Jurassic Park - Student Examples

STUDENT A

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in the terrifying jaws of a dinosaur? Well, there is someone who has; Ian Malcolm is just one of the many iconic characters brought to life in Michael Crichton’s hit thriller, Jurassic Park, written in 1990 and later turned into a famous movie directed by Steven Spielberg released on June 9, 1993. Basically, dinosaurs get cloned on an island, they escape and eat everyone, and the island gets nuked. I believe that Crichton’s novel is better than the movie is because of the amazing imagery that sucked you straight into the world of Jurassic Park and the figurative language that truly brought the unique characters and jaw-dropping story to life.

 My first reason for liking Crichton’s novel better is the astounding imagery. Now, of course, I would need an example of the actual imagery to support my claim; so take a look at it, “Beyond the fences, Grant saw dense clusters of large ferns, five feet high. He heard a snorting sound, a kind of snuffling. Then the sound of crunching footsteps, coming closer” (Crichton 116). Now, did that make you feel, see, and hear what Grant is experiencing? Well, it did for me, because it describes these dense ferns, a snorting sound, a kind of shuffling, and finally, these “crunching footsteps” that make you almost hear them for yourself; igniting your five senses.

 My second reason to prefer the book is the beautiful figurative language that Crichton used (in my opinion, this is not an opinion, it is a fact). And if you’re not convinced yet, just take a look at this quote, “From a pointed snout, a long row of teeth ran back to the hole of the auditory meatus” (Crichton pg 116). Are you in love with the figurative language now? How Crichton uses a string of words to paint this amazing picture in your mind? If not, then I can’t make you like the book better, but I can try to further persuade you with this quote, “His lungs burned from the harsh alkaline dust” (Crichton pg. 31). Does the way Crichton used the phrase “His lungs burned” allow you to fully comprehend what's going on now? Well, if it doesn’t, I can’t try to persuade you anymore with figurative language.

  Some may still say that the movie is superior to the book, maybe for its special effects. Well, I can agree that the movie has pretty good special effects, such as the scene where Dennis Nedry is trying to steal the embryos and a dilophosaurus finds him and spits some poison in his eyes, or the adorable scene where Hammond and the others watch a baby raptor hatch in the lab. These all show the wonderful and terrifying special effects of the Jurassic Park movie, however, the book still tells the story better because it contains all the details of it, but the movie’s use of special effects allows them to skip out on some major parts of the story. For example, the character Ed Regis in the book doesn’t even exist in the movie. So, in my opinion, even with the movie’s special effects; the book is better.

  Again, I believe that Crichton’s novel is better than the movie is because of the amazing imagery that sucked you straight into the world of Jurassic Park and the figurative language that truly brought the unique characters and jaw-dropping story to life. So, now you know that there are many reasons to think that the book tells the story of Jurassic Park better than the movie (or at least you should). Thanks for reading!

STUDENT B

Even though the topic might seem boring or even pointless, it’s fairly quite fascinating. Jurassic Park is a series of movies and books that talk about a story where a man makes a park full of dinosaurs. Soonly, the dinosaurs escape their enclosures and run wild, killing many people and destroying the park. The story is made and written by Michael Crichton; The first book was (and still is) a very popular book apart of the series. People argue every so often about the first book and movie, debating which is better. In my opinion, the Jurassic Park book is better than the movie because of the amount of detail and imagery.

   The amount of detail in the Jurassic Park book is immaculate. Such precise details add so much to the scene and imagery within the pages. Both of these concepts combine to make an excellent story. But what role does detail play in the book that makes the book like this? Let me explain; the detail is always seen throughout the book. If you were to flip to a random page, you would most definitely see at least one example of this. An example would be, “Alongside the apatosaurs, the smaller hadrosaurs stood on their hind legs to get at foliage. They moved gracefully for such large creatures. Several infant hadrosaurs scampered around the adults, eating the leaves that dropped from the mouths of the larger animals.” (Crichton 170). Or, “Blood flowed from his neck. It struck out with its hind claws, and with a single swift movement ripped open the belly of the fallen animal. Coils of intestine fell out like fat snakes.” (Crichton 399). Understand that these pages are vastly far away from each other. Also, some major parts of detail that are seen throughout the book are sacrificed for animation and special effects in the movie. Major parts such as the very beginning of the book where the girl gets bitten by a baby raptor. Parts like that add more plot and more understanding to the story as a whole and not for just how it would look or sound. In my opinion (and many more), the plot and story is much more important than the scenery. Though, imagery does also play a big part in not only the story, but the visualization too.

  Imagery is an essential for an abstract narrative. I would say that the imagery in the book is much more than just abstract. The detail woven into the description makes the story complete or rather more interesting. In my opinion, the imagery in the book is not only better than the scenery in the movie, but in any other book I ever read. For an example, “John Hammond sat down heavily in the damp earth of the hillside and tried to catch his breath. Dear God, it was hot, he thought. Hot and humid. He felt as if he were breathing through a sponge.” (Crichton 438). This example upon hundreds of other examples combine to make one of the most excellent narratives for me to have read. Another example of amazing imagery in Jurassic Park is, “It was creepy, he thought. He looked back at the dinosaur and saw the head snap again, and immediately felt another wet smack against his neck, just above the shirt collar.” (Crichton 218). It’s so exact and precise that you can exactly imagine what the author was thinking when writing this scene. The way he words the scene makes it clear and understanding for whoever is reading the passage. There are somethings that movie-preferers would fight against in some of these reasons. But, what exactly are they and how do they go about their way to convince?

  When looking at other people’s opinions, you can see some convincible evidence that sometimes the movie can be better. Such as, if someone has a hard time visualizing, then the movie will be a much better option to people with that disability. If you were to not have that disadvantage, I do recommend that you read the book always before the movie. The reason why I recommend that is that in some parts of the book (as stated before) are not included in the movie. These parts add up to a much more interesting story with more plot and lore. Some will say that the animation and special effects can (and will) improve the visualization of the film and the scenery. That of which, I think is true. The effects can be impressive and fascinating from where it’s coming from, but what most people watch it for is the story. The story on how they got the park together and their actions throughout the film. The most difficult thing is when you read a book and then go to watch the movie, waiting for your favorite moment or an intense scene. Then when you go to watch it, it doesn’t go the way you planned on going or it completely ruins the scene you were hoping for. I can agree that the movie has qualities that the book cannot grasp but the book is better because of that fact.

  In my opinion, the Jurassic Park book is better than the movie because of the amount of detail and imagery. These parts of the book make up most of it and plays a huge role in directing the plot and the scenarios in the film/story. Sometimes, it does a even better job then the movie does. These are thing in the book that the movie doesn’t have such as the animation and special effects. Even if you don’t agree, you’ll see why in actuality the book is much better than the movie. Micheal Crichton is a great author that made many books such as Westworld, Timeline, and Sphere. So no matter what the debate might be, in the end we should all agree that Jurassic Park narrative was a fantastic story.