn't Have Feathers
2. It's About Realism, Not Accuracy
Had the internet been the force it is today back in 1993 then you'd have invariably seen all these feather complaints levelled against the original Jurassic Park as well. But, in doing so, the critics would have totally missed the entire filmmaking idea behind the film. Spielberg made a choice to embrace the traditional "terrible lizard" view of dinosaurs, even though the whole evolving into birds thing was already well established (Alan Grant even points it out in the opening ten minutes of the film) and suggestive (although not yet conclusive) feathered fossils has been found in the eighties. The reason he avoided this in the creature's designs was less scientific uncertainty and more about terror. It was the same reason the dilophosaurus has a frill and spits acid, or why the raptors were greatly increased in size, or why blood from mosquitos can bring back dinosaurs in the first place. Spielberg wasn't trying to make an accurate movie, he was trying to make a real one. It doesn't matter that a T-Rex will have sounded nothing like it did in the film (adjusted elephant and dog cries) or that it actually could see quite well. What matters is you believed de-extinction had been achieved and the heroes were facing up against a real Tyrannosaurus. If that involved twisting or neglecting the facts to make a leaner experience, so be it. That's why, twenty years later, the film still conjures up those same thrills it did back upon release. Jurassic World has followed a similar approach; while thats got armchair scientists up in arms, all it's really doing is wholly honouring the ethos of the original film.
