Recent article on the Indiana Jones franchise and religion

[revdorothyl]

(Still one-handed, so excuse any typos I missed!)

A friend at work passed along this Christianity Today article on Indiana Jones and the Deadly Blather. (Warning: this article contains plot spoilers for all four films

Comments

[rahirah]

Absolutely, it's the story. Not just that Lucas in particular has forgotten how to tell a good one, but that the fourth movie was using a different paradigm - not the adventure serials of the 30's and 40's, but the SF/Cold War techno-paranoia of the 50's and 60's, and I'm not sure that Indy's character meshed with that time period very well. I liked the fourth movie better than the second one, actually, but both of them had the same problem - the special effects were more important than the characters.

[revdorothyl]

Yes, I admit that I found "Temple of Doom" pretty pointless, as a story, since it seemed to want to substitute culturally insensitive gross-out reactions and rollercoaster rides for plot and character development. And I recall that my seminary professor with a specialty in Hindu-Christian dialogues was NOT at all pleased by its portrayal of Hindu religious practices.

So, I guess it's not just the fault of changing times or the temptation of better CGI effects, then -- it's more along the lines of "even-numbered Indy films DO suck", in any decade.

[jwaneeta]

I agree with rahira. I didn't hate Crystal Skull, but there was no sense of the numinous, which in my opinion made the first film so fresh and thrilling. I don't mean religious themes like the Ark, per se, but the feeling that there were unseen forces surrounding Indy and the bad guys like ocean currents

[revdorothyl]

"Numinous"! That's the word I couldn't think of earlier, when I was writing this post. Thank you!

I liked "Last Crusade" a bit better than you did, but I agree that the supernatural elements were less compelling: what I liked about it, I think (besides the portrayal of Indy as a beleaguered college prof. who runs out on his office hours, rather than cope with all the student questions he's not usually around to answer) was the father-son work. The grail legend was too peripheral to anything I at least find central to my Christian faith for me to get too invested in that part of the story.

So I guess I'd have to agree with you that the first movie was the only one with a real sense of the numinous, after all.

[revdorothyl]

Thanks! I haven't looked at an issue of CT for many years, so I didn't have much context for this article, nor did I recognize the columnist's name. This helps me to sort out what I had thought were some very pretentious claims made in this piece!

[texanfan]

I would very much agree Lucas has lost storytelling in the shadow of "look at the cool things we can do" be it special effects or just more is better. I think Crystal skull was a decent try, and it was marvelous to see Marion again, but ultimately a miss.

[revdorothyl]

Guess that's one film I won't mind waiting to see on cable or DVD, then! Thanks for confirming the diagnosis!