fromdirectorstevenspielberg:Fans of The Big Bang Theory will...
Fans of The Big Bang Theory will remember the episode where Amy and Sheldon discuss a “story problem” with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Amy insists that Indy has no impact on the plot and that had he not
been involved, the Nazis would have still taken hold of the Ark, opened
it, and fallen to the wrath of God. Sheldon has no answer and its become
widely accepted that it’s a genuine story problem.Let me tell you: it’s not. It’s the point of the film.
The Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and pretty much all the other Indy films, is arrogant. He doesn’t
believe in the power of the Ark, just as he doesn’t believe in the power
of the Sankara Stones or the Grail. He takes no notice of Marcus
Brody’s warnings of its tremendous power (“a lot of superstitious hocus
pocus”) and only ever views it as a historical artifact - something he
can put in a museum and study. As an example of his arrogance, consider
the start and end of the movie.In the opening sequence, Indy
ventures into a Peruvian temple to steal the Golden Idol. He has no
problem with ripping this priceless item from its proper place and, in
fact, delights in dodging the various bobby traps set up to protect it.
Spielberg highlights his hero’s callousness in a brilliant shot in which
Indy removes a portion of sand from the bag he will replace the Idol
with. Sand slips through Indy’s fingers in the foreground, with the
shimmering idol in the background. The priceless and the worthless
together in one shot.Later, when the Ark is taken to the secret
Nazi hideout, Indy has learned his lesson. He realises the power of the
Ark and knows what to do: respect it. He and Marion close their eyes,
and while the Nazis around them burn under the Ark’s power, he and
Marion survive. No mere superstitious hocus pocus story, the Ark is
real, its power tangible and destructive. The arrogance Indy showed
earlier is at an end - Spielberg even reminds us of that earlier scene
by having the Ark filled with sand, which Belloq picks up and lets slip
through his hand, as Indy once did.The fact that Indy doesn’t
directly impact the events of the film plays into this idea then. When
compared to the power of the Ark, the sheer magnitude of this “hocus
pocus” superstition, Indy’s arrogance, and Indy himself, is irrelevant, just as we all are. He can’t
comprehend the power of the Ark, and never will, and
that’s what makes him such a fascinating and enduring action hero. If
other action heroes are about establishing authority and power, Indiana
Jones is undermining it and reminding us that no matter who we are,
there are always things much, much greater than us.
This is easily one of the summations of Raiders.
