Dinosaur: Encyclopedia II - Dinosaur - In popular culture

Dinosaur - In popular culture

Dinosaurs were highly successful creatures; they were the dominant land animals on Earth for over 150 million years. However, it is their sudden extinction as much as their success that has made them an enduring part of human popular culture. Hence dinosaur is sometimes used colloquially as a metaphor for people and things that are perceived to be out of date or no longer in touch with the spirit of the times, and therefore ought to be extinct. For example, members of the punk movement derided the "progressive" bands that preceded them as "dinosaur groups".

Perhaps because they are popularly perceived to have been large, aggressive animals, dinosaurs have long both fascinated and terrified the public. This is reflected in many fictional and non-fictional works.

Notable examples of older fictional works featuring dinosaurs include Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Lost World; the 1933 film King Kong and it's more recent re-make; and Godzilla. The (imaginary) depiction of humans and dinosaurs living together has been a recurring theme in fiction. Films which famously portrayed this idea include The Valley of Gwangi (1969) and One Million Years BC (1966). Ray Harryhausen brought the dinosaurs to life in both films using models and stop motion animation. Other classic films in which dinosaurs are featured prominently include Pterodactyl and Spot from the television series The Munsters. Older films and literature generally depict dinosaurs as sluggish, unintelligent, lizard-like creatures.

More recently, the portrayal of dinosaurs in works intended for popular consumption has tended to better reflect a more nuanced modern scientific understanding of the animals. In particular, the development and refinement of computer-generated imagery has led to a watershed in the depiction of dinosaurs on film. Perhaps the most prominent example of CGI dinosaurs remains the film Jurassic Park, directed by Stephen Spielberg. For the movie, the special effects company ILM used computers to create a believable dinosaur ecosystem on-screen. The success of Jurassic Park and its two sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, demonstrates the continued popularity of dinosaurs. The falling cost of computer-generated effects has also recently allowed the production of documentaries for television; the award winning 1999 BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs is a notable example.

Dinosaurs are often anthropomorphized in fiction. In works intended for young children, they are imbued with friendly, even loving personalities. Examples of this trend include the 1970s show Land of the Lost, the 1990s' Dinosaurs and the more recent Barney & Friends.

Cartoons, comic books and comic strips also regularly depict dinosaurs. The cartoon The Flintstones showcased a stone age family living with dinosaurs (though in reality humans did not appear until millions of years after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs). Comic strips such as Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side often featured dinosaur-oriented content. The comics entitled Dinosaurs for Hire portrayed anthropomorphic dinosaurs in a very unusual way; the comic's trio of gun-toting, trigger-happy dinos were notable for their "Who's Extinct?" t-shirts and their love of "Kojak".

Due to their consumer appeal, many computer and console games have featured dinosaurs as characters. The Jurassic Park films inspired multiple computer games (see Jurassic Park video games). Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Ape Escape, the Turok series, and even Zoo Tycoon have involved dinosaurs in their storylines.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "In popular culture", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki