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5/27/2008
Lance Burri: Over-analyzing Indiana Jones
[Not your typical political fare. Still, what if just a few politicians here and there were as cool – and as courageous – as Indiana Jones?]
We went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie Sunday night.
You may or may not have seen it. If not, you may or may not have read about it. If not, you may or may not care.
If not, keep reading anyway. Indiana Jones is one of those iconic characters – Darth Vader, James Bond, Vito Corleone – who will outlast his own franchise. Part of the culture, whether you care about him or not.
If you do care, I won't ruin the movie for you, except by saying that, no, it's not as good as the others. It doesn't handle the characters with the same respect. They're simply not as real. As deep. They're half-attempts. Two-dimensional copies of the originals.
But…it doesn't matter. That's Indiana Jones. The jacket, the whip, the unshaven weather-beaten face and lopsided grin.
The snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?
The hat. A man's shadow cast on the ground as he stoops to pick the hat up and place it securely onto his head, while a pair of trumpets crescendo and then fade through the theme song that any American moviegoer can whistle on reflex.
That's Indiana Jones, man. Even a half-attempt at Indiana Jones is still cooler than anything this side of the Rat Pack.
And he's more than just the hat. More than the smile. More than running breakneck over a ridge with dust streaming from his coat and a hundred angry tribesmen stampeding after him.
Warning: I habitually over-analyze movies. This will be no exception.
Here's what I like best about Indiana Jones: He attempts the impossible, one step at a time. He takes off alone on horseback after a Nazi motorized column, because they've got the Ark of the Covenant and Indy isn't leaving town without it. He walks into a cavern swarming with voodoo-casting medicine men to free a nearby village's children. He dons a stolen Nazi uniform and walks calmly into 1938 Berlin to steal back his father's diary.
Vastly outnumbered, physically battered. Anyone else would have given up, happy to still be alive. Not Indy. He has a goal, and he'll keep after it, no matter what.
And what's he thinking, as he grabs the horse's reins? Something like: "This is stupid. I probably can't do this. But if I don't get on this horse and after them, I definitely can't do it, so let's do that much to start, and see where this goes."
The first step. Then the next. Then the next. And then he wins.
But there's more: in every movie, Indy comes face to face with something he doesn't understand. Something he can't understand: the Ark, the Sankara stones, the Holy Grail, the Crystal Skull.
Because some things, we can never – will never – fully comprehend, no matter how much effort we spend trying. Some things are simply bigger than we are.
Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Jr. has spent his entire life studying, both in the classroom and in the world, achieving things that most of us never will. And still, in the face of the Big Questions, he's as lost as the rest of us. Still, some things are bigger than him.
He keeps on trying, anyway.
Indiana Jones is a fun character, surrounded by other fun characters, on fast-paced and fun (for us) adventures. That's what got me to the theater this weekend. Not the Big Questions: the stumbling fistfights and improbable chases and seeing whether Indy can keep hold of his hat.
He's the guy who can do anything…but still, can’t know everything. He himself learned it in "The Last Crusade": some things simply take faith.
COMMENTS
Over-analyze away, Mr. Burri. Your article brought more insight into Indy's character and experience than the last 4 movies. Maybe I'll go see him "hang onto his hat" one more time with the remnants of my stimulus check. Thanks!
JBodine (Wed May 28 21:46:51 2008)
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