"Dinomania" at the Natural History Museum

“Dinomania” at the Natural History Museum

The Victorian view of dinosaurs was characterized by a fascination with the ancient existence, vicious nature, and sudden extinction of the animals. In H.N. Hutchinson's Extinct Monsters, the author refers to them as "wonderful animals of bygone times", and believes they should be more widely appreciated. In modern exhibits like the Natural History Museum, extensive displays of skeletons and fossils have satisfied Hutchinson's desires, but have also become criticized by modern academics. W.J.T. Mitchell's The Last Dinosaur Book questions why society, and children especially, fall to an outmoded craze for dinosaurs known as "dinomania.”

The dinosaur display at the Natural History Museum is a crowded exhibit of bones, fossils, and animatronic dinosaurs that seeks to captivate its visitors with what W.J.T. Mitchell calls "spectacles of gigantic violence." The visitor is guided through a labyrinth of displays in which they can experience the history of these animals while overhead their delicate skeletons hover like “animal deities erected for human worship.” Most directly relating to Mitchell’s criticism, however, is the large animatronic T. Rex that sits separately from the rest of the exhibit. The presence of dividing walls, warning signs, and a small exit door before the entrance to the display confirms Mitchell’s suspicion that many children are afraid of dinosaurs despite common perceptions. This powerful, horrifying, and violent representation of the dinosaur fascinated people like the Victorians and has led to ample representation of these creatures being used in everyday life. Portrayed in these ways, dinosaurs, according to Mitchell, should no longer be a critical component of childhood development.

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References

W.J.T. Mitchell, The Last Dinosaur Book, 1998.

H.N. Hutchinson, Extinct Monsters, 1897.