*SPOILER ALERT: The following article has references to key plot points in Jurassic Park, Frankenstein and Firefly. Read at your own peril.
“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” -Victor Frankenstein
"Roooooooaaaaaarrrrrrr!" -Tyrannosaurus Rex
The fifth movie in the Jurassic Park series was released June 22, and we can safely assume that the death toll will only continue to climb. The entire series, like so many other pivotal moments and stories in pop culture, is predicated on scientific hubris, the belief that if we can then we should without appropriate consideration of the consequences. To be fair, human greed, sheer stupidity and a tropical cyclone also play a major role in destruction in Jurassic Park but without the science we wouldn't have the dinosaurs and, really, aren't the dinosaurs kinda the whole point?
Recently B.D. Wong who plays Dr. Henry Wu in the original Jurassic Park and is returning for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, weighed in on the question of whether his scientist character is actually a villain. The actor believes that calling the scientist a villain is “kind of reductive or simplistic” but acknowledged that the character “definitely does make some choices that are extremely controversial.” The challenge behind simply consigning Dr. Henry Wu to the trash heap of villainy is that his motives aren't revenge or chaos or even greed. According to B.D. Wong, “he's motivated by his love for science and his own ego, which is well supported by his massive achievements.”
And it's not all bad. Sure, things don't go according to plan, people get eaten by dinosaurs, chaos ensues. But before the eating and the chaos, the Jurassic Park movies, and ostensibly science, give us some beautiful moments that we'll never forget. As B.D. Wong says, “One of the signifying elements of the brand is that moment of seeing dinosaurs for the first time at the beginning of the movie. That moment of fascination, of beauty, brilliance, life is a part of the brand.” More importantly, it's a moment that could only be delivered through science.
Now we must ask ourselves the tough question: Where would pop culture be without scientific hubris? How many amazing stories would be lost if Victor Frankenstein had simply put down the power tools and visited his family in Geneva? OK, so the power tools are a stretch but what would have happened if Frankenstein had refrained from his gruesome experimentation? He might have led a long and happy life full of productive scientific research, but we wouldn't have had much of a story.
We can safely conclude that scientific hubris in pop culture makes for a great plot device. Unfortunately, many scientists deplore these mad scientist portrayals, crediting them with influencing the public's perception of science with negative real-world consequences. In Ciara Wardlow's article, “A Scientist Walks into a Movie,” she states that “scientists in movies never had a hope.” The mad scientist as a character was simply too tempting. Of course, this stereotype didn't start with film; it emerged from literature and theater long before scientific and technological advancements gave us the brilliant new medium of film.
Of course, Jurassic Park and Frankenstein have plenty of good company. Many superhero and villain origin stories have roots in unchecked scientific experimentation and hubris. Just about every sci-fi book or movie has a moment when an arrogant scientist or leader is about to do something you just know isn't going to end well. And those Reavers in Firefly? Scientists created those too. Even Honey, I Shrunk the Kids could have benefited from a sage character pointing out that an amateur inventor probably should not run around shrinking stuff in his house will-nilly. But again, it wouldn't have been much of a story if Wayne Szalinski had just sat around his house thinking about creating a shrinking ray gun and then dismissed the idea as too dangerous.
Can we enjoy movies like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and books like Frankenstein without developing a negative view of science? I'd like to think so if for no other reason than movies are awesome, books are awesome and science is awesome and it would be a shame to be forced to choose. Does the scientific hubris plot line forge a problematic relationship between society and science? Probably. But dinosaurs. I'd prefer to think we can celebrate scientific achievements that benefit the world while fantasizing about owning our own pet dinosaurs and enjoying whatever fresh trouble the dinosaurs (but really humans) have caused in the latest Jurassic Park movie.