I just rewatched Spielberg's cultural phenomenon Jurassic Park last night and found it to be quite self-referential that the movie uses the "and everything goes wrong" story trope typically found in theme park rides since the film is set in a theme park (basically Animal Kingdom on acid). Therefore, I thought it would be fun to open a discussion of other theories/observations about the use of theme park tropes in theme park-centric movies.
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Good point! I don't quite remember Jurassic World but I wasn't really talking about the satire in Jurassic Park as much as the irony of the "everything goes wrong" trope being used for a theme park movie.
Not sure if anyone remembers Escape to Tomorrow, a movie that was actually set at Disney World and was so bad that in it a baby dies because a character “holds it to death”. I mean in every theme park based movie there’s always a “something goes wrong plot”. The live action Scooby doo movie did it kinda well but for a kids movie. I think though that Jurassic World did the trope the best because people were actually inside a fully functioning park, instead of in Jurassic Park where the park isn’t open and filled with guests.
@AndrewL- yeah there’s so many things wrong with that scene, mainly that a coaster is unfortunately never 5 minutes long
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I actually think Jurassic World had better theme park satire. The animal water show, the obligatory monorail, the teenage employees in over their heads dealing with irate guests.