In 1895, the release of the Lumière brothers’ “Train Entering the Station” in France marked the birth of cinema.In 1902, a film master, Méliès, also from France, released the first science fiction film, “Journey to the Moon”.Thus we can see that the birth of science fiction films is almost the same time as the beginning of the history of cinema. The extraordinary imagination of people has given science fiction films a long and continuous life from the very beginning, all the way through more than 100 years. During these 100 years, many science fiction masterpieces have emerged to rewrite the history of cinema, driving the continuous innovation and development of this unique genre, and bringing us endless imagination. If cinema is a dream, science fiction films can be considered the most magnificent one.
Film is the art of image, so great ideas must have strong enough technical support to show to the audience and last for centuries. This is why the majority of classic science fiction films are produced in the United States, where technology has always been at the forefront of the world. Due to technical limitations, the early science fiction films look rough, the special effects are not complimentary, there are not many people remember the classic. This situation was broken in 1968 by a work that came out of nowhere, and it can be said that this work represents the original meaning of science fiction, which is Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 A Space Odyssey”. This great work not only has a profound meaning, its realistic special effects even to today’s view is still breathtaking. And it is also a direct result of George Lucas shooting later the world-famous “Star Wars” series of important reasons. And its position as the No. 1 science fiction movie was not broken until the appearance of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in 1982. So far, regardless of any science fiction movie selection, these two works have also been firmly occupying the top three seats, its artistic charm can be seen.
But because of their forward-thinking and profound ideas, they are invariably subjected to either box office or box office cold when they were just released, especially “Blade Runner”, which failed miserably at the box office that year comment Chi Chi, but with the test of time, its own value gradually emerged, has become a model for the later.
Unlike the style of the above classical science fiction films, there is a class of directors whose science fiction works have never been both art and entertainment, such an eclectic positioning makes their works sweep the global box office at the same time, in the critical community has also gained a good reputation. Two of the most famous representatives of this type of directors are James Cameron, who created a new concept of science fiction films with a series of science fiction works such as “Alien 2”, “The Abyss” and “The Terminator”, and Steven Spielberg, who is well known for his work.
Spielberg is an iconic figure in Hollywood cinema, and his films have touched the memories of an entire generation. He is of Jewish descent, and in his works, he has shown the magnificent to extravagant imagination of his people, and infused them with a child’s heart that he has always kept. Looking at his works, we can find that science fiction makes up a large part of them, from the mysterious and unpredictable of the original “Third Contact”, to the childlike heart of “E-T Aliens”, the warmth and cruelty of “Artificial Intelligence”, the questioning reflection of “Minority Report”, to the post-apocalyptic sentiment in “War of the Worlds” released last year. Each of these works tells a point of view while at the same time captivating the viewer’s eye with his staggeringly rich science fiction elements. And in this the pinnacle of science fiction is the 1993 “Jurassic Park” (Jurassic Park) for the world to be amazed.
We weren’t born in America, and we weren’t born in the 1970s, so our generation didn’t experience much of the Star Wars franchise’s immense appeal, let alone the fervent embrace of the culture that came out of the movies, without sufficient cultural grounding. However, we will remember the 1990s, there is such a work of science fiction, so that fans around the world like a tidal wave into the cinema for the crazy, and this situation until 1997 “Titanic” appeared after a repeat. That work was “Jurassic Park,” that restored the bizarre world of dinosaurs.
Jurassic Park” still ranks sixth in the global box office charts with more than 900 million, and the top ten films are almost dominated by the “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” series of recent years. And “Jurassic Park”, which appeared in them a decade ago, is the only film from the last century in the top ten. Perhaps the box office is not the full measure of a film, but this series of figures can already fully verify its unique artistic charm, as the film’s unbeatable Tyrannosaurus Rex, “Jurassic Park” is completely called the best combination of art and entertainment science fiction film domination!
The film is adapted from the famous science fiction writer Michael Crichton (Michael Crichton) of the same name works of fiction. It tells the story of Dr. John Hammond in the process of dinosaur research found a mosquito sucked dinosaur blood, trapped in the fossilized resin. He extracted DNA from the mosquito’s dinosaur blood, replicated the real dinosaur, and built a dinosaur “Jurassic Park”. Unexpectedly, the park was vandalized after an accident, and the dinosaurs escaped causing a catastrophic situation.
This is a typical “soft science fiction” story (science fiction works are divided into “hard science fiction” and “soft science fiction”, the difference between the two is that the former is a work of science fiction conceived in natural science) The difference between the two is that the former is a work of science fiction based on natural science, where the writer tries to write about each scientific invention to the extent that it can be explained by natural science, and if there is an explanation that does not make sense, it is due to the limitations of the level of scientific development. Soft science fiction generally does not deliberately try to explain too much about the scientific basis of the scientific inventions mentioned in the works, and does not even care whether such advanced scientific ideas are possible, because for the writer, he is concerned with what will happen after the scientific inventions appear, or in the context of this particular technology, what changes will occur in society, and what society will be like in the future. Therefore, it has been argued that soft science fiction uses social sciences including philosophy, sociology, ethics, and other disciplines as works of science fiction conception. (Du Jian: The Great World Science Fiction Literature, Book I, 108).
Spielberg is interested in this story precisely because it is rich in entertainment elements under the surface of the profound reflection on the evils of social science development. The laws of nature are not to be contradicted, otherwise it will be devastated. But even so, when the film begins, accompanied by John Williams epic music, under the guidance of Dr. Hammond, we see for the first time on the screen that has disappeared for millions of years when the behemoth, the excitement is still unspeakable. Dinosaurs, a prehistoric monster, were once the dominant force on Earth, but eventually became extinct because of changes in the Earth’s environment, which in itself is a mystery that fascinates countless people. So the moment that the lifelike dinosaur on the screen to the sky, the hearts of people around the world for the trembling, this shock is not just a movie can bring, this is the original life to bring us the throbbing, beyond space and time to the heart, so we really feel the greatness of life. Of course, the technology that created all of this also created a historical precedent, “Jurassic Park” in the special effects by Lucas “Industrial Light and Magic” (ILM) company to create the dinosaurs in the film also became the first time in the history of the film by digital technology to create breathing, real skin, and muscle and movement texture of the characters.
Science fiction movies have been my favorite genre since I was a kid, and I’ve seen almost all of the famous and not-so-famous ones in my back-and-forth search, but the overwhelming excitement of watching Jurassic Park is as unprecedented as the dinosaurs in it, and I don’t know if there will be any future ones. Spielberg knows how to control the pace of the film, so that the development of the story has been open and shut. The film has a variety of different characters to add life, with a lust for fat people, there are naive and brave brother and sister, on the one hand for the failure of the pain on the one hand to protect the family and the determination of the old doctor, there is a calm and cool hero Dr. Allen. There is also the most important group of characters, the film is to open our eyes to the dinosaurs, they are no longer the monotonous and clumsy supporting role in the previous films, they have become the absolute eye-catching protagonists with their different personalities and characteristics. The meek and gentle herbivorous dragon sneezed at a little girl’s giant sneeze still makes me laugh, and the appearance of the dinosaurs running wild in the wilderness was the first scene in the film where the dinosaurs appeared in a group, and the momentum came rushing in.
Velociraptor is considered one of the biggest nightmares in the film, and in a way it reminds me of some of the scary features of “Alien”. Dragon as its name, they move quickly and agile, extremely lethal, the most frightening point is that they are extremely intelligent, not only know how to ambush attacks, but also in some specific situations to imitate the study, such as opening doors or something. So under the leadership of Dr. Allen, almost all the way to dodge these raptors. It is no wonder that Stephen Chow also teased the dinosaur in the “Domestic Zero Paint” that “runs around and bites the kids”. Of course, each appearance of the supreme Tyrannosaurus rex will set off an unprecedented storm-like climax. After the sudden appearance of the two children in the rainy night to scare the soul, trailing behind the car all the way to the wild also let our heart to the throat. In the final moments of the film, after taking out the raptors, a loud roar, and then the words “Jurassic Park” slowly fell to the ground. This unbeatable dominance reminds me of King Kong on the roof of the Empire State Building, beating his chest in anger! They are both the overlords of a certain stage of nature, that is a kind of king’s spirit.
At the end, the people who escaped from the helicopter flew away from the island, outside is an endless sea of jagged waves, just now the shock of the moment they have regained their calm, looking at the sleeping children around them and smile. Dr. John Hammond, who created “Jurassic Park”, stroked the amber fossil on his cane and fell into a deep meditation. It was a reflection of all mankind, a penetrating lightness after the battle, mixed with a reverence for the laws of life. The laws of nature, on which the earth has been living for millions of years, will not be easily changed by human presumption. And how many small people in the world still have high-end science and technology and think they are God! In the melodious music, Spielberg let us end the movie with this faint worry. And the helicopter slowly disappeared in the golden sunset, after all, he is in love with mankind, so he let us fly to the hope.
In a way, the film is flawless. When I recall it many years later, I can still say so without exaggeration. Spielberg’s ability to combine art and business to the extreme, in the history of the film has drawn a strong line.
After this, in 1997, Spielberg again directed the sequel to “Jurassic Park”, “The Lost World”, this time unaware of the people brought the Tyrannosaurus rex to the city. And the film took the opportunity to play a mother dragon looking for her children, also achieved amazing box office.
And in 2003, “Jurassic Park 3”, without the giant Spielberg’s direction, the audience lost the freshness of the dinosaurs on the screen, its status and the first two films have been incomparable. But with the first, the second set of pterosaurs not deeply portrayed in the excavation, these innovative gimmicks make the film also achieved not bad box office results.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This famous line from A Tale of Two Cities is the most appropriate for the current situation of science fiction films. With the rapid development of computer technology, there seems to be no more light and shadow that can’t be shown on the screen, and technology has brought endless hope to people. On the other hand, the most central part of science fiction films – creativity, but increasingly declining. Looking around, now on the screen are all Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and other comic book heroes, any one science fiction film as long as you spend a lot of money seems to be able to use special effects pile of light and strange. And like the previous science fiction brought us obsession-like intoxication, but less and less know where to go after it.
Despite this, some creative films still stubbornly adhere to the essence of science fiction, these films make us happy. In 1999, science fiction fans were treated to an end-of-the-century frenzy with “The Matrix,” a religious and philosophical work of cyberpunk science fiction that was a breath of fresh air. The series was also the biggest breakthrough in science fiction films in recent years, and a small-budget science fiction work in 2004, The Butterfly Effect, won widespread acclaim for its unique theory of parallel space and temporal shift.
American film theorist John Barks once commented on the role of science fiction films: “Whatever its sociological importance, science fiction film remains a fundamental means of provoking beauty, a poem for the atomic age, a cautionary tale that makes us aware of what we are and what we will become …… Just as the popular music of the 1940s evoked more of the restlessness and fashion of the era than the literature it thought itself attached to, a phenomenon like science fiction cinema may one day be seen as more fully representative than other artistic disciplines of the historical angst of the era that produced it. ” Science fiction film and television faithfully reflect the human process of seeking a path between the known and the unknown through imagination.