Indy's glasses

[Raiders112390]

Has it ever been mentioned why exactly Indy needs or wears glasses? Is it just part of his ''normal life'' as a college professor, like something he wears when playing that role or does he really need them?

[deckard24]

It seems he needs them for reading, but other then that I just think it's part of his Clark Kent/Superman disguise. Glasses give the character of Indy an added air of intelligence, not to mention they fit his professorial look when teaching.

[|ZiR|]

I've never really thought about it before. Hmm... well, wearing them in the classroom would suggest farsightedness, but then that's odd, considering he never wears them out on his adventures.

I think it was just to show how different his professer persona is. Like Clark Kent.

edit: deckard24 beat me to it. :P

[Michael24]

I'd say perhaps Indy is farsighted, meaning he has trouble seeing things close up. He does seem to always put them on when he's looking at text, like the Grail tablet in Donovan's apartment. So wearing them in class makes sense, too, since he would need to be able to see the board close up. (Though that doesn't explain how he can read the stuff on the floor of the map room so close, but he might have just not been able to bring his glasses with him or something.)

[IndyMarion57]

He also puts them on when he and Mutt are in his house and he's looking through the books he'd just retrieved from the shelves.

[Adamwankenobi]

Chronologically, the first time Indy is seen with glasses is when he briefly wears a really goofy pair of glasses as part of his spy outfit in "Attack of the Hawkmen":

http://www.innermind.com/youngindy/pictures/series08/hawk70.jpg

And then he wears a pair of thick brown glasses as a professor in the first three films:

http://images.wikia.com/indianajones/images/0/0e/IndyCollege.jpg

And then he wears a thinner and lighter brown pair of glasses in KOTCS and as an old man in YIJC:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/Adamwankenobi/vid_21.jpg
http://www.theraider.net/films/young_indy/gallery/makingof/mo_11.jpg

[Mutt-Jones III]

Didn't he wear them in the "Date" Scene with Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark? He was on his adventure when he did and in his regular costume. :hat:

[Crack that whip]

Chronologically, the first time Indy is seen with glasses is when he briefly wears a really goofy pair of glasses as part of his spy outfit in "Attack of the Hawkmen":

(pic)

And then he wears a pair of thick brown glasses as a professor in the first three films:

(pic)

And then he wears a thinner and lighter brown pair of glasses in KOTCS and as an old man in YIJC:

(pics)

Obviously, he took to wearing glasses "for real" to counteract the damage his vision suffered from wearing that first, disguise pair from "Attack of the Hawkmen." :p ;)

Seriously, though, FWIW, Indy's character dossier from the original (TSR) Indy roleplaying game says he wears glasses to correct an astigmatism (I don't know whether I should be more embarrassed that I don't remember whether any other sources have anything to say about his need for corrective eyewear, or that I actually remembered this reference from the RPG off the top of my head).

[tupogirl]

I like the glasses. A lot.

I would assume then that the astigmatism would be in the LEFT eye, along with the natural aging process of far sightedness.