Character Analysis
Deep Doo-Doo
Ellie Sattler is a paleobotanist and Dr. Grant's love interest (or so we're told). She sticks her hand in a big pile of Triceratops poop to diagnose its illness, and she brings electricity back to the park when Ray is killed by raptors in the power station. She also finagles the kids into Grant's path every step of the way, hoping he'll want children by the end of all this.
Sattler is the only adult female in this movie who isn't a giant scaly carnivorous lizard (unless Laura Dern has tricked us for many, many years). To distract you from the fact that Laura Dern is the only adult female in this movie—and basically has nothing to do for most of the movie except look amazing in khaki shorts (but still not as good as Muldoon) and scream and run from a T. rex and/or a pack of Velociraptors—she gets a couple of big girl-power lines. Here's a classic for you:
DR. IAN MALCOLM: God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.
DR. ELLIE SATTLER: Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth.
And when John Hammond, a crippled old man, suggests he might be a better choice to restore power to the park because he is a man, Dr. Sattler takes charge and says, "We can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back." And she does survive, which is more than a lot of the men in the movie can say. In fact, those dudes can't say anything because they're dead. So good for her.
At the end of the movie, Sattler smiles at Grant, who has two sleeping kids hanging off him. They just survived the most traumatic event of their lives, but if she gets some kids out of it, she'll be happy. Maybe they'll name them after all the people who died in Jurassic Park. Say hello to Ray Dennis Muldoon Sattler-Grant, future attorney.
Ellie Sattler's Timeline