Jurassic World: Similarities And Differences

Cinthia E. Gomez Prado

ENG 100

Professor McCulley

18 May 2018

Characters with Similarities and differences

The movie Jurassic based on the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and the movie sequel Jurassic World have similarities and differences as demonstrated in some of the main characters. These stories of the parks are parallel and they are connected in different ways. For example, the sequel movie shows the night vision goggles and the building of Jurassic Park and Claire’s outfit, a white suit, is almost the same as Hammond used. Two of the common characters the director used in these movies are John Hammond in the Jurassic Park movie, same as the novel, and Claire Dearing in Jurassic World movie. Hammond is the creator, multimillionaire,

and owner of Jurassic Park in the novel and also in the first movie. Otherwise, in the movie Jurassic World the owner and CEO is the character Simon Masrani, but even if both are the owners of the parks, the character that is more closely related to Hammond’s personality is Claire Dearing. Both characters have similarities in their personalities even if they are not the same; even the white and elegant suit that both wear creates a connection between them. These two characters are connected because they both are egocentric; however, at some point, they differ in the way they care about their relatives and how they are willing to make sacrifices without being selfish.
First of all, the two characters Hammond and Dearing are connected because they both are egoistic. Dearing’s character is the one in charge of the park. She is the one making decisions, who talks with the investors, and who is really in control of Jurassic World as Hammond was in Jurassic Park. Besides, at the beginning of the film, she tries to do everything right for the park. Her ego and leadership position in the company are the most important for her. No errors are allowed in the park; everything has to be. She does not have time to spend with her nephews. Also, she has someone else to babysit her nephews like Hammond did in Jurassic Park as he emphasizes in the movie, “You watch my kids like a hawk, they're your responsibility for the weekend” (Crichton 96). Moreover, her decisions to fix the problems were not the best ones. When things start getting bad, she was just worried about the park. When the dinosaur escapes she was more worried for the capture of the dinosaur than the safety of the people, and again just like Hammond does all the time. Hammond is selfish all the time, egotistical and greedy. He is an immature old man that was always worried about his park as he mentions while people has been killed by the dinosaurs “We have to go out and get him tonight…Are you forgetting you work for me?” (250). Hammond and Dearing demonstrate they both have an exaggerated self-importance and they sometimes think that they or the park are more important than anybody else, even when people are in dangerous.
However, at some point, both characters differ in the way they care about their relatives.

In the novel, John Hammond has cynical and greedy motivations; in the film, most of Hammond’s negative personality traits are the same. John Hammond is not the nice guy, he’s actually a real piece of work. He appears with his white beard, his soft, white shirt and trousers combo. He also has an amber-topped walking stick and a playful, ageless smile. Well, John Hammond is not quite the big softy he is in the film as shown in Crichton’s Jurassic Park book. In the film he comes across as a billionaire CEO turned philanthropist, but in the book he is more like a cold, heartless, ruthless person. This decision spirals out of control, rapidly growing into a company-wide problem which is now all on Claire. Deep down, Claire is not heartless and she is not cold. One of the most important scenes for Claire is when the dinosaur is ripping through the ACU team. The owner Masrani continues with the facade of company first, park first. Claire tries to maintain that same level, but it is now evident that she is losing that inner battle between what is right and what she was trained to believe is right. You see her start to break down and show concern for the park’s operation, the safety of the guests, the safety of the employees, the safety of her assets, and amongst her own worry of what others will think of her. She has to be in charge, she has to make another rash decision, but this time, she

begins to question what that even means in this situation. She has a moment when she realizes that she is doing badly, which makes the delivery of “you are not is control …here” (Trevorrow) one of her lines in the film. She is not in control, but is still keeping the facade for now. After this, Claire is giving everything a second thought. The inner battle between her two worlds is colliding. Here she is truly concerned for human life, she remembers her nephews, her perspective and priorities are changing. Something that Hammond never did.
Lastly, they differ in the way how they are willing to make sacrifices without being selfish.

Dearing’s character is strong and she is a determined woman, who cares about her nephews, something that Hammond never shows. Hammond is careless and selfish; he is only worried about himself and his park. On the contrary, in some point she reacts, Dearing started getting really worried about the safety of the people, especially her nephews. For instance, while Hammond was eating ice cream, the dinosaurs were killing everyone as he demonstrates “by the time we finish this ice cream. So let's just wait and see what develops, shall we?” (228). However, Dearing was in field trying to protect them. The first important scene for Claire is when she jumps to the conclusion that the Indominus Rex has escaped. This is a case of Claire showing that she is not as confident as she led on. The uncertainty displayed in her first introduction is surfaced once again, but so is the pressure to ‘make it happen at all costs’. Once again, she is pulled between who she is and what she is supposed to do and maintain. The audience is also pulled with her in both directions due to having been let into her vulnerability early on. However, her corporate built ego and status cannot allow for such an error as this, so she must act in haste. This could come across as an unintelligent move, but understanding the stakes weighing on Claire and her already displayed lack of true confidence to the viewer. This way

the viewer can follow her decision and understand it. Much like trying to solve a quick mishap at work before the boss finds out. We have all been there and we have all made that reckless decision. When things start to implode around her, all she knows is her assets and her park. She did not plan for there ever to be a catastrophe of this magnitude. Her initial reaction to the dinosaur’s false escape demonstrated exactly that. Claire’s compassion and connection with her humanity shines through and it is that vulnerability and staying true to one’s self that is refreshing. She is not a superhero, she is a regular person in an extreme circumstance brought about by her own fatal flaws.
In Conclusion, Hammond and Dearing are connected because they both are selfish in some point. Despite that, in the long run, they lack resemblance in the way they care about their families and how they are willing to do whatever it takes to save their relatives without being greedy. In the novel, Hammond is killed by compys after being frightened by a recorded Tyrannosaurus roar, falling down a steep hillside and breaking his ankle. In the film, Hammond is among the survivors who escape the island, returning in the sequel having reformed his ways, seeking to protect the dinosaurs rather than exploit them as Dearing in Jurassic World. These two characters with their similarities and differences create a connection between the novel and the movie Jurassic Park and the movie Jurassic World.