The Natural History Museum, "Deep Time", and Dinosaurs

Our trip to the Natural History Museum, especially the Dinosaur exhibit, looked back to a period of natural life, a period that seems unbelievably unimaginable for the common person. Dinosaurs have always been an enigma for humankind. Stuck between reality and fantasy--dinosaurs are an interesting subject to discuss in the context of art. The Natural History Museum walks the tightrope of creating a dinosaur exhibit that is educational and factual; yet entertaining, commodifying, and plays into the mystical trope of dinosaurs that has existed in our western culture.

Something I found interesting at the museum was the live dinosaur simulator. As soon as I saw the simulator, surrounded by young children shrieking happily at the sight, I thought back to the Mitchell reading “Big, Fierce, Extinct.” In this reading, Mitchell poses the question, “How can something be utterly familiar, a universally intelligible commonplace, and yet also be regarded as an enigma, a riddle, and a haunting mystery?” The idea that Mitchell express here is reinforced through the dinosaur simulator at the Natural History Museum. It is almost unfathomable that dinosaurs just like the simulator roamed the Earth--so unfathomable that the dinosaur has become a fantasy--an entertaining toy at a museum.

This goes back to the Victorian concept of “Deep Time.” Victorians tried to make sense of an inconceivable time period through romanticizing dinosaurs through depicting and personifying these creatures in art and literature. Even today, just as the Victorians did, we use museums, exhibits, and other art forms such as the large dinosaur simulator in order to bring these remote times into the forefront of our common lives. The only way humans, whether in the modern era or back in the Victorian era were able to confront this massive idea of “Deep Time,” was to create a story for these creatures through using them in different art forms.

I also found it extremely interesting how in the Victorian Era, the concept of “Deep Time” was revealed by the discovery of fossils, and other geological items that date back hundreds of thousands of years. And yet, in modern days, we could almost say the say that we --as 2019 millennials--have the same relationship to the Victorians and “Deep Time,” as the Victorians had with dinosaurs and “Deep Time.” We acknowledge the existence and factual importance, yet this time of life seems worlds away--untouchable in any sort of tangible or real sense. 

Photo: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/activities-for-families-and-kids.html

Class 3 Slideshow: Imagining Deep Time