Jurassic Park: Narrative, Iconography, Character and Settings Analysis

Narrative

The film Jurassic Park follows a somewhat conventional storyline, featuring Todorov's equilibrium, disruption and restoration.  The main story begins in equilibrium, where Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler lead happy lives as paleontologists.  There is then a small (but not necessarily negative) disruption, where the two are invited to an island inhabited by dinosaurs.  The real disruption comes when the dinosaurs break loose and the visitors must get away from the island alive.  Eventually, the restoration comes when most of the visitors catch a helicopter and fly away from the island alive.
The story is rather conventional of an action adventure, as it involves a lot of near death experiences and desperate survival, as commonly found in almost every action adventure.  The constant threat of being eaten by dinosaurs adds to this

Iconography

Jurassic Park contains a lot of action adventure iconography.  One of the main ones is Dr. Grant's typically western/Indiana Jones style hat, which connotes advenure, marking him from early on as an explorer.  The use of land rovers reinforces this idea of adventure, as they are often associated wiht being driven through rough, dangerous terrain, and play a part in an action scene where characters are quickly driving away from a dinosaur.  Obvious icons of action adenture are the dinosaurs themelves; the fact that they are from a different time period and nobody hs ever seen one before fits into the idea of adventure being about exploring the unknown.  Their great size, speed and teeth make them fearsome creatures which plays a strong role in the action element of this film.

Characters

The characters in Jurassic Park are mostly stereotypical adventurers, but the lawyer, Gennaro, is an example of an unconventional explorer, and doesn't last long in Jurassic Park, not only adding comedy effect as to how out of place he is in a dangerous and adventurous situation, but showing how formiddable the dinosaurs are as predators, and emphasiing the importance of suvival in such a situation.
Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are both paleontogists, so the audience knows that they have at least some experience with dinosaurs, which automatically sets them up as the heroes, and Dr. Sattler could be described as the story's princess.  Malcolm is the helper, as he helps other characters to survive, as well as Robert Muldoon, who gives his life to save Dr. Sattler.  John Hammond could be described as the donor because he gives the gift of an invitation to his park to the other characters.  The villain is Dennis, who is trying to steal from Jurassic Park and, in doing so, allows all the dinosaurs to escpe.  This classic set of characters is common in action adventure films.

Settings

Setting the story mostly in the jungle strongly connotes the adventure genre, as it is easy to get lost in the jungle, and anything could be hidden there.  The far away island connotes isolation, adding to the adventure and also showing how hard it is going to be for the characters to escape the island.  The control room and labs are full of technology which add to the science-fiction genre in the film, which is a common part of action adventure.  There is a scene where Dr. Grant, Lex and Tim are hiding from the T-Rex in a tree, the connotations here being safety, especially when they meet the harmless Brachiosaurus.  Another scene depicts Dr. Sattler escaping a velociraptor down a dark, underground, metal corridor; this gives a feeling of being trapped, and there is no way of escaping the dinosaur, which connotes action and also gives Jurassic Park a thriller theme.  Therefore, the settings in Jurassic Park connote action and adventure, as well as some elements of the sci-fi and thriller genres.