Dinosaurs are fascinating beings. The discovery of the first fossils, bones of enormous size and forms totally unknown in nature, gave rise to all kinds of fantastic theories and relationships. Mastodon bones interpreted as the remains of giant Cyclopes. Shells that looked like the Devil’s claws. Even today, with the advancement of science and paleontology, capable of reconstructing Mesozoic species and habitats, dinosaurs and their fossils continue to arouse restless interest and powerfully feed the imagination of human beings.
So much so that they have become the most popular extinct animals . Popular culture is full of representations of dinosaurs: realistic, caricatured, virtual, toys, figures and in all consumable entertainment formats. Some of them have crossed generations and today are authentic cultural stars, good assets for marketing and, for many, fond memories of our childhood.
From painting and literature about the “lost world” during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and, above all, later with the cinema and series , dinosaurs have conquered an important portion of mass culture. Let’s review some of the most famous dinosaurs in popular culture.
“Jurassic Park” series
It is, without a doubt, the quintessential dinosaur film . That is why we mention the saga in its entirety. All the appearances of species delight those of us who enjoy these adventure, action and horror movies. The famous Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor stand out, but the expectations to see new dinosaurs on the big screen have always been there before each premiere, just as we are experiencing prior to the arrival in theaters of “Jurassic World: Dominion”.
These six films (to date), supported by animated series, short films, video games, books and comics, have the honorable fault of having raised the fame of dinosaurs to another level, as well as having interfered with an entire generation of paleontologists . They grew up with these beings and curiosity (obsessive for many) has led them to search for scientific answers to their fantastic questions.
Godzilla
The “king of the monsters” is not strictly a dinosaur (almost none of the cases that we are going to comment on here is), but its inspiration in the animals of the Mesozoic seems clear. This giant reptile had its first appearance in a 1954 Japanese film. The terror it unleashed and its monstrous presence were a metaphor for the atomic bombs that the Japanese suffered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
Its success led it to transcend and surpass this original iconography, becoming one of the most famous dinosaur-like monsters used in film and other cultural formats. The filmography that has Godzilla as the protagonist is around fifty titles, as many video games, comics and animated series that have enjoyed the favor of adult and child audiences for more than sixty years.
dinosaur
The content aimed mostly at a children’s audience undoubtedly has a greater number of famous and endearing dinosaurs. One of them is Dino, the mascot of “The Flintstones” , an animated series created by the production company Hanna-Barbera in 1960. Far from the terrifying aspects that characterize the dinosaurs of “Jurassic Park”, the animation has many protagonist dinosaurs with a sweet, comic character and, ultimately, on the good side of movies and series. In this case, Dino acts as a dog , following the fun game of the series by showing a current human life with elements of the stone age and dinosaurs mixed in the same era.
Rex
Partner of Woody and Buzz Lightyear in the “Toy Story” saga, the Pixar movies in which the toys are alive. In line with what was said about Dino, Rex does not show the ferocity typical of Tyrannosaurus, but is full of insecurities, shyness and it is he who is easy to scare .
dinosaurs
Issued between 1991 and 1994, it was an American sitcom that told the life of a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs . The Sinclair family and its comical situations were shown in more than sixty chapters in which a spoiled and spoiled baby stood out among the characters due to its peculiar humor.
yoshi and bowser
Let’s finish with examples of famous video game dinosaurs . Two of Nintendo’s most recognizable characters are dinosaurs. Both are part of the virtual world of Mario Bros. , a video game created in 1983. Yoshi is Mario’s faithful companion, while Bowser is the quintessential villain, kidnapper of the princess and whom Mario must defeat in each adventure.
Google Rex
It is curious this connection between the Mesozoic, which ended 65 million years ago, and the most technological present in which, when we run out of internet, the Google search engine allows us to play with a Tyrannosaurus rex . Due to the massive use of the internet and the Google search engine, and no less frequent network outages, Google’s pixelated dinosaur has gained worldwide fame jumping cacti and dodging flying reptiles in the manner of pterosaurs.
References:
Sanz, JL 2007. Dragon Hunters. History of the paleontologists who discovered and studied the dinosaurs. Ariel.
