Narnia and Indiana Jones
Sep. 26th, 2012 12:32 pm( Read more... )
[Unknown site tag]Meh. It was quite fun, but didn't really make sense. The other films took some liberties with the field of archaeology, but this one showed magnetism not obeying the inverse-square law, and red ants devouring a corpse whole in seconds.
Regarding the intrusion of aliens into the series, I think I didn't object per se -- it's no more surprising than the mystical rocks, grails or arks hinted at in the first three films. However, like a lot in this film, it didn't really feel thought out. Firstly, the mystical occurrences in the other films where always obscure. Indy and Marion had their eyes closed when the Nazis opened the ark of the covenant. Does the magic rock in Temple of Doom actually have mystical qualities to control people and make plants grow, or do people just worship it and have good hypnotism skills?
In IJatKotCS a massive spaceship took off. In the 60s. I suppose the rest of the world had no good way to see that, but it felt different. If you're living in this world, wondering if the ark of the covenant might really exist is mysterious and exciting. Whereas if you're living in a world where aliens and magic definitely do happen, you're living in a film and it's not exciting any more.
Also, if having Indy and the Aliens is not in itself contrary to the theme of "bad-ass archaeologist occasionally finds slightly more truth in legends than anyone thought", it's still a lot more contradictory to have a world with both aliens and Jewish and Christian artefacts. Someone famously said a story works best asking you to accept only one extraordinary premise.
It invites all sorts of questions like "what are the chances that evidence of both these unlikely events is buried in obscure death-trap temples?" and "so, how much of christian mythology is true? And if there is a God then, is he also the God of the aliens? If so, are the aliens pre-fall-from-Eden life, or angels, or life with its own saviour, or were they saved only if they discovered Jesus on this world?"
Regarding the intrusion of aliens into the series, I think I didn't object per se -- it's no more surprising than the mystical rocks, grails or arks hinted at in the first three films. However, like a lot in this film, it didn't really feel thought out. Firstly, the mystical occurrences in the other films where always obscure. Indy and Marion had their eyes closed when the Nazis opened the ark of the covenant. Does the magic rock in Temple of Doom actually have mystical qualities to control people and make plants grow, or do people just worship it and have good hypnotism skills?
In IJatKotCS a massive spaceship took off. In the 60s. I suppose the rest of the world had no good way to see that, but it felt different. If you're living in this world, wondering if the ark of the covenant might really exist is mysterious and exciting. Whereas if you're living in a world where aliens and magic definitely do happen, you're living in a film and it's not exciting any more.
Also, if having Indy and the Aliens is not in itself contrary to the theme of "bad-ass archaeologist occasionally finds slightly more truth in legends than anyone thought", it's still a lot more contradictory to have a world with both aliens and Jewish and Christian artefacts. Someone famously said a story works best asking you to accept only one extraordinary premise.
It invites all sorts of questions like "what are the chances that evidence of both these unlikely events is buried in obscure death-trap temples?" and "so, how much of christian mythology is true? And if there is a God then, is he also the God of the aliens? If so, are the aliens pre-fall-from-Eden life, or angels, or life with its own saviour, or were they saved only if they discovered Jesus on this world?"
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
May. 29th, 2008 06:59 pmSo, good or not, I still haven't seen Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Does anyone else want to come see it? Probably tomorrow (fri), time to be arranged.