6 D2. Paleontology (Posters)

Sunday, 17 March 2024
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Armory Ballroom

HOW OUR INTERPRETATION OF DINOSAURS HAS CHANGED THROUGH THE EYE OF POPULAR CULTURE

Paper number: 6-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Authors

  • Mark Reinhold Presenting Author
    Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA

Abstract

Since first being described in the early 19th century and formally named in 1842, dinosaurs have slowly become a steady presence in the public eye through popular culture. But, why does the general public’s view of these creatures differ today compared to their first descriptions? The work of paleontologists over the past 200 years has led to many updates regarding the stances, mobility, and external appearance of dinosaurs and these changes have slowly infiltrated the public persona of dinosaurs. Over the past two centuries, dinosaurs have gone from being seen as slow, dim-witted beasts, as portrayed in early films and books like Brute Force (1914) or The Land that Time Forgot (1918), to quick, lithe creatures like in Jurassic Park (1993) and Footprints of Thunder (1995), an indication of the change from being interpreted as being cold-blooded to more warm-blooded. Their external appearance has changed from being seen as scaly, lizard-like creatures, as in Household Words (1851), to more bird-like with feathers, as portrayed in Jurassic Park: Dominion (2022) and Dinosaur Summer (1998). Dinosaur stances have changed from being seen as strictly quadrupedal, as the Crystal Palace reconstructions of 1853 show, to a wider range of postures (quadrupedal, bipedal, and facultative bipedal) which we see in more recent reconstructions. While not every popular culture portrayal may be correct, the public can stay relatively up-to-date on our recent interpretations of dinosaurs through the works of today’s artists, writers, and film producers.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024NE-397663

© Copyright 2024 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.