The Films That I Have Taught: Jurassic Park

In addition to books, the other big text that I teach as a teacher is films. Much like the book series, The Films That I Have Taught, is a personal reflection on the films I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often revealed interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and how it influenced my writing.

“We’re up to when the guy got chomped”. This was the response to my question to my group of year 9/10s about where we were up to in the movie Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg. I have a lot of love for texts that capture that sense of wonder in the new. For me it never mattered the quality of the graphics or the camera, it was all about the wonder. The approaching of the island, the first time we see a dinosaur, these are moments of pure wonder.

I will not go on a tangent, where I also discuss the wonder in Tales of Berseria (as much as I want to), but I will not that the wonder aspect in Jurassic Park is what keeps it engaging. My students loved this film, their essays were solid as well. I think for any text to be effective in the classroom then it must be both engaging and of high quality, there is no point wasting time of a high-quality bore as there is on wasting it with a low-quality thrill ride.   

I would recommend teaching it because it does have those high-quality film techniques and very clear themes for the students to analyse, but I want to focus on the wonder. In my own writing, there are times when I try to show that wonder. In Jurassic Park the wonder is built through a combination of score and size. That first moment you see a dinosaur, it is awe inspiring. The music swells and the giant beast stands over us, we see its scale. I know I said I wouldn’t go on a tangent, but there is a moment in Tales of Berseria where you enter a city on a hill that overlooks the ocean, and I remember thinking “wow”.

I am not sure I have worked out how to get that reaction from my writing, perhaps I need to read more, or maybe I can do it but am just unaware. I do know though, that I will continue to strive to have those moments, because that is what takes a text from good to unforgettable.