ShortcutsJurassic WorldIt’s pachycephalosaurus, not ‘pakisaurus’, but that hasn’t stopped some people taking offence at the tiny-brained lizard with the thick, scaly head
Age: Extinct, since the Late Cretaceous.
Appearance: Thick-headed dinosaur, hence the name, which means “thick-headed lizard”.
Thick-headed as in stupid? Well, they weren’t clever, but it’s really because they had spiky, domed skulls to protect their tiny brains. They’re dinosaurs.
What else are they like? Socially aggressive, accidentally racist.
How can a dinosaur be racist? It’s due to their appearance in the blockbuster Jurassic World.
From what I’ve seen, the dinosaurs in Jurassic World are equal-opportunity devourers.
True, but early on in the film, after some pachycephalosauruses have escaped their sector, a character utters the line: “The pachys are out of containment.”
So what? It sounds as if she’s saying: “The Pakis are out of containment.”
That’s not what she’s saying, though. No.
Did the whole context of the film not make it clear that she was talking about some dinosaurs? It did, but the line has still caused a bit of a stir. The Coventry comedian Guzzy Bear, in the guise of a comic character called Mobeen, posted a video calling for a boycott of the film.
I was boycotting it anyway, because it’s about dinosaurs. Since then a lot of people have taken to Twitter to express outrage at the very notion of a “pakisaurus”.
There’s no such thing as a pakisaurus. Actually, there is – a genus of sauropod first described in 2006, and so named because it was found in western Pakistan. But it’s not in the film.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is what comes of giving dinosaurs nicknames. Perhaps. But the word pachycephalosaurus would be a bit of a mouthful for actors. And it seems obvious that the writers of the film were unaware of the homophonic British racial slur.
I can’t help feeling that this whole story has got completely out of containment. Most of the people complaining about racism are clearly joking, although that hasn’t stopped others from treating this as another example of political correctness gone mad.
So the boycott hasn’t caught on? It doesn’t look like it: Jurassic World has taken $1bn in two weeks.
Do say: “I guess the silly season has come at last.”
Don’t say: “They come over here, they eat our actors …”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJ6Zobpwv8eoqa2bpanAcH6PamxooqWjfHOAjqOsq5mjqLakedaoqaWcXZm2r7vSmqyrZZGYsLa%2FxJ1kqJ5dp66ktdKm