Character Analysis
Solve for SeXy
Before Winnie Cooper grew up and made math hot, there was Dr. Ian Malcolm, the only mathematician in history to ever be described as a "rock star." While most mathematicians conjure up images of the guys on The Big Bang Theory but with even fewer social skills, Dr. Malcolm "suffers from a deplorable excess of personality."
We're not sure why Dr. Ian Malcolm is brought in as an expert for a dinosaur theme park, but we're sure glad he is. Maybe he only seems like he has an excess of personality because everyone else basically stands around gawking at dinosaurs.
When Malcolm isn't flirting with Ellie Sattler or making snarky comments (or both simultaneously: "I'm always on the lookout for a future ex-Mrs. Malcolm"), he's talking about Chaos Theory. As he explains to Dr. Sattler via the water-drops-on-the-hand experiment, Chaos Theory is basically the Butterfly Effect. No, not the Ashton Kutcher flick, but the same basic premise: Teeny tiny changes can cause unforeseen consequences. A drop of water may roll off your hand one way, but another drop hitting the same spot may head somewhere else.
So what the heck does any of this have to do with dinosaurs? We're not exactly sure, but it's the teeny-tiny frog DNA that enables dinosaurs to change sex, which causes them to breed, which…well, which honestly means nothing within the two hours of the film. There's also the fact that John Hammond didn't pay Dennis Nedry, which leads him to betray the park and shut down the power, which causes a bunch of chaos that gets a few people killed. Yikes.
Unfortunately, Dr. Malcolm is knocked out of commission during the T. rex attack and is relegated to simply lying prone in the visitor's center and looking sexy. We leave with this pic, fellow Shmoopers. If that doesn't get drops of water rolling off you, we don't know what will.
Ian Malcolm's Timeline