It has been almost thirty-year since Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park was released.
The film opened in 1993 to critical acclaim and did wonders at
the box office. It made $404 million in the US and $695 million
internationally, making it one of the first films to make over $1 billion
worldwide.
While computer graphics and animatronic-generated dinosaurs
were the focus of Jurassic Park, the film also helped the cast of the film.
Prior to Jurassic Park, Laura Dern was known for her roles in
independent films such Wild at Heart, and Rambling Rose, and supporting roles
in films such as Teachers and Blue Velvet.
Sam Neill was known for playing supporting parts in films such
as The Hunt For the Red October and Dead Calm. He was also known for playing the title
role in the TV Series Reilly: Ace of Spies. He was also known for auditioning
for the role of James Bond, the part eventually went to Timothy Dalton. Neill
signed on to star in Jurassic Park after Harrison Ford turned down the
role.
Jurassic Park may not have made superstars out of Dern and
Neill, but it certainly made them well-known. It was among the few occasions
when they were part of such a widely watched blockbuster.
If you were to ask the average moviegoer about Neill and Dern,
they would probably know them only for their work in Jurassic Park and their
sequels. The film obviously must have put more than a few pennies in their bank
account.
They are all set to reprise their parts in the latest
installment of the Jurassic Series called Jurassic World Dominion.
While promoting the film you would have expected nothing but
appreciation and gratitude for the original film and how it benefited them in
every way.
Alas, that wasn’t the case.
Neill recently told The Sunday Times,
“I am 20 years older than Laura! Which at the time was a completely
appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady. [The age gap being
inappropriate] never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an
article called ‘Old Geezers and Gals.’ People like Harrison Ford and Sean
Connery acted with much younger people. And there I was, on the list. I
thought, ‘Come on. It can’t be true.’”
Dern responded
“Well, it felt completely appropriate to fall in love
with Sam Neill. And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of
cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the
same age?’"
Hence instead of celebrating the success of the film that gave
them so much, Dern is claiming victimhood and Neill is claiming to be
remorseful for victimizing Dern.
The utterances by both Neill and Sam once again prove that in
current times victimhood earns you more accolades and press than success and
accomplishment.
If Neill and Dern has merely lavished blandishments on the
Jurassic Park phenomenon the coverage they received would have been restricted
to entertainment outlets. But the mention of their age gap and their empty
virtue-signaling gave them wide press coverage.
Both Dern and Neill were adults in 1993. The 90s were the
stone age where age differences didn’t matter. Both actors could have refused their
respective parts. But neither of them is willing to accept any blame. Dern
is claiming that she was so brainwashed by patriarchy that she didn’t even
realize there was anything wrong with the age difference. While Neill claims he
didn’t realize the age difference until he read an article about it.
It all seems far-fetched, the age of a person is often the
first few attributes you notice in any individual especially when you work in
proximity. Age is not only revealed in its physical manifestation but also in
choices. Surely Neill and Dern must have had some conversations that made
Dern's age appears to Neill?
The implicit suggestion here is that either Dern’s
character was groomed to be with an older man or Dern herself was
groomed to think it was okay to be with an older man.
It seems ridiculous to examine this further but let's do it
anyway both Dern and Neill in Jurassic Park play highly educated adults. He is
a paleontologist while she is a paleobotanist. If they are old enough
to study the history of life on Earth through the fossil record, they are old
enough to engage in a consensual relationship.
The only way to confront patriarchy is to respect a woman’s
wish. If a woman chooses to be in a relationship with an older person she must
be respected for he choice. Setting norms of what is and is not appropriate for
a woman is a way of controlling a woman. It assumes that she is unintelligent
and unable to decide what is good for her and constantly needs to be
educated.
Will Dern and Neill's utterances harm the film? Probably not,
every article that mentions this age difference also mentioned the release of
the latest installment in the Jurassic Series.
The question remains if the age difference was such a big
issue, why did they both sign on to the latest film. You know the answer.
This is contemporary Hollywood, always willing to say the
right thing but when they have to act, their sole focus is pecuniary gains.
They claimed to be feminists at award shows but allowed Harvey
Weinstein to prey on myriad innocent women because they profited from the films
he produced. They only spoke up when Harvey was sent to prison.
They claim to care for the dignity of mankind but are willing
to star in series produced by Apple TV, knowing that Apple exploits its workers
in sweatshops.
Neill and Dern’s comments are a continuation of this series of empty virtue signaling.
Also appears on American Thinker
Comments
Post a Comment