1. Nowhere in the first three movies do we see Jones leaning toward becoming a Cold War spy ... he seems to have a healthy disdain for ideologies. Sure, he hates Nazis, but does that mean we need the clumsy backstory that Janitor from Scrubs is planted in there to elucidate?
2. I'm glad the dean gets his job back, but is Jones's "promotion" to Associate Dean at the end of the film supposed to be seen as some kind of victory?
At least I can say this, quoting Wu Han, Indy's unfortunate sidekick from Temple of Doom:
"I followed you on many adventures--but into the great Unknown Mystery, I go first, Indy..."
Don't be sad, Dr. Jones--you will soon join me. Ha. Ah ha ha. Ah HA HA HA!
1 comment:
Having watched the first film recently--and not having seen it in probably 20 years beforehand--I was especially interested in Indiana-Jones-as-academic this time around.
From the previous viewing, I'd remembered the student with "I love you" painted on her eyelids--though on this occasion, I read Jones' puzzled look less as an indication of his "absent-minded professor"-ness and more as a question of why the hell he'd settle for some undergrad tail when he could pretty much have any woman in the world.
I like that reading, since bedding undergrads seems to be a time-honored proof of male academics' hotness. For Indy, sleeping with a student would just be an act of desperation, which--if we were all more honest--is probably the case in most of the other situations, as well.
As for Indy's becoming an associate dean...well, that's the worst punishment that could be meted out to a scholar whose "research agenda" has been so inherently exciting and sexy.
Imagine the possibilities for a fifth installment, though--Indy taking on the faculty senate! Indy battling the dean over some kind of intellectual property!
I actually like the idea of an "indy" film about Indy's life as an administrator--lots of possibilities there for angst and absurdity, in the way that such tales are so repulsively fashionable these days.
Post a Comment