This week we were asked to consider the rise of the dinosaur, especially in popular imagination. For me, the most apparent image of dinosaurs in this early period is how their design often seemed ridiculous and fanciful. Charles Knight's dinosaurs offered a peek into how earlier audiences must have seen dinosaurs, but they were also regarded as inaccurate. After viewing these images and reading about the Crystal Palace Dinosaur Tribute, I got the feeling that people of this time period were so fascinated with portraying the dinosaur as a most spectacular being. Perhaps their realistic appearance was not a concern -- whatever appearance would garner the most attention seemed to be the philosophy of those times. However, I understood where this sentiment comes from...
The discovery of fossils and the formulation of dinosaurs must have been an earth-shattering notion to the people of those times. People wanted to know what these beings that inhabited our planet long before we did looked like. I believe that this is a sentiment that holds true today. Young children are introduced to dinosaurs early on in school. I remember my own experience -- dinosaurs seemed to be these "playful" creatures. They often seemed like animals that jumped right out of a child's imagination, and I can see the appeal they have on children. As a child we would pick our favorite dinosaur and often tell each other proudly on the playgrounds. As I grew older, my fascination with dinosaurs fell by the wayside. They seemed to be an obsession for kids, but not for the older teen that I was becoming. As I grew older, I began to see dinosaurs in a new light. No longer did I solely concern myself with what my favorite dinosaur did, but I began to learn more about their beginnings and their untimely end. Even as I started to learn about evolution, I saw dinosaurs as just a mark on the timetable of our planet -- they played their necessary role and met their end in the natural rise and fall of species so seen by evolution. I began to study their relation to the grand scheme of things more, although I sometimes wish I could return to those days on the playground where my and my friends argued over the "best" dinosaur.
I have to agree with what you say about how people of earlier times saw dinosaurs as some spectacular creatures that roamed the Earth. I never thought about how it would feel to people of earners days when they discovered the fossils. It would be pretty Earth shattering to see these huge beasts and to think about how they lived on the Earth longer than we, humans, had. Dinosaurs to me when I was younger were the little "playful" creatures that starred in my little television shows and animated movies. It wasn't until I was older and saw Jurassic Park that my earlier views were shattered. Dinosaurs weren't just the cute little creatures but beasts. I still find it interesting to think that they dominated the Earth so many years ago. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting point about how dinosaurs could be seen as ridiculous -- we are so used to having them portrayed in ways that cue our feelings of awe or fear that it is interesting to think about ways in which we don't tend to see dinosaurs pictured (what about dino "cubs" playing with each other? or a dino slipping on a muddy spot?) Maybe that only happens when we try to "domesticate" animals (in thought) rather than keeping them categorized as "wild"...but there are lots of nature films that focus on the antics of juveniles, so we'd expect some images of this sort for juvenile dinosaurs, wouldn't we?
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