Saurian Cinema: Colonialism & The Lost World 

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"You're pointing a six shooter at 8 people" Pathologic has entered the chat

there was something so endearing about that old guy picking up an actual little lizard and going TYRANNOSAURUS REX!

I don't know how common this is in colonized societies, but Spaniards had this whole caste system to rank people on whether they were of Spanish descent, if were born on the "New Spain", had indigenous blood or African blood. It's funny because you would think that's gone now that most of the population is "mixed race", but you would be surprised by how it still has a papable influence today. Also, as a Mexican, it's been surprising to find my culture has more in common with that of a Samoan friend's than with a Canadian friend's. Colonialism really leaves a deep scar.

Funny, but as a child in apartheid era South Africa I often heard about how bad the colonists of Australia and the Americas were to "their natives". You see, us Afrikaans settlers did not exterminate "our natives" like they did. In fact, we were positively benovolent by contrast! A prominent white liberal politician actually tweeted a couple of years back that colonialism brought benefits such as health care and education. Gee, I guess all's well that ends well (provided you ignore that education and healthcare are not gifts graciously bestowed by the white man but comodities colonial people have to buy after their forcible incorporation into capitalism). It still amazes me that people I know and who I though were sensible don't see what is wrong with the tweet.

I’m just gonna say that I had no idea that the “Inca” (which I have just learned is actually the name of the empire’s ruling class and not the people as a whole) actually called their nation Tawantinsuyu. Nobody taught me this.

Always so pleased to see creators getting sponsors and that coldcrash’s relationship with frome continues to remain strong. 🙌🏼

Can’t forget the idea that monotheistic religion is ‘more evolved’ and animism/polytheistic indigenous religions are ‘primitive’ and ‘a look into the past.’ Which is a theory that has been debunked several times over yet is still so pervasive.

"and after dinosaur films let's do the economy." a-fuckin-men.

So many movies where white guys play native. I've noticed in a lot of these movies, native women fall in love with the first white guy they see.🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️ interracial relationships are okay as long as they're the only ones doing it.

Throughout my life I have come up against people who believe that I should be grateful to them, to their people for being able to exist in my own country. I have been told what I am capable of as an indigenous person, limited at the least to self destructive at the most. Hearing people say that my people's language has no place here, is of no use, the list goes on. This colonialist attitude of superiority and entitlement is exhausting to say the least, the fight to not allow myself to be othered has never been one that I can put down. It's so ingrained in the dominant culture here that I didn't even notice it until far into my adulthood. So on that note I would like to say thank you for helping to lessen the load. If even one person changes their mind, it's a step in the right direction towards a kinder society for future generations, it all helps. Your hard work and compassion is truly appreciated.

The Jurassic Park videogames and comics actually address the fact that Ingen bought Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna from the Costa Rican government and then expelled the native people who used to live there. In the Telltale game you even play one of the former natives who tries to sabotage the corporation as revenge and in Trespasser you can explore some of their ancient ruins

My god you can't just tease Dinotopia like that and then never bring it up again

As a south american I really appreciated this video. I grew up with all kind of films from Hollywood depicting colonialism as this magic event that allowed europeans to have adventures in a new land, while they helped natives, fell in love with wild, pure women not corrupted by civilization and fought evil, cannibal natives. The older I got, the more I realized how twisted that narrative was. I'm happy that you pointed out the paper that both religion and science had in the oppresion and genocide of natives, since a lot of people seems to forget that scientist don't exist in a vacuum, and are influenced by the society they live in, the moral values and the socio-economic interests of their era.

17:33 this is irrelevant but that lizard is adorable.

First thing I would do with a Lost World remake is make it gayer.

There is a really chilling quote that I always think of when I hear about the the white saviour trope “we need to save the Indian from himself.”🤮🤮🤮

This librarian *really* enjoys the shade you throw at the white supremacists' crappy citations. 😁

"I'm not guilty, I'm angry. I'm angry that someone decided long before I was born to feed me a crock of shit about the history of the so-called new world." Finally someone says it! We're not guilty about what our ancestors did, we're pissed that we have to clean up after them. And by the people who pretend that those problems aren't that or actively make our job harder by adding to them.

Fun fact about Columbus Day: It was meant to be an "apology" to the Italian American community, for the lynching of ten Italian American immigrants in 1891 in New Orleans after being falsely accused of killing the police chief. It was only meant to be a one time celebration

I would really recommend you watch "Terrible Jungle" (2020), it's a french comedy about an newbie idealist anthropologist going into the jungle in Guyana to look for a "lost tribe". His mother (a seasoned anthropologist who is shown to use her research to help authoritarian governments) goes in search for him, believing him to be too dumb to survive in the jungle. A lot of the comedy relies on characterizing the characters external to the tribe as totally projecting their realities on the indigenous people, which leads to some really hilarious moments.

This is probably my favorite video you've ever done. The amount of cited History in these 50+ minutes was more than most people will ever learn in their K-12 education. I wish more people understood that what is taught in American schools is more an Indoctrination System than it is an "Education System."

"Everyone knows who Claude Rains is" Yeah, he's the Invisible M- "He's the Louie of 'Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'" *(realizes i should have checked the cast before I watched Casablancas)*

why are there so many porn bots in the comments section I want discussion about dinosaurs

“Where did he get his degree? Liberty University?” As someone who grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia, I smiled at that line.

Wow, I can't believe you made a video on this topic. I thought it was too niche. I have a weird love/disdain for The Lost World and your perspective is fascinating!

I don't know if it's relevant or not, but it's the internet so here's the origin of my take on the infamous legacy of Colonialism:- I'm in a weird place ,since my paternal ancestors were part of English expeditions, my great grandfather was actually a massive Churchill supporter ; While my maternal ancestors were freedom fighters and Bengal famine survivors. Basically my ancestors were perpetrators and survivors of the atrocities caused by Colonialism.

That excerpt from the Columbus voyage about the woman who was raped and beaten and was forced into sex slavery....terrified me. Almost brought me to tears honestly..

This isn't explicitly about colonialism, but I think the strangest thing about Rev. Care being the antagonist in The Lost World is that in real life it is generally creationists who concoct the stories of surviving dinosaurs and pterosaurs. The discovery of a plateau of surviving dinosaurs, particularly from all over the Jurassic and Cretaceous, would entirely undermine the evolutionary view of the world, as one would have to explain how such creatures survived for 66 million years while everywhere else they became extinct. Meanwhile, someone who believes in a 6,000 year old earth would explain that this discovery strengthens their argument that all life was created relatively recently in the same place. Still, a better antagonist than a racist caricature that's for damn sure.

Rocking that Newsies-era Christian Bale hair, I see.

"I know 1960 was 60 years ago" Don't you be dropping bombs like that

"31. the answer to your question is 31." was prescient

A few days later than expected, but I knew Santa would deliver.

My dinosaur figure “frank” and I are so ready for this

Shout out to Princess Weekes (who I ADORE) who shouted out your video for Gone with the Wind and I have been a fan of yours since. Glad you’re getting sponsorships!

29:20 Swinging by two years later to say thank you for this. This video, and the sources it introduced me to, actually helped me put a crack in my father's racist worldview a few days ago. He went on a rant about indigenous people in the Americas being "so undeveloped" that they "didn't even have the wheel" and I was able to make more or less the same points you did (though I added that there's ancient indigenous pottery that probably couldn't be made without a potter's wheel), followed by, "What were they supposed to hitch an oxcart to? A llama? A bear? A MOOSE?!" At which point he went quiet for a moment and said, "I hadn't thought about that." I've watched enough docs and read enough books by now that I forgot this video was my starting point, and the source of the picture of the little rolling toy that popped into my head at that moment. So, thanks! You helped change a mind (very slightly)!

only halfway through, don't mind me... just commenting for the algorithm... god i love how you tackle such important aspects we've come to know in the "post-colonial world" that's still hurting us and skewing our perceptions, it's very concise and entertaining. hope you keep it up, thank god frome supports your cause.

The last bit about whether researchers have a right to knowledge and truth, I think, is best exemplified in a Calvin and Hobbes quote: "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

The long hair looks chef's kiss omg i will be simping

When you cited Linda Tuhiwai Smith I knew this would be a good video. Shows you’ve done your research on the topic!

For a second there I thought you weren’t gonna continue this series, I’m so glad that you are!

I mean, the 2001 picture was my favourite growing up but for reasons that had less to do with its attempt at postcolonial self-awareness and more to do with Tom Wards glorious moustache. Jokes aside, revisiting old favourites is always difficult. On the one hand, to paraphrase a pioneering scholar and cultural critic, we can appreciate art/entertainment and acknowledge its more pernicious aspects at the same time. On the other, I haven't been able to pick up a Lovecraft book in quite a long time.

To add another layer to this, South Florida itself was a place that was practically its own lost world in more ways than one. The Seminole natives who lived there themselves eventually got forced to reservations by settlers. Though this wasn't until later due to the fact that the Everglades were an insanely hostile place and the natives used it to their advantage.

The irony is we collectively watched a lot of these "Bushman" movies at school and enjoyed them. Most of them were comedies(white man goes to Africa meets a native african tribe...). Imagine that a whole class of african kids watching these oblivious to the racism. 😅

Bless the algorithm, this video is gold. Also, not going to lie, Veronica's character made me laugh out loud. She's so out of place, it's like Pamela Anderson from Baywatch making a cameo, it's so ridiculous.

I don’t have anything productive to add to this conversation. I just wanted to express my genuine affection for this video and it’s message. Thank you.

your existence gives me hope for humanity

Omg thank god. A nice way to finish off the year. Just in time ♥️

As an indigenous guy who is also a dinosaur nerd, so grateful for this wonderful video essay. Aroha from Aotearoa - New Zealand

This video is a whole semester long lecture crammed into 54 minutes for me. I appreciate it, but my mind is filled to the brim.

>hour long video about how a 100 year old movie with big dumb lizards is racist >104K views

As an aspiring writer, learning how to avoid colonist narratives being perpetuated in new settings is important and I appreciate someone making a video along those lines as a good starting point.

I wish you had listed citations for how advanced non-European cultures were. I'd never heard about some of these things and would have like to have read more from them.

I'd like to know how you'd write a Lost World movie, it'd be pretty interesting

I'm English and how many people (including the prime minister) still romanticise colonialism is horrifying.

I'm so glad the 2001 Lost World adaptation is getting the recognition it deserves

Hair is looking ~so~ good

I kind of feel obligated to correct a few things: The high middle ages were not a particularly bad time period in Europe at all. Technologically, most of Eurasia was pretty much on par in the 11th century (3rd crusade for reference). The late middle ages were even pretty developed - until the Black Death hit and killed up to 80% of the population (don't worry, it became better). That wasn't a specifically European phenomenon though, it had very similar death rates in China. Many particularly bad things people associate with the middle ages like witch burning, (later) plague waves and religious bigotry actually happened primarily in the 15th century (early modern period) when the reformation wars devasted many regions. Steel armour was the objectively best armour to use in Europe, was constantly and massively improved from the 8th to the 15th century and it was already used together with padding (wool and linen). The reason the Spaniards reduced or dropped it was primarily climate, what may work in southern France or Poland just won't be bearable in the tropical forests of Mexiko (people in the Middle East also frequently wore different armour due to the climate). High quality steel armour was so good by 1500 that it actually boosted the use of firearms, because... While early firearms were inferior to bows in terms of accuracy and range (pistols were almost melee-weapons), they had far more penetrating power, and more importantly were easier to use, required less strenght to do so and could be mass-produced. In comparison, a good longbow takes months to build and a decade to train, decent gun (and pikemen) could be trained in weeks. Pike&Shot formations were developed as a counter against ultra heavy cavalry though, not against light often barely armoured infantry of Native American peoples. Heck, Cortez had more crossbowmen than gunmen. Steel weapons and horses (and obviously the whole "society collapses because of disease"-thing) were far more important factors in favour of the early conquerors. And in the case of Cortez also very clever politics and diplomacy.

I have to disagree with the point about armour and guns. The purpose of guns wasn't accuracy but force, hence why they were used to shoot volleys (and the psychological impact of hearing them). This is why conquistadors also had crossbows for accuracy (and again, penetration), not to forget that crossbows and muskets need much less training than bows.

I wonder how Pixar's 'Up' fits into all of this, if at all? There's some cross over with regards to exploration of 'unchartered territory'.

More men talking about sexism, please and thank you

Usually when people go on about spanish "conquers" they only talk about Cortés, but the one who was really off his fucking rocket was Pizarro. Both awful mosnters who caused unconcibable amounts of harm, but God. Pizarro was... something else entirely. The Bible thing sounds right up his twisted, twisted alley. Great video! I knew that this kind of movies were very racist, but I'm not an expert and is nice to have a good video essay unpacking everything.

You dropped this at just the right time for me to get the message on re-examining the piece of fiction writing I’m revisiting now, after its original conception from my teen years. I get the feeling you maybe aimed to have this out before thanksgiving, but the research you did was great, and I’m looking forward to diving into those books more in the process. If you ever have a rough day of researching, recording, and/or editing, hopefully I can get across that you’ve got no idea how important essays like this are, and have been to me. Thank you

This is one of the reasons I started to fall out of love with Star Trek The Next Generation. Even though the crew is shown to meet other equally or more advanced races and the Federation does have in place the Prime Directive of non interference and exploitation, there is still an air of moral authority regarding other alien cultures which are often coded as 'primitive' and in need of saving. I still love Star Trek's idea of a unified utopia and it's still something to aspire to on this planet. I just wish that colonialism hadn't made engaging with other cultures in real life and in fictional media such a minefield that is still felt to this day.

There's a certain kind of humour that is so sneaky that I involuntarily let out barks of laughter from time to time. These are usually very few and far between. I counted at least 4 in this one video alone. Subscribed.

Your hair is so fabulous that it distracted me the whole video.

Yes...not really guilt but anger. I also feel sorrow and shame. Thank you. PEACE

"So how do I now it was that bad? Basic human empathy really"

I kinda want to run a d&d campaign in which the player's are sent to the "new world" and must figth back the native races (species is the closer term, the ones typically known as monsters) and then just see how long it takes them to figure out they are doing colonialism. This would be a dick move.

I HAVENT FINISH THE VIDEO YET BUT THE FACT THAT YOU SAY TAHUANTINSUYO JUST AAAHHH I’m from Perú so I’m just AAAAHHHH. And YES THE INCA AND HIS SON DID DIE AND THATS WHAT STARTED THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN HUÁSCAR Y ATAHUALPA. IM LOVING THIS VIDEO SO FAR AAAAAHHHH !!!!

an amazing deep dive! i've only just started learning about the horrors of colonization recently, and i have seen it show up in a lot of my favorites lately :/

I grew up on a The Lost World animated series, which I think premiered in 2002, and I remember it being pretty weird and badass

Love the video! As someone who has loved the lost world genre since childhood but always pissed off by the colonialist subtext (well, usually flat-out text) laced throughout, I found this That said: "Ran circles around" is pushing it. Kind of an example of countering a common misconceptions so far you're creating whole new ones. Adaptation to local climates aside, I'll just focus on military technology, as that is the area with which I'm most familiar: Armor: Europeans had textile armors long before coming to the Americas, which as with the textile armors of the Nahua peoples rendered the wearer fairly slash-resistant. However, to state that plate armor was "only slightly" more protective is flat-out incorrect. While textile armors provide excellent protection from obsidian blades and lighter cuts from steel weaponry, they provide poor protection from solid thrusts and more powerful projectile weapons. In contrast, steel plate armor rendered the wearer practically invulnerable to edged weaponry (including arrows and lances), and higher-quality suites were what gave rise to the term "bulletproof". Maneuverability in the armor was no issue; the plates were fitted to the body of the wearer, and (by the late 1400s) designed such that they provided a complete range of motion (some examples even had double-jointed limbs). The primary reasons such armors were phased out in Spanish colonial use were that they were uncomfortable in humid climes, considerably more expensive than textile armors, and were complete overkill against anything short of full-scale warfare against the gunpowder empires of the "old world" (such as the Turks, Moroccans, Indians, and other Europeans). Guns: The arquebus and musket were, in fact, considerably more powerful than slings and arrows. Enough so that they supplanted the crossbow as the missile weapon of choice in most large-scale old world militaries from Europe to Japan (and, in fact, were greatly sought-after by many native americans). While less-accurate and shorter-ranged, they had considerably greater stopping power than the bow, crossbow, or sling; while each of these was quite capable of killing its target, musket balls were much better at immediately incapacitating them. Gunpowder weapons' greater firepower also allowed them to pierce munition-quality (mass-produced, inexpensive) plate armors, a feat only potentially rivaled by the most powerful windlass crossbows, which took as long or longer on average to wind up than their gunpowder counterparts. Again, as with plate armor, the heavy muskets used against armored troops were overkill against lightly-armored targets, so by the time infantry armor became outmoded around the turn of the 18th century or thereabouts in western Europe they had been replaced with lighter, less powerful but more portable and convenient fusils. As for technological "advancement" and "command of their environment", Europeans of the medieval and early modern periods were far from the filth-strewn backwater of Victorian stereotyping. Steelcrafts, wind and water power, textile and dye production, agriculture, forestry, etc. were no less sophisticated in Europe than elsewhere in the world, and standards of hygiene were actually (generally) higher than they would be in the 18th century. Military technology in particular saw a great deal of advancement, as mught be expected from a resource-rich region dotted with constantly warring feudal states ruled by military elites who were expected to fight on the front lines. As someone for whom the middle ages IS one of my favorite historical time periods to look into, the dismissive temporal provincialism on display in the attitudes tidily summed up in the tumblr quote just makes me... well, sad, really. Native cultures were definitely far more sophisticated and technologically literate than they're usually credit for, and they certainly didn't "need" unwelcome European invaders to come in and "civilize" them, particularly when it came to thriving in environments they had lived in for millennia, and in which methods that had seen success in Europe's climes were hilariously unsuited. Hell, native American weapons and armor are disappointingly poorly researched in the modern day. (It's always annoyed me that I can't find a single decent modern reproduction of a Nahua macuahuitl that has the slender proportions of historical examples; all the "replicas" in circulation today have more in common with paddles or cricket bats.) And don't even get me started on the white supremacist bullshit that's been making the rounds since time immemorial. But credit where credit is due: European colonialist attitudes, arrogance, exploitation, and hypocrisy may (be and) have been complete and utter garbage, but their technology definitely wasn't.

It's always a good day when you post! I seriously enjoyed this video, despite always hating lost world type stories since I was a child. The reasons for disliking them has shifted, but it's great to see people examining the harmful tropes and narratives they perpetuate in an entertaining and accessable way. I will have to pick up that book on African colonization that you recommended! Happy new year!

This analysis has so much that i deeply enjoy: Several movies compared under a specifically shaped looking glass, asking a relevant question, pulling visual evidence, well edited and to the point. Good sound and clear pronunciation for this non-native English speaker.

this video: *pops up in my suggestion* me: *reads the title* gosh, this man and his dinosaurs... me: *sees the timestamp* sighs me: *clicks anyway*

not the 1492 shirt absolute icon

I'm not going to wish you a Happy New Year, but a better year than 2020. Loved Birds of Prey, thanks for recommendation. Stay safe, I love you and your work.

Dude. You’re analysis is so well researched, and so well articulated. You really are the king of RU-vid. Also... can I work for you?

Reminds me of white people claiming that Mokele-mbembe witnesses in the Congo had "never seen a depiction of a dinosaur before" when they picked out an apatosaurus as the animal that "most closely resembled what they saw," when in fact they'd seen tons of depictions of dinosaurs... on TV.

Kinda getting a kick out of seeing "Will" from "Will and Grace" as Malone.

Thank you for always talking about such complex topics on your channel and actually educating people. I'm safe to say you've influenced my world views!

Can you update the description with the mutual aid organization you choose when you know it?

Hi, Dane Pavitt brought me here with his recent vid of his take on a modern Lost World! I'm very glad I've checked this out because it was informative, educational and I've been hooked from beginning to end! You've got yourself a new sub 👍

It’s very early and I don’t care I’m watching it twice

When I saw the makeshift bridge in the 2001 movie I was expecting to see a sturdy Indigenous made bridge a few seconds later.

my god, you look suave with the hair. love the topic today, so excited to watch!

“My ancestors perpetrated the trauma” are you sure? Aren’t most americans descended from later waves of european immigration This is a solid video in general, specially when it comes to calling out racist tropes and lies. But I have to push back against some of the ideas you present too, which I find often when ppl talk about indigenous issues, like a very essentialist mindset. Or the absurd framing of question like “do westerners even have a right to indigenous contact?”. I think this framing is deeply flawed and erases millions of ppl like me. Mixed raced ppl in latinamerica aka mestizos, who were born from centuries of race mixing. I think its also anti-humanist, and instead favors a very race essentialist, anti-materialist analysis. There is no inherent reason why contact *has* to be exploitative, that comes from the structures and material incentives.

This video had no business hiding from me for three days! Thanks so much for your insightful content and donations of the proceeds of this video.

Was that Will from Will & Grace!? Lmiao. 💜

3:09 Yup, I miss all of this because I kept going: “IT HAS DINOSAURS! AWESOME!”

One thing I think would be interesting for a Lost World Film to do is to have the indigenous peoples be descended from an ancient pre-Colombian civilization that was both sedentary and urban. At their height they built numerous cities on the plateau/island. However in the 1500s the Spanish/Portuguese invaded the plateau/island and their failed conquest causes the Civilization to collapse. Rampaging conquistadors sacked cities, Catholic priests and missionaries burned indigenous manuscripts to erase their history, and diseases and warfare decimated the population. Even some 500 years later the indigenous population of the plateau has yet to recover. This also leads to the conflict between the humans and the apemen as they apemen began taking over the cities abandoned by the indigenous peoples. Leading to conflict when the humans attempted to reclaim them. The movie would in turn show that while our protagonists are incapable of causing damage at the same scale as the Conquistadors they share many of the same destructive ideas and beliefs. They treat the dinosaurs like monsters and make completely absurd and ridiculous assumptions about the behavior and temperament of the dinosaurs. Ignoring the warnings of their local guides because they’re they know better than the “savages.” They feel entitled to learn the deepest secrets and most personal and intimate knowledge and experiences of the indigenous peoples even as they denigrate that knowledge and dismiss it as primitive. And when our protagonists grow resentful of the suspicion and hostility of the indigenous peoples those peoples point out to them they have every right to be weary of them. Our protagonists invaded their home, pranced about like they owned the place, mocked and degraded them and assumed them to be primitive savages, and endangered their lives because of their own arrogance and dismissal of their culture. In the end however our protagonists remain on the plateau for the rest of their lives. Not necessarily because they want to, but because they’re not allowed to leave. The local leaders decide that they’re not going to take the chance of our heroes revealing their plateau to the outside world and so they are forbidden from leaving the plateau. They gather up some of the equipment and clothes of the protagonists and arrange so that it looks like they were attacked before reaching the plateau. That way should any search parties go looking for the lost expedition they’ll think that they were attacked and killed by local tribes.

There is another colonial stereotype. The European colonizers. Them being representative of Europeans means exclusion of whole ethnic groups or regions. Focusing on Africa is also very, very Anglocentric.

Holy, been waiting months for another Saurian cinema video

we've been taught a "history" of lies and projection. embarrassing! great video, again🙏

I assume you know why the BBC made a dinosaur movie in 2001, to get some more money from the budget for all the dinosaur models for the Walking With series and its spin-offs this was also the reason the show primeval exists

I’m sorry, this has nothing to do with the video, but I’m rolling on the floor laughing bc you happened to say the name of my hometown when you were discussing the “plain” and “field” names. 😹 (Though my “plain” hometown is actually in CT 😱)

TREY the Explainer also touched on this subject in his video debunking lost dinosaurs of the Congo, its a good watch after this one.

I wonder if Crowder or the daily wire will try to rebuttal this?

Regarding people in the USA not being taught about Columbus's arrest: In elementary school, the most we were taught about his arrest was that his final visit to the Caribbean ended with the NATIVES sending him back in chains with no reasons given. So not only were we not taught about the horrific acts of genocide, but we were taught that the natives were "ungrateful" and "spiteful" towards "the man who did so much to help them and the world." The bits in quotes are things I was actually told by my teacher. It is really sickening how adults teach racism to children.