The Jurassic Park Book: New Perspectives on the Classic 1990s Blockbuster

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Description

The definitive 1990s blockbuster, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park met with almost universal critical and popular acclaim, broke new ground with its CGI recreation of dinosaurs, and started one of the most profitable of all movie franchises. To mark the films 30th anniversary, this exciting illustrated collection of new essays interrogates the Jurassic Park phenomenon from a diverse range of critical, historical, and theoretical angles. The primary focus is on Jurassic Park itself but there is also discussion of the franchise and its numerous spin-offs.

As well as leading international scholars of film studies and history, contributors include experts in special effects, science on screen, fan studies, and palaeontology. Comprehensive, up to date, and accessible, The Jurassic Park Book appeals not only to students and scholars of Hollywood and contemporary culture, but also to the global audience of fans of the greatest of all dinosaur movies.

Reviews

Editor Matthew Melia and 16 enterprising colleagues dig deep into Steven Spielbergs pivotal masterpiece and reveal everything you want to know about Jurassic Park and the universe it established. Contributors of this work answer questions you never thought to ask about the movies production, marketing, box-office success, franchising, fandom, ecopolitics, merchandising, and afterlives, as well as the representation of men, Jews, scientists, and dinosaurs. Required reading for every T-Rex, velociraptor, and their hosts of descendants and distant relatives. * Thomas Leitch, Kirkpatrick Chair of Writing, University of Delaware, USA *
The Jurassic Park Book is a timely, necessary collection for students and scholars about the enduring power of popular entertainment and its limitless capacity to imagine new worlds while critically and commercially shaping our own. From franchise expansion to ecohorror nightmare, Jurassic Park harnesses the scholarly vitality of blockbuster entertainment to spectacular effect; its legacy proves again that Steven Spielberg is the master storyteller of this age. Through insightful, original, and rigorous readings lensed through several interdisciplinary frameworks, including fan and marketing studies, 1990s masculine anxieties, ILMs radical advancement in creating digital lost worlds, and the franchises adaptation to and beyond the screen, Matt Melias superb collection joyously unveils the films rich scholarly depth and why it still matters in blockbuster entertainment today. * Sorcha N Fhlainn, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK *

Author Bio

Matthew Melia is a senior lecturer in film, television, and English literature at Kingston University, London, UK. He is editor of The Films of Ken Russell (2021), a contributor to The Bloomsbury Companion to Stanley Kubrick (2021), and co-editor of The Jaws Book (Bloomsbury, 2020).