Character Analysis
Hello…Nedry
Dennis Nedry believes he isn't getting paid enough, so he betrays John Hammond—and everyone in Jurassic Park—to steal dinosaur embryos and sell them to a man named Dodgson, who only appears once in the film. How much did dinosaur embryos go for in 1993? "$750,000 on delivery, $50,000 more for each viable embryo. That's $1.5 million if you get all species off the island." That's a pretty big payday.
It's difficult to tell if Nedry is greedy or rightfully angry. He definitely comes across as unlikable, as played by Newman from Seinfeld. He tells Dodgson that Hammond "has no problem paying for paleontologists, but won't pay his own staff." We never get to examine Nedry's W-2s, but we do see Hammond agree to fully fund Drs. Grant and Sattler's dig for three years.
Can Nedry possibly be getting equal compensation? He seems to be one of only two programmers for the whole park. However, Ray Arnold, the other programmer, doesn't seem to be bitter at all.
Nedry's betrayal puts everyone in danger. He shuts off the power, letting all the dinosaurs loose. Even though Hammond eventually escapes unscathed, the abrasive, unlikable Nedry is consumed by a Dilophosaurus, losing the dinosaur embryos in the process. Nedry teaches us not to be greedy and unlikable. If you're likable and greedy (a la Hammond) that's totally okay, though.