Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Stereotypical Media Portrayal of Tyrannosaurus Rex Essay -- Explorator
Stereotypical Media Portrayal of Tyrannosaurus Rex à à à à à à à à à à à à à à Since kindergarten, our heads have been filled with fantastic pictures and stories about the great dinosaurs that have long been extinct.à But like a lot of our childhood education, scientific information is often simplified and exaggerated by teachers, parents and the media.à The case of the T- Rex is an exceptional example of how the media can create a stereotype based on incomplete and outdated information, which ends up asserting itselfà back in mainstream popular culture. Thus,à a certain myth of the Tyrannosaurus Rexà being a speedy eating machine, becomes a social ââ¬Å"factâ⬠based on fiction.à à à à If someone asked a five or six year old boy what he thought the Tyrannosaurus rex looked like, he would probably draw an angry, large dinosaur with sharp teeth, small arms and long slim legs.à If asked, the same boy would probably describe the T- Rex as the meanest, fastest scariest dinosaurs of all. While fact and fiction arenââ¬â¢t always separated for children,à its interesting that today still as college students we would respond as the child did. à à à Having seen Steven Spielbergââ¬â¢s Jurassic Park, it's obvious that children and college students arenââ¬â¢t the only ones who think of T-Rex as the fastest and meanest dinosaur of them all.à Throughout the movie T-Rex is feared by the main characters not only because he is a carnivore, but because of his speed.à But recent studies have confirmed that the belief that T- Rex could run as fast as say, a Ceolophysis could, is nothing more than a myth. à à à On March 2, 2002 Science News (The Weekly Newsmagazine of Science)à ran an article by Sid Perkins, No Olympian: Analysis T. Rex ran slowly, if at all. In his a... ... what, where, when and why we perceive things as a society. As a whole,à Americanââ¬â¢s have the idea of T- Rex being the ââ¬Å"meanest, fastest andà scariestâ⬠of dinosaurs, when other carnivorous dinosaurs like the Velociraptor were just as much a predator as they.à And as long as the Speilbergââ¬â¢s of Hollywood portray the popularized and stereotypical aspects of culture in their movies, people will continue to believe that what they see is fact, not fiction. Works Cited Garcia, Mariano & John R. Hutchinson ââ¬Å"Tyrannosaurus was not a Fast Runnerâ⬠Nature Journal 415à (Feb 28,2002): 1018-1021 Anonymous, ââ¬Å"How Fast Could Tyrannosaurus rex Run?â⬠Physics Today, Copywrite 2002 American Institute ofà Physics www.physicstoday.com/vol-55/iss-4/p18.html Perkins, Sid ââ¬Å"No Olympian: Analysis hints T. Rex ran slowly, if at all.â⬠à Science Newsà March 2. 2002 Vol. 161, No. 9, P. 131
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