A Gendered Reading of ‘Jurassic Park’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

Spare no expense!

After closing out May with the first half of our dino double feature in Tammy and the T-Rex, we’re kicking off June (and concluding the double feature) with a look at Steven Spielberg‘s 1993 classic Jurassic Park!

In the film, wealthy businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park filled with dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park’s power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors, including Hammond’s grandchildren (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazello), paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), struggle to survive and escape the now perilous island.

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Episode 233: Jurassic Park (1993)

Flock this way because we’ve spared no expense as we continue our dinosaur double bill with a gendered analysis of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic Jurassic Park! Join us as we explore the “intense science-fiction terror” (thanks, MPA) of a land in which dinosaurs are capable of changing their biological sex!

Plus: a look at the revolutionary effects in the film, lots of Marvel talk, Deep Blue Sea comparisons and some horrible attempts at imitating the velociraptor calls.

And if you take issue with our applying a queer read to this massive blockbuster of a film, just remember that when applying a queer read in formal film criticism: you’re not asking if a film is queer, you’re just using this theoretical framework as a way to explore the wider implications of a specific school of thought within the context of a kick-ass subject (the kick-ass subject here being Jurassic Park).

Cross out Jurassic Park!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re heading into some deeply serious territory with a look at the gender politics of Ari Aster’s Hereditary!

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for nearly 245 hours of additional content! This month we’re catching up on horror TV with Slasher: Ripper and Yellowjackets S02, as well the all-black slasher film, The Blackening and Rob Savage’s adaptation of the Stephen King short story The Boogeyman.  Plus: our audio commentary is on aquatic slasher film Jaws 2, just in time for its 45th anniversary.