Outline for The Second Term Paper

Nexus of Art and Science

Term Paper Outline

Title: Hollywood's Terrible Lizards

1. I. Introduction

1. A. Jurassic Park and paleo scientific accuracy

1. 1. Brief explanation of how dinosaur depiction has changed over the years

1. a) 1920s depictions

1. (1) Image of Heinrich Harder’s “Diplodocus” compared to                most recent reconstruction

2. 2. Hollywood’s exaggeration counters what science has found and continues 
3.     to be the main inspiration for people’s ideas of what a dinosaur looks like

2. II. Overall inaccuracies in Jurassic Park

1. A. Overly aggressive monster-like behavior
2. B. Featherless raptors

1. 1. Evidence for feathers found in 1990s in China's Liaoning Province

3. C. Heavily shrink wrapped models for the dinosaurs, otherwise creating a 
4.      ‘starved’ look

1. 1. Image of jurassic park rex next to a more fleshy less starved looking                  accurate rex

4. D. Raptors in the movie called velociraptor are actual a species called dromaeosaurid       deinonychus

1. 1. Velociraptors were roughly two feet tall
2. 2. Eyes would have not have been slitted, as those belong to smaller predators      and/or predators that live close to ground level (cats/crocodilians)
3. 3. Broken wrists

5. E. Briefly describe how Jurassic World maintains the same inaccuracies even after 30       more years of research

1. 1. Describe a potentially redeeming line “You didn’t ask for reality” in the            movie

1. a) Not enough to clearly explain to the audience that the dinosaurs in          Jurassic World supposedly were modified to look like older                    interpretations of dinosaurs

3. III. Ever evolving perception

1. A. Feathered dinosaur tail found in amber (2016)
2. B. Very recent discovery of featherless t.rex a month ago
3. C. Spinosaurus in the past few years has been discovered to have possibly moved on         4 legs and a river dweller

1. 1. Image of spinosaurus reconstruction

4. D. Some dinosaurs can be accurately recolored due to feather remains

4. IV. Effects of inaccurate portrayals

1. A. Prehistory romanticized

1. 1. Viewed as monsters out of a fantasy rather than animals

2. B. Some people straight up think that feathered dinosaurs are a conspiracy

1. 1. Overall suspicion towards updated/recent fossil discoveries and  stagnant          towards change

3. C. Most popular dinosaur media sets up standard for other dinosaur-based media to           follow
4. D. An overall roadblock to accurate portrayal in media overall

1. 1. Literally 30 years behind at this point

5. V. Conclusion

1. A. Discuss the hold that Jurassic Park holds on our perception of dinosaurs and how         Fallen Kingdom will continue to shape it
2. B. Mention how there’s hope since things have come a long way since the 1920s               depictions