Dinosaur

Saurischia

In popular culture

Dinosaurs were highly successful life forms for some 150 million years; however, even more than their success, it is their extinction that has become part of human culture. Hence dinosaur is sometimes used as a metaphor for people and things that are perceived as being out of date or no longer in touch with the spirit of the times, and therefore ought to be extinct. An example was the manner in which the punk movement described the "progressive" bands that preceded them as "dinosaur groups." Decentralized social movements have sometimes described centralized governments or corporations as dinosaurs as well.

Related Topics:
Metaphor - Extinct - Punk - Progressive

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Dinosaurs have long captured the public mind, and children are especially fascinated with them. This is evidenced by the many dinosaurs in fictional works. Notable examples include Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Lost World, the 1933 movie King Kong, and Michael Crichton's book Jurassic Park.

Related Topics:
Fiction - Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World - 1933 - King Kong - Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park

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Even in the early days of cinematography a dinosaur could become a movie star, as was the case in 1914 with Gertie the Dinosaur by animation pioneer Winsor McCay. Further films used artistic license and showed humans as living contemporaries of dinosaurs, for example, The Valley of Gwangi (1969) and One Million Years BC (1966) (famously starring Raquel Welch in a fur bikini). Ray Harryhausen brought the dinosaurs to life in both films using model animation.

Related Topics:
1914 - Gertie the Dinosaur - Winsor McCay - Artistic license - The Valley of Gwangi - 1969 - One Million Years BC - 1966 - Raquel Welch - Ray Harryhausen - Animation

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In the age of computer-generated imagery, stunningly realistic depictions of dinosaurs and other "prehistoric" animals became a possibility. In Jurassic Park dinosaurs are brought into contact with humans when they are genetically resurrected. The film based on this book was a big success in 1993.

Related Topics:
Computer-generated imagery - 1993

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Dinosaurs are also a frequent topic of television documentaries and popular nonfiction books. A notable documentary using CGI was the 1999 BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs.

Related Topics:
1999 - BBC - Walking with Dinosaurs

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Dinosaurs are a common theme in popular comic strips such as Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side. Dinosaurs are also commonly seen in children's television shows such as the 1970s show Land of the Lost, the more recent Barney & Friends, and in some of Toei's Super Sentai Series (which was Americanized into Power Rangers).

Related Topics:
Calvin and Hobbes - The Far Side - 1970s - Land of the Lost - Barney & Friends - Super Sentai - Power Rangers

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See also: List of fictional dinosaurs

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