Question about movies

[urbpan]

I watched the first 10 minutes of "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (we'll watch the whole thing tonight, I think), and, in addition to the "kung-fu taking place in 1764 France" scene, I was struck by the fact that the hero was a naturalist. (Hey, I'm a naturalist!)

I may take this next thought somewhere, or I may ponder it into a dead end. I'd like to compare and contrast different naturalist characters from films. First I must compile a list of these characters. What movies can you think of that include a naturalist character? (A naturalist, in case the term is new to you, is a person "versed in natural history, especially in zoology or botany." (dictionary.com)

I suppose this means that Sam Neil and Laura Dern in Jurassic Park were naturalists, but that stretches the meaning for me (they were paleontologists).

Did the petroleum company in King Kong bring a naturalist? For that matter, were there any naturalists on the crews of the ships that encountered the Alien or the Aliens? Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws was a naturalist (marine biologist?) but the brains of the operation in Tremors was a geologist (seismologist?). I suppose I can let go of my biocentrism for a moment to accept the plain fact that geology is Natural History.

Lake Placid, my favorite Jaws rip off after Tremors had a great naturalist character in (leaves room to check name of actor--yes, I own it) Oliver Platt. Angels and Insects' hero was a naturalist (not a very good movie, but it contained a good moth "attack" scene), oh! and isn't the sidekick in Master and Commander a naturalist as well as the ship's doctor? (I haven't seen it.)

So anyway, the question in bold above is my point. Anyone?

Comments

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

lol. i really liked evolution. never cry wolf is a great movie, too, as was adaptation. wow. i hadn't thought of a single movie. how about that movie 'angels and insects'? i think the lead female in that is a naturalist.

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Oops. I do love David Duchovny, though.
How about Indiana Jones - does archeology count? And I feel like Jeff Goldblum ought to be here somewhere, but I don't know where.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

does steve zissou count? bill murray/life aquatic man? if so, then goldblum certainly does, as the semi-antagonist with the same sort of job. i haven't seen any of the jurassic movies, though, so am unsure about his other roles.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Steve Zissou most definitely counts (as he is based on one of the most well-known naturalists of the 20th century)--haven't seen it yet, but it's one of the 150 in my queue. As I understand it, Goldblum is his rival, another marine biologist?

Jeff Goldblum seems to specialize in scientist roles. brush_rat is going to have to help me out one this one, because I'd like to remember what kind of scientist he is in his various roles (from Buckaroo Banzai to Steve Zissou--those are the titles not his roles)but I can't. He was a Jewish Cowboy in Buckaroo Banzai, and some kind of scientist, too. He was some kind of scientist enamored with chaos theory in Jurassic Park, some kind of scientist (physicist?) in the Fly movies, experimenting on himself, and of course in Independence Day he was the computer technician for a cable tv company who happened to have the appropriate skills to save the world (apparently the invading aliens used the same computer language and compatable operating system as the New York City Cable company.)

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

i enjoyed independence day right up until goldblum's virus. that was completely moronic.
he does play cerebral types. his character in life aquatic was probably my favorite for him so far, but it's also the most enjoyable movie i've seen in a very long time.
a little frustrating- i know i've seen more movies with naturalist types in them, but i cannot bring a single one to mind. of course, there are movies like gorillas in the mist, but that's completely based on reality, so i don't know if it counts.

The Goldblum files

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Okay, if you insist, but I'm mostly going off the top of my head here. I did check his filmography on IMDB and discovered I haven't seen most of his films, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the low key projects he favors when not whoring playing lead geek in blockbusters.

It looks like his first scientist role might have been in The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai. He was a brain surgeon who calls in Buckaroo for assistance when an operation on an Eskimo becomes complicated. He ends up joining the band of musicians/scientists, the Hong Kong Cavaliers as "New Jersey." He plays keyboard and in one scene he's writing the Buckaroo theme.

Okay, too much info, but I really like the film. The book is worth hunting down as well.

He's a scientist again in "The Fly." it's been years since I've seen it, but he must be a quantum physicist or something. He becomes a bit of a naturalist during his transformation as he catalogs his slow and nasty transformation.

He played Jim Watson in "Double Helix." I've never heard of it before, but Watson is one of the scientists who discovered DNA. Probably a bad way of wording it, but you get the idea.

If I remember correctly he was a mathematician in Jurassic Park.

In Independence Day he was the worlds least business savvy computer expert. Goldblum discovers that the aliens haven't yet discovered the firewall and saves the world with a quickly cobbled together virus. Meanwhile, Bill Gates rules the world, has more money than God and Goldblum is working for Cox Communication.

He's probably pretty close to a naturalist in "Cats and Dogs." He's working on a cure for allergies. No wait, now I remember. He discovers a cure for allergies, and that's why the cats are after him. I may have slept through some of that one.

I haven’t seen "The Life Aquatic" yet, but it sounds like you guys already have that one down. I may have missed something there, but now, thanks to a quick perusal of IMDB I know that he can wiggle his ears independently, an invaluable task for any naturalist.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

That's the movie I was wondering why it was in our queue - Buckaroo Banzai.

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Source of the classic line, "Remember, wherever you go, there you are."

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Yup - I've seen it about a thousand times - I saw it in the theatre!!

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Not that I know you, but I took that "don't know why it's on our Netflix list" to mean you hadn't heard of it. And that would be sad.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, it would be very very sad. It's a great movie.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

We decided that Rebecca should see it again, now that she's older.