If I said to you that I'm thinking of a particularly amusing death scene from the first Jurassic Park movie, what would you immediately think of? I suspect that you will think of the hilariously undignified death of the lawyer, who left the children and hid in a portapotty, just to have the T-Rex knock off the portapotty and eat him in one bite. The makers of the movie reserved that spectacular death for a reason. First off, the character was a lawyer (at a different point in the film, Hammond specifically said he hated) and he also left the children in the SUV when the T-Rex came close. Abandoning children is a societal no-no. So now we have the new movie. Jurassic World. Who had the particularly gruesome dinosaur death? I propose that the particular death was reserved for (SPOILER) the secretary who was watching the children. Dragged off by the flying dinosaurs, just to get dropped off in the water, where she nearly drowned and was brutalized by the flying dinosaurs (now underwater!) before being eaten by the huge water dinosaur. Yikes!
If you accept my position (gruesome deaths are a way of punishing characters), then I ask you this: Why her? Why was her death so brutal? Perhaps it was how much she focused on her cellphone. Perhaps it's because she lost the kids (same as the lawyer). Or just maybe it is because she is a working woman and (like Aunt Claire) she is punished for wanting a career over her own children.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to see this written up!
I think it was more the case of bad film making. I imagine the script meant to give the impression she was callous and possibly incompetent, but on screen she seemed harried and a bit over her head. Being Claire's personal assistant meant she does a lot of bitch work for her boss. The fact Claire asks her to take care of the kids so she doesn't have to and can wash her hands of the issue makes Zara (the assistant), more pitiful and sympathetic while Claire comes off less likable. Don't forget Zara's also getting married soon, that information is revealed in the call she was on when the kids ditch her. (The script probably meant to make her seem self-centered, but the film just makes her seem like a struggling young professional) Throw in the fact the kids aren't that likable, the older brother's a tool and the younger one is a weirdo, and you end up asking what has Zara done to deserve her lot in film? Well nothing worse then anybody else and for that she gets the worst death on screen. Worse than the actual bad guys. I imagine the filmmakers thought her death would be funny in a Loony Toons sort of way, but it just comes off as cruel. (The lawyer getting eaten in JP was funny) Really, Claire is more justified in getting that death. (Since it's more or less her fault the I. Rex escapes) So long story short, Zara died because the film makers got lazy/incompetent with transporting her character from page onto screen. – rj2n10 years ago
Or as one my professors is fond of saying, never attribute to malice what could be explained just as well by ignorance or indifference. – rj2n10 years ago
Rj2n, Ha ha, do you just follow me around to disagree with me publicly? Ha ha. Just kidding. – Jeffrey MacCormack10 years ago
I agree many characters in one genre don't carry over because of this nature idea of how many people an audience can differentiate from and/or budget. Sunday blockbusters tend to have less of an ensemble I've noticed recently. – fchery10 years ago