MovieChat Forums > The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Discussion > What was with the token black girl?

What was with the token black girl?

posted 9 years ago by Ridley_Scott
9 replies | jump to latest

So friggin weird.

It's like they just stuck her in the movie on purpose in order to add some diversity. She didn't fit in at all and served no purpose to the film.
Was she an actual character in the novel? (Haven't read it yet)

I also thought it was funny that the black girl's parents had ditched her, so she could be raised by a superior white couple, lol, seriously? Gotta love Hollywood!

[–] puirt-a-beul 9 years ago

There's a Kelly in the novel, but she's not Malcolm's daughter and she's a very different character.

In the film, it was only Kelly's mother who had left -- to pursue her career in Paris, if I remember correctly. I don't think it was emphatically stated, but it was implied pretty strongly that Malcolm was Kelly's biological dad.

But I do agree with you that she seemed a token gesture.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] Koosh_King01 9 years ago

But I do agree with you that she seemed a token gesture.

Not necessarily. The boy in the book, Arby, was black. So Kelly combines traits of both characters; the girl's name and gender and the boy's race, and she was made Malcolm's daughter to add a connection between them after Levine (Kelly and Arby's professor) was written out.

I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?

[–] puirt-a-beul 9 years ago

Yes, but the boy in the book wasn't Malcolm's offspring. I didn't say their thinking was as a token, but that it reads that way in the film.

To make Kelly Malcolm's daughter, *and* have her be improbably black (i.e. with a white father), just came across as contrived, however it was intended. They even "hung a lantern" on the fact by having Eddie and Nick make incredulous comments about it. (And yes, I laughed, thinking of a certain episode of Stargate SG:1.)

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] avia2 9 years ago

Lol yes Eddie's comment was weird, especially as he wasn't the joking type. However the character redeems herself by being one of the least annoying JP kids (alongside Lex and Tim)... in comparison with JP3's little Robinson Crusoe and JW's unsympathetic brothers.

[–] aleph-niemeier 9 years ago

Lex's character annoyed the hell out of me in JP. Just have to think about her flashlight action which was just plainly duh.

[–] joe_538 9 years ago

Tim's teasing her kept it fun, it would have been worse if she were the only kid in the movie.

[–] JasonRebourne 9 years ago

Ian's wife had an affair.

[–] parkerlgl 9 years ago

Yeah, was weird. In late 90s...started to increase this BS. Now it's an epidemic...

[–] sejelfum 9 years ago

But...but....Jeff Goldblum is Jewish. So, according to AIPAC, CUFI, & virtually any evangelical, Jeff Goldblum is therefore Middle Eastern. Can't you see how Middle Eastern he is? So Middle Eastern. So if Kelly's mom is a black lady, it stands to reason Kelly would be dark-skinned.