When Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park roared into theaters in 1993, few could have predicted the seismic cultural impact it would have. Based on Michael Crichton’s bestselling novel, the film revolutionized visual effects with its groundbreaking blend of CGI and animatronics, forever changing how dinosaurs were portrayed on screen and in the public imagination. But beyond its technological achievements, Jurassic Park embedded itself into the cultural consciousness in ways few films have managed, spawning countless references, parodies, and homages across virtually every form of media.

Three decades later, the film’s iconic moments – from the rippling glass of water signaling the T. rex’s approach to velociraptors stalking children in a kitchen – continue to be referenced, reimagined, and celebrated across pop culture. This enduring legacy speaks to the film’s perfect blend of wonder, terror, and adventure that continues to resonate with audiences of all ages.

Television: Where Dinosaurs Roam Free

Television has been perhaps the most fertile ground for Jurassic Park parodies and references, with animated shows leading the charge.

Animation’s Prehistoric Playground

The Simpsons, known for its pop culture references, has incorporated Jurassic Park multiple times throughout its lengthy run. In “Treehouse of Horror V,” Homer travels through time and encounters dinosaurs in a direct nod to Spielberg’s film. The episode “Homerazzi” features Homer photographing celebrities hiding from a T. rex, mimicking the film’s iconic chase scenes. The show has consistently employed Jurassic Park-inspired music and visuals in various couch gags and cutaway jokes.

Family Guy has taken its own irreverent approach, with Peter finding himself in a Jurassic Park-like setting only to be promptly eaten by a T. rex after uttering the line, “They do move in herds” – a direct parody of Dr. Grant’s awestruck observation in the original film. Similarly, in “The Road to the Multiverse,” Stewie and Brian travel through dinosaur-filled dimensions that borrow heavily from Jurassic Park‘s aesthetic.

But perhaps the most direct television parody comes from Rick and Morty with its episode “Anatomy Park,” which transplants the entire Jurassic Park premise inside a homeless man’s body. The episode meticulously recreates the theme park-gone-wrong formula with its signature dark humor, complete with musical cues that directly mirror John Williams’ iconic score.

Live-Action References

Even live-action television hasn’t been immune to the allure of dinosaur-based humor. Saturday Night Live has spoofed Jurassic Park multiple times, including a memorable fake trailer for “Jurassic Park Auditions” featuring celebrities like Adam Sandler and Al Pacino “auditioning” for roles in the film.

Cinematic Nods: Hollywood’s Dinosaur Footprints

The film industry itself has paid numerous homages to Jurassic Park, recognizing its status as a watershed moment in cinema.

Pixar’s Toy Story 2 features Rex running after a moving car in a sequence that directly parodies the T. rex chase in Jurassic Park, using similar camera angles and visual language. Shrek 2 includes a scene where the giant Gingerbread Man walks through the streets accompanied by music reminiscent of the T. rex reveal in Spielberg’s film.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action features a scene in the Area 52 lab with a dinosaur chase that directly parodies Jurassic Park, complete with raptor-style attacks and jungle-set visuals. These cinematic nods demonstrate how Jurassic Park‘s visual language has become shorthand for both danger and wonder.

Gaming: Digital Dinosaurs

The influence of Jurassic Park extends well beyond official tie-in games, inspiring numerous titles that either directly reference the franchise or borrow heavily from its themes and aesthetics.

Ark: Survival Evolved stands as perhaps the most obvious spiritual successor, placing players on an island filled with dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures. The game features elements clearly inspired by Jurassic Park, including electrified fences and visitor center-like structures. Its massive popularity demonstrates the enduring appeal of the “humans and dinosaurs coexisting (badly)” premise that Jurassic Park perfected.

Even games that seem far removed from the prehistoric era have found ways to incorporate Jurassic Park references. Fortnite has featured Jurassic Park-style skins, including characters like Owen Grady, while Goat Simulator includes missions involving escaping a dinosaur island and interacting with a T. rex in a fenced paddock – clear nods to Jurassic Park‘s most memorable sequences.

The modding community has been particularly active in keeping Jurassic Park‘s legacy alive in gaming. Minecraft features numerous Jurassic Park-inspired mods and fan-made maps, including “JurassiCraft,” which adds dinosaurs, fossil excavation, and park-building mechanics. Themed servers recreate Isla Nublar with gates, jeeps, visitor centers, and even playable versions of iconic scenes like the raptor kitchen.

Musical and Artistic Tributes

Jurassic Park has also left its mark on music and the arts, inspiring everything from parody songs to elaborate visual tributes.

Musical Homages

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody song “Jurassic Park” (a take on Richard Harris’s “MacArthur Park”) retells the plot of the original film with his trademark humor, featuring lines like “A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawyer.” The accompanying claymation music video recreates scenes like the T. rex attack and the raptor kitchen.

Even rappers have paid homage to the franchise. Eminem, in his 2013 track “Rap God,” compares his lyrical prowess to a raptor from Jurassic Park with the line: “You’re witnessing a mass-occur / Like you’re watching a church gathering take place looking at a raptor at Jurassic Park.” The metaphor demonstrates how Jurassic Park‘s velociraptors have become cultural shorthand for raw, dangerous energy.

Visual Arts

In the visual arts realm, Jurassic Park has inspired countless works across various media. Pop surrealist artists like Alex Pardee and Jason Edmiston have created stylized tributes to the film’s monsters and scenes. Fan art frequently reinterprets iconic moments like the T. rex breakout, the raptor kitchen scene, and Dr. Ian Malcolm’s pose.

The film’s influence extends to street art as well, with large murals of the T. rex or the “clever girl” scene appearing in cities worldwide. These artistic tributes often use Jurassic Park‘s imagery symbolically to critique corporate hubris or genetic manipulation.

Reshaping Dinosaur Media

Perhaps Jurassic Park‘s most significant cultural contribution was how it fundamentally reshaped the portrayal of dinosaurs in all forms of media.

Scientific Influence

Before Jurassic Park, dinosaurs in popular media were often depicted as slow, lumbering beasts. The film’s portrayal of them as intelligent, fast-moving animals with bird-like behaviors changed this perception dramatically. This scientifically informed approach influenced subsequent dinosaur media, from documentaries to children’s shows.

The BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) is widely regarded as a “documentary version of Jurassic Park,” using similar visual grammar, cinematic camera angles, and behavioral storytelling. Its success was largely possible due to the CGI expectations that Jurassic Park established.

Disney’s Dinosaur (2000) further built on this foundation with its photo-realistic animated dinosaurs. The film’s antagonist, Carnotaurus, owes much of its menacing portrayal to Jurassic Park‘s raptor and T. rex characters.

Even Apple TV+’s recent Prehistoric Planet (2022-2023), while more grounded in current paleontology, carries echoes of Jurassic Park in its cinematic feel, emotional storytelling, and predator-prey tension.

Comedy and Satire

On the lighter side, Jurassic Park has inspired numerous comedic takes on dinosaurs. Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Blue Sky’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) both owe a debt to Jurassic Park for paving the way for dinosaur popularity in family media.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs includes raptor chases, T. rex showdowns, and “hidden worlds” tropes, all reimagined with comedic flair. It plays with Jurassic Park clichés, such as characters hiding behind small objects or being sniffed out by predators.

Disney’s Meet the Robinsons (2007) features a T. rex antagonist with the memorable line, “I have a big head and little arms” – a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Jurassic Park T. rex’s distinctive appearance and supposed physical limitations.

Internet Culture: Memes and Viral Trends

Perhaps nowhere is Jurassic Park‘s cultural permeation more evident than in internet culture, where scenes and quotes from the film have spawned numerous memes and viral trends.

Iconic Memes

“Clever Girl” – Muldoon’s final line before being ambushed by a raptor – has become internet shorthand for situations where someone gets outsmarted or betrayed. The phrase appears across gaming, sports commentary, and political discourse, and has been merchandised on shirts, mugs, and posters.

Jeff Goldblum’s shirtless pose as the injured Ian Malcolm has achieved legendary status as a thirst meme. The image’s cultural impact was so significant that a 25-foot statue of the pose was installed in London in 2018 to commemorate the film’s 25th anniversary. The pose is regularly photoshopped into other pop culture scenes, from Renaissance paintings to sitcom sets.

“Welcome to Jurassic Park,” John Hammond’s awe-filled delivery as dinosaurs first appear, has become a sarcastic meme used when entering chaotic situations like crowded subways or messy classrooms. The line is often paired with swelling John Williams music over low-budget, silly visuals in countless TikToks and Reels.

The water glass rippling to signal the T. rex’s approach has become a symbol of subtle but growing panic online. DIY recreations of this effect became a TikTok trend, with people slamming doors or using bass drops to ripple water in glasses, mimicking the film’s tension-building technique.

“You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you did it” – Malcolm’s sarcastic congratulation to Hammond – is now widely used online when someone improbably succeeds or follows through on a ridiculous idea. The phrase is especially popular on Reddit in DIY and gaming communities.

Social Media Trends

On TikTok, the John Williams score from Jurassic Park – particularly the swelling orchestral cue when dinosaurs first appear – is used for dramatic or ironic reveals. Creators might use the music to showcase mundane achievements with the caption “Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

Fan edits and crossovers reimagining Jurassic Park as different genres (rom-com, horror film, sitcom) proliferate across social media platforms. Crossover memes like “Jurassic Park x Star Wars” (with raptors as stormtroopers) or “What if Marvel directed Jurassic Park?” fan trailers demonstrate the film’s adaptability to different cultural contexts.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, “Low Budget” remakes of Jurassic Park scenes using toys, cardboard props, or backyard settings became a popular quarantine activity, with creators sharing their homemade versions across YouTube and Reddit.

Conclusion: The DNA of a Cultural Phenomenon

More than 30 years after its release, Jurassic Park remains embedded in our cultural DNA. Its influence extends beyond mere nostalgia – the film fundamentally changed how we visualize dinosaurs, revolutionized special effects, and provided a template for blending wonder and terror that countless films have since emulated.

The film’s continued relevance across generations speaks to its perfectly calibrated formula of scientific fascination, primal fear, and adventure storytelling. From the highest-budget Hollywood productions to homemade TikTok videos, Jurassic Park‘s footprints can be found across the landscape of popular culture.

As Dr. Ian Malcolm might say, “Life finds a way” – and so too has Jurassic Park found endless ways to remain alive in our collective imagination, continuing to inspire, terrify, and entertain audiences around the world. Its legacy, like the amber-preserved DNA at the story’s center, ensures that Spielberg’s dinosaurs will never truly go extinct.