Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as a 21st-Century Gothic Tale

An Antispeciesist Revision of Monstrosity

Authors

  • Xiana Vázquez Bouzó Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20237347

Keywords:

Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, Gothic film, monster film, antispeciesism

Abstract

This paper considers Juan Antonio Bayona’s 2018 film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as a Gothic film which disrupts the archetypal conventions of monster films, especially in relation to the antispeciesist conception of monsters —in this case, the genetically-engineered dinosaurs which feature in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World sagas. Through an analysis of its cinematography, character construction, scenarios and plot development in the light of Gothic Studies, I will argue that this film is not just Gothic in appearance, but also in the sense that it
breaks with contemporary anthropocentric conventions of normalcy, unity and species boundaries, and that it confirms the trend in filmic narratives that takes into account the monsters’ perspectives in order to challenge human exceptionalism.

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Published

2023-12-19

How to Cite

Vázquez Bouzó, X. (2023). Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as a 21st-Century Gothic Tale: An Antispeciesist Revision of Monstrosity. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 68, 123–144. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20237347

Issue

Section

ARTICLES: Literature, film and cultural studies
Received 2022-10-06
Accepted 2023-10-04
Published 2023-12-19