It’s safe to say that Jurassic Park fans are some of the most committed fans when it comes to big franchises – with different people always coming together to champion the dinosaurs and the characters which we hold so dear. We’ve covered some great ideas over the past few years, and today’s article is no different – with another fantastic initiative to put the classic 1993 film on the map for a new generation of fans.
So, what are we talking about? Well, a group of fans recently came together to make Jurassic Park a part of ‘r/place’ – a subreddit which attracted the attention of huge media outlets like The Verge and Polygon due to the unique nature of the way Place works. We’ll be honest – we’re a little out of our depth when it comes to reddit, so we decided to take the time to catch up with Fragile Fragilis, who is one of the people who began the great idea to get Jurassic Park on the map with R/Place. Read more below:
TJ: Firstly, what is Reddit Place about?
FF: R/place is an event that the website Reddit has done twice so far. The idea is pretty simple, everyone with a Reddit account has access to a huge canvas that can be used to create artwork with coloured pixels. The trade-off is that you can only place one pixel every five minutes. Because of that limitation, many people have to form groups and communities to be able to place down their artwork as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Said groups and communities also have to form "alliances" with other communities to ensure that they won't have eachothers artwork taken over by a larger community.
TJ: How did you come up with the idea of getting the Jurassic Park logo on this year’s version of place?
FF: I got the idea from seeing my favorite pieces of media getting represented on the canvas (Star Wars, Legend of Zelda, etc.) with the exception of Jurassic Park. The original Jurassic Park movie is a very nostalgic movie to me so, I thought it would be neat if I got that iconic little Rex skeleton logo somewhere into the canvas with the original red, black, and yellow color scheme. I guess some other people shared that sentiment of wanting to get Jurassic Park into r/place, and before long we had formed a small community centered around that goal. (As a side note, I'd like to thank u/mattersmuch and u/Small-boi for their contributions to the community). And who knows, if Reddit does this again then maybe we'll be able to get the sequel logos on the canvas - or the Walking with Dinosaurs logo?
TJ: What does this mean going forwards – is it immortalized on R/Place forever?
FF: I believe that this does immortalize the movie into internet history, especially since our drawing made it into the "final canvas" (screencaps of the canvas taken before the event ended). Even if our drawing most likely won't be noticed by many people viewing the canvas, largely due to the size of the logo, it's still there. And, with that being said, I've actually seen a few people in Discord servers notice and point out the Jurassic Park logo on the canvas, and that was really cool to see.
TJ: Why do you think Jurassic Park still has so much appeal so many years after its release?
FF: I think that Jurassic Park still has appeal just because of how much it holds up. Nostalgia aside, the effects are absolutely incredible and the story is cleverly and thoughtfully written. The movie brings up topics that continue to grow in relevancy, such as the ethics of genetic engineering. The movie also revolutionized the public's perception of dinosaurs, with them being shown as warm-blooded, agile, and active animals rather than sluggish evolutionary dead-ends. Even if the designs and some of the animal behavior does not hold up by modern standards, what Jurassic Park did for the public's perception of paleontology and science cannot be understated. I think that the original Jurassic Park is a great watch for anybody who loves movies and/or palaeontology.
Huge thanks to Fragile Fragilis for providing more insight into this project – you can follow him here. We love projects which bring the community together and encourage people to work for each other’s mutual benefit, and this speaks to that – with a fantastic effort made to build other communities up on reddit and create something meaningful for Jurassic fans in the process.
A huge congratulations to all the fans who made this possible. It’s awesome seeing the 1993 film continuing to get so much love – and we look forward to seeing how fans get even more creative next year to mark the film’s 30th Anniversary. Stay tuned to The Jurassic Park Podcast for all the news on community projects, Jurassic World Dominion and everything in-between!
Written by: Tom Jurassic