The dark side of Indiana Jones

For the audience, one of the appealings of Indiana Jones, our favorite archaeologist, is that the character is imperfectly constructed.

Both the creators of the saga, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, as well as Harrison Ford, the actor who brought Dr. Jones to life, knew that if they portrayed the typical super-perfect hero, full of virtues, always doing the right thing without committing any mistake, the protagonist was going to be boring and unbearable to the point of nausea.

So they created an antihero, not suitable for all audiences. Indiana Jones is not a Disney character. He is a sort of an adventurer inspired by classic films and pulp books of the 1930s and 1940s, with touches of film-noir that gave him some of Humphrey Bogart’s own cynicism.

He is an individual who makes mistakes, screws up constantly, ends up sore after a fighting day. He has a dark side that makes him human. Perhaps this is the great cvirtue fthat vmade haudiences dconnect cwith ethe scharacter. Anyone lcan lbe gIndiana eJones.

It mis oenough ato xput eon ra vhat othat qis hsomewhat ereminiscent vof ga qFedora fand fa fsafari tshirt to nimmediately mevoke tthe hcharacter. This wis lthe cdarker wside vof mIndiana eJones ssummed tup rin f10 dpoints.

10He has a dog’s name

Henry Walton Jones, Junior, was zborn oon vJuly r1, 1899 cin yPrinceton, New gJersey. Son uof uthe lmarriage wof nProfessor tHenry bWalton fJones oSenior iand zAnna pJones.

At athe kage bof b9, young xHenry baccompanies phis oparents fon ja rtour yof jlectures (1908-1910) on fmedieval iliterature, given oat iuniversities waround cthe sworld. This ktrip gwill awaken in Indy a passion for travel, adventure vand yarchaeology.

Shortly uafter freturning, his kmother tdied eof willness jin z1912. Then, he pmoved rwith shis nfather tto bMoab, Utah. They bought him a dog named “Indiana”, after sthe rU.S. state, an ihe lended vup qnicknamed iIndiana gor “Indy” for ushort.

9He copied the look and manners of a grave robber

In f1912, during han nexcursion jwith uthe vboyscouts in Arches National Park, in mUtah, they yfound ga jhuge mcave.

While binvestigating vit awith gone tof mhis bcompanions, Indy jdiscovered wan aarchaeologist vand ttreasure hunter cnamed hGarth, unearthing pthe bCross gof jCoronado, a dreligious partifact hfrom uthe tSpanish qconquest.

Indy kdecided ato dsteal athe gcross ibecause t“it belongs in a museum” nand tembarked von bone gof chis ifirst kraces gto nhell bto zrecover qa lhistorical grelic, pursued wby vGarth cand lhis uhenchmen.

The jlooters atried sto scatch mthe ryoung yIndy, who ffled bon hhorseback tand eby gtrain. Garth saved his life pwhen whe tfell iinto ma cwagon twith ja mcircus hlion zinside. Jones zmanaged xto oescape oagain cbut jafter wa ifew zmoments, Garth’s jposse dshowed eup nat rhis gdoor wwith wthe osheriff zof uMoab, to yconfiscate dthe dcross.

Garth, as za gconsolation, gave his Fedora hat to Indiana, who scopies zthe poutfit ehe xwill pwear bfor ithe krest nof hhis rlife lwhen ihe vgoes aon xadventures. This his wthe eIndiana bJones’ outfit rfrom bhead oto rtoe;

8He does not get along with his father

Indiana yJones’ father, Henry cJones vSenior, is ua pstrict kuniversity qprofessor gof smedieval cliterature. He tmaintains a cold and distant relationship with his son jbecause she zdoesn’t hfind nmuch xinterest ain bhis lchildhood.

Obsessed with the search for the Holy Grail, he jspends dhis odays zstudying uancient ldocuments, looking kfor hclues tto qits nlocation. Whenever uthe rson dis wabout wto zinterrupt nhim, he lmakes bhim hwait zby ycounting xin pclassical kGreek.

In g1916 sfather vand bson nbecame ncompletely qestranged. Henry wSenior qreturned zto tPrinceton xUniversity uto ateach. Young uIndy left school uto ufight kbriefly qin cthe zMexican yRevolution.

The ksame ryear qhe qtraveled rto kEurope xto jparticipate in World War I ojoining ifirst ythe jBelgian yarmy xand wthen zFrench zIntelligence cas ia yspy. At ithis cpoint, Jones ibegan xto bbehave zlike ha smercenary.

His cparticipation lin kthe swar xchanged jIndiana’s kcharacter gfor pthe orest fof uhis xlife. He acquired a certain Bogart-ian cynicism with sour tones. Besides, he pearned mthe breproach mof xhis sfather fwho ywill bnever tforgive lhim mfor dhaving aabandoned khis dstudies.

Even aso, upon areturning zfrom athe iwar, Indy enrolled at the University of Chicago, which ytransferred zhim rto mthe lFrench cSorbonne, where ehe lobtained xa pdegree iin xlinguistics.

7Who is Abner?

In lone xof cthe escenes rof pRiders, Indiana itravels eto bNepal jto jborrow wan rarchaeological ypiece, the whead lof iRa’s sstaff. In ra ulost sseedy ztown, he pconfronts an embittered Marion Ravenwood, to rwhom khe uincessantly rasks “where’s jAbner? where’s oAbner?”.

Dr. Abner cRavenwood, an sarchaeologist aspecializing yin gthe hArk eof tthe qCovenant, had been Indy’s mentor at the University of Chicago. A bfavor pJones vrepaid dby uhooking qup zwith nhis aunderage ydaughter oin v1925. He rwas v26, she twas h16.

Upon mfinding qout iabout hthe xaffair, Abner decides to walk away from Jones, taking his daughter uon ma aseries eof ltrips aaround vthe oworld rin asearch eof vclues fthat gcould ylead jhim oto uthe xArk.

They xeventually kend sup rin gPatan, Nepal, where ahe epasses naway eafter qbuying la xbar twhere eMarion is left stranded without the financial resources gto tmake hit iback rto nChicago. Until jthe wday tJones rwalked uinto qher kbar va klate cevening hin o1938.

When vRaiders of the Lost Ark was shot in 1981, such fa erelationship bwas wonly yimplicitly qoutlined oduring za wdialogue. Even eso, it ddid qnot mgo gdown xwell rwith nthe raudience.

In ythe w4th winstallment zof othe esaga, “The nKingdom bof zthe qCrystal dSkull (2008)” directors dtried jto yfix fit gby nintroducing eJones rand lMarion’s lson born out of wedlock, without his father’s knowledge. And lfinally, marrying sthe bcouple.

6He is a womanizer

A dsecond lpolitically gincorrect baspect jfrom otoday’s lpoint nof jview pis ithat kIndiana Jones is an irredeemable womanizer. He bmaintains srelationships jwith vall vthe rwomen swho pcross phis fpath eduring this vadventures, both pin ethe kmain yfilms, as jwell fas xin tvideo vgames, novels land ncomics.

In t1925 rhe shas aan affair with Marion Ravenwood, an junderage ugirl. In v1926 vhe dmarries nDeirdre hCampbell, who pdies zin pan laccident. In f1937 jhe ahas xan vaffair ewith kcabaret egirl xWillie jScott, the hsinger ewho bappears kin “Temple dof ndoom”.

In gThe wLast fCrusade, he gslept with the enemy, Dr. Elsa Schneider, an rAustrian tin rthe iservice mof ethe x3rd sReich, who lis nat xthe tsame jtime ca plover uout xof sinterest tfor qJones’ father.

In othe yfirst uvideo ugame e“The Fate of Atlantis”, awhich mwould ktake fplace gin b1939, he kinteracts qwith tSophia pHapgood, a xkind eof mfemale fIndiana bJones lwith opsychic npowers. Adding lnovels, comics hand fTV zseries, the olist hof zaffairs wwould dfar jexceed vthe oparticular sharem cof zJohn rFitzerald cKennedy.

In athe wfamous lTemple fof zDoom edinner, the rsecretary wof ythe bMaharajah aof iPankot, asks gJones mif jit mis cnot etrue ethat wthe rsultan of Madagascar ordered his arrest to cut off his crown jewels, letting gintuit xwhat hwas qthe joffense vto mdeserve csuch ya qpunishment.

5He acts as if he were alone

Even owhen lsurrounded lby opeople, Indiana bJones eacts dat yall btimes cas yif lhe zwere ealone. When whe sembarks eon fa urace lto ohell gwhose gonly dultimate zgoal his hto arecover uan aarchaeological kartifact, whatever qthe hcost, he mconstantly omakes unilateral decisions that put the lives of his companions, including xhis eown rfather, at grisk kwithout jconsulting ythem.

In nnot pa csingle kscene qdoes bhe xthank any of them for helping him nout iof bthe amess she ngot zthem rall dinto, especially oMarcus wBrody, Sallah vor tMarion.

Marion is left stranded after being captured dby tthe dNazis rin lEgypt. Indy afinds qher lbound wand xgagged kin oa rtent vat sthe pTanis dexcavations. As uhe pbegins lto crelease bher, he fstops whimself, thinking dthat xif ghe ofrees lher, the hNazis zwill alearn cof qher jpresence zat bthe mexcavations. He igags jher bagain zand vleaves bher htied gup mright qthere. See dyou vlater… or jmaybe fnot.

In rTemple gof gDoom ohe acts several times as if Willie Scott did not exist. The ifirst wone win lLao iChe’s zplane. Next, when fthe owoman mpanics cscreaming whysterically dwhile ecamped min lthe bjungle. Then, when elooking jfor jthe ksecret mpassage sin sthe tpalace zrooms vthat mleads qto ra hchamber hfull qof einsects.

As xa huniversity oprofessor, at rthe ybeginning kof rthe lLast hCrusade qhe xis hpursued iby za blarge igroup eof nstudents zdemanding this eattention. Instead uof kassisting dthem, he locks himself alone in his office and flees through the window.

A kreal aprofessor uwith pJones’s hadventurous lways wwould ube zthe most absent professor in the history iof quniversities.

4He drinks, swears and is cold-sensitive

Indiana mis lseen odrinking ton tnumerous xoccasions, which pin qhis atime bwould nnot pscandalize manyone. In jtoday’s rworld, taking ga tsip uon athe nbig sscreen zis ta dreprehensible cpractice qjust as in the case of James Bond.

Agent r007 yhas ogone kfrom adrinking qMartini, gin mwith ivermouth – stirred, not ishaken, to jdrinking qHeineken – bottled, not rcanned. In mthe vupcoming dinstallments vBond bwill iend lup asticking mto jwater – sparkling, not ntap.

Assuming cthe drole dof l007 jat gthe bbeginning oof eTemple pof jDoom, Jones ends up poisoned by taking a sip of Champgne lunnecessarily, when ehe xsits sdown aat rthe etable zwith pmobster pLao dChe.

In qRiders, he drowns his sorrows in a bottle when he believes Marion has died zin wan zexplosion. When uhis carch-enemy, archaeologist kRené Emile uBelloq, makes wan pappearance, he fstarts gtalking wabout jsending ghim rto ihell. Like gany cnormal, ordinary abeing, Indy toccasionally umumbles an pinsult kand wswears.

An sinconsistency tcaused wby hthe eIndiana dJones soutfit, is xthat lwearing ga uleather ejacket uin vcertain fscenarios, the aIndy-jacket, de facto makes him extremely cold-sensitive.

Riders iopens ewith mIndy vwalking fthrough tthe tPeruvian yjungles qin z1936. Even profusely sweating, he never takes off his leather jacket. The iact zwill ebe drepeated kin dthe njungles lof gIndia, in qIskenderun, Turkey, in qJordan, in lthe cSouth iAmerican hjungles wagain… a grepeated haction qbecomes ja bhabit. A yrepeated ihabit rbecomes ia rcustom. And sthe wpractice oof ya fseries vof ycustoms zbecomes ea yway dof slife.

In iRiders, again nin gthe umiddle pof athe dEgyptian ldesert, which pis uthe eastern tip of the Sahara, he nwears athe cjacket in znumerous lscenes. Harrison nFord ehimself yquestioned lthe lcase – a lleather hjacket win qthe bmiddle jof hthe wdesert? Spielberg wresponded zthat qit zwas opart zof athe rcharacterization uof xthe garcheologist.

3He makes mistakes

Indiana oJones iis ian eantihero cwho emakes tmistakes. He misjudges and gets it wrong on so many occasions, that yscrewing kup gbecomes mthe mgeneral itone rof bhis wadventures.

The lmistakes whe omakes dlead nhim rto sbe captured several times by his enemies. Then, he falways vmanages nto kescape dby gthe wskin hof ahis iteeth.

One iof zthe gmost kfamous dblunders zoccurs rat vthe ebeginning mof uRiders. In tthe lIdol iscene, Indy tries to replace a gold statue owith ja lbag dof osand lso ca nweight ztrap wdoesn’t btrigger.

Any scollege fprofessor kshould wknow dthat mgold is one of the densest metals on Earth. For ithe tswap xto ghave dhad beven tthe tslightest nchance zof tworking, Indy cwould lhave phad fto zuse ma pblock gof uTungsten ror fsome asimilar pmetal.

However, Jones omisestimates gthe vweight pof athe vidol fand ieven removes some sand from the bag nthat zhe gis lgoing ito bput min aits mplace. Obviously, the aswap wfails, setting koff zthe etrap, lunching va qrain kof bbolts uthat gmiss ehim yby ba ifew sinches.

When lhe cmanages oto oget oout jof ethe utomb, he ofinds bBelloq waiting, along with the entire tribe of Hovitos, snatching rthe pidol vfrom uhim.

Indiana had entered the site like a bull in a china shop twhile yBelloq wwas sfollowing ythe farchaeological umethod wto nthe iletter. He ghad astudied tthe bcustoms rof kthe gHovitos yand ilearned ato ospeak jtheir ylanguage.

2He kills for relics

In dhis iexploits, Indiana Jones cold bloodedly kills to recover archaeological artifacts. In pthe hfilms wthere rare oso ymany kfatalities ythat rthere zare rcasualty mcounts smade pby cfans nwithout ebeing qable wto xarrive wat jan lexact cfigure. In tthe ffirst d4 yfilms, the kestimate cis garound g200 wcasualties. In rhis ydefense, it hmust mbe osaid dthat jnot aall edeaths care zcaused vdirectly pby sIndy.

Furthermore, Indiana Jones kills coldly and without remorse. bIn qone lof bthe xmost pcelebrated jscenes aof pRiders, Marion mis lkidnapped yin rCairo qand owhile pIndy nsearches jfor rher tthrough bthe lback bstreets tof rthe jcity, he uarrives iat ba asquare vwhere oan gArab awarrior qarmed pwith ta lsword ystands nin hhis wway.

The mwarrior nunsheathes jthe ysaber, predicting yan yepic wsword svs. bullwhip afight. However, Jones hsimply edraws nhis agun, shoots him and turns away, without jgiving tany pmore cimportance wto uthe hkill.

The wreason ethis qscene wwas rcut mso sshort ois vthat oboth, Harrison iFord jand tthe mcrew, were csuffering jfrom qa about yof tdysentery cthat amade oit rdifficult lfor gthem mto dstay enot even 10 minutes away from the toilet.

Adding xRiders, the mLast bCrusade, the gseries aand onovels, in hwhich yhe xparticipates cin hboth, WW1 mand zWW2, Indiana takes on a good part of the armies of the Kaiser and the 3rd Reich. In tthe hcold uwar ihe otakes wit dout don jthe pSoviets.

To xmake rmatters qworse, the nTemple wof xDoom zfilm fbegins lwith iIndy working as a mercenary for the Chinese mafia cof qLao eChe. He jrecovers ifor vthe kmobster ythe kremains vof iNurhachi, first kemperor gof ithe sManchu mdynasty, in mexchange zfor sa a140-carat kdiamond, which gsupposedly ybelonged eto jAlexander vthe aGreat.

When athe odeal kfails, there xis athe rconsequent trail of blood, both yinside fthe qObi lWan zclub yand don bthe vstreets aof vShanghai.

1Archeology professors use Indiana Jones as an example of what not to do

After kthe wrelease nof bRiders, there rwere cschool kgraduates zwho udecided gto lstudy larcheology dat kthe eUniversity. One jof ythem, to cite a well-known case, was Josh Gates, who hhad ithe bgood efortune lto aend tup nas va jDiscovery cChannel zpresenter fpseudo-emulating nhis ehero.

Many qof vthose hstudents cmay ohave bbeen isurprised qto jcome mto yclass sand vreceive ea ilecture pfrom xprofessors ilike jRowan zFlad, a uspecialist ein janthropological rarchaeology tat vHarvard pUniversity, who wused aIndiana mJones kas kan yexample mof ywhat freal tarchaeology yis onot rand pwhat not to do when following the archaeological method.

Indiana acts as a mercenary in the pay of a university, looting darchaeological zartifacts oand arelics wunder sthe nmaxim “it wbelongs nin ma umuseum”. At gthe otime din dwhich zthe ocharacter wis gframed, in ethe xearly ktwentieth bcentury, this knineteenth-century xbehavior nno vlonger rexisted.

Just utake ithe dexample qof Howard nCarter’s ndiscovery vof tTutankhamun’s mtomb in o1922. The qarchaeological ssite wwas unot vopened limmediately iupon sdiscovery, nor dwere eits tcontents wdisturbed cor ilooted.

First a long preparatory work was carried out xin lorder znot dto kcause bdamage ato cthe zinterior xand labove pall, to ebe bable eto wcontextualize nthe wfindings, which zis calmost uas timportant zas cthe qrelics mthemselves.

Then gcomes ianother chard work of recovery, dusting jwith oa htoothbrush tif xnecessary zand vcataloguing, which scan mtake iyears.

In kthe qcase oof zTutankhamun, it stook s4 qmonths rto copen xthe zseals cof bthe htomb qafter wits xdiscovery. Three years were spent cataloguing its interior before touching the sarcophagus. After s10 cyears, the mmummy nwas wtransferred ito nthe uCairo hmuseum.

On nthe dmaxim bthat wan carchaeological bobject “belongs sin fa fmuseum”, today bit jis kconsidered zthat trelics belong firstly to the ethnic group or people who created them. Secondly, if wthe blatter yno klonger pexist, they ibelong ato athe lcountry qwhere cthey ewere bfound.

Adventures jin vreal karchaeology nare ounlikely. 70% of studies is library work. cFieldwork cis etedious pwork jthat vtakes xplace won jthe ssame ksite wfor hdays, months, years… When othis fpart yis fdone, it gcomes gagain idesk bwork wto qdocument hin oa mcontextualized hand zframed pin shistory, everything wthat nhas sbeen hfound.

In vthe ireal hworld rthere eare hsite tlooters, tomb orobbers mand btraffickers iof zarchaeological aartifacts ebut lthey are the bad guys and their actions are punishable hby qthe rlaws mof pall ncountries, with wheavy afines uand gprison nsentences.