The Tree of Life

Aaron H

Moderator Emeritus
The Snake that tricked Eve would make a very interesting addition to the movie, given that Indy does have a fear of them...hmmmm...


lornconner, wow! I haven't seen a thread this wonderful in several months! Keep up the discussion, who knows at this rate maybe we can figure out what the movie is going to be about...or even give them some ideas.;)
 

lornconner

New member
Hi Aaron,

All credit for the thread has to go to apalehorse. I just kinda stumbled in and started spouting a bunch of words.

(Speaking of which, where are you apalehorse?)



Lorn
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Living Forever

I guess my whole idea on this stemmed from the concept of what would happen if we had the ability to live forever? Since we have the power to be like God (the true temptation from the serpant) the only thing that is missing is eternal-ity (whatta word) of it. DNA was discoverd in the fiftes. Is it possible that the tree of life isn't really a tree and that Eden is a metaphor for that which all religions try find, perfect enlightenment in an utopian dream. That is, can man truely find the one thing that would eliminate evil, and if not, should we be trying to live forever?

In LC, Indy didn't want to find the Grail, it made no matter to him, and Henry wanted to find Illumination. The cup itself made no difference. I wonder if Henry's statement that he found Illmination was completely accurate.


(ps. thanks to everyone participating in this thread)
 

bob

New member
We both hold equally valid Points of view Lorn....

However just to adress one point, the real problem i have with the supernatural element of the Cherumiums is that they would be sentinent that is they would have a will of their own rather than just a smiting machine (As the Ark was) and the existance of them would push Indy too close to God as these Cherums would be directly below god.
 

bob

New member
Also what i meant r.e point 3 was that the trilogy all had a various backdrops ark being egypt, ToD being ancient India.

What have you got with Eden?; men are locked out of Eden and i doubt that the supernatural forces would have been building things. I also doubt that there would be any clues as was the case with Ark or Grail Eden would exist in a cultural vacuam the film would lack the arcaeological flavour.

In my opinion i think something like Atlantis would fit a lot better into the Indy series as it has that cultural baggage associated with it, and it has all the imagery of Ancient Grecce surrounding it
 
I love this thread!!

I'm not sure 'cheribum' truly belong as the classical image of them. I don't want Indy to just walk up some steps and introduce himself to God. But I DO think statues representing the Cheribum 'guarding' the pass to Eden, striking down intruders with a flaming sword would be cool. Kinda like Neverending Story...

I just enjoy the 'suggestion' of the Spirit. Not a big slap in the face - hello God is here - kind of thing. Does that make sense?
 

lornconner

New member
I do agree with keeping the Cherubim understated. I think even having statues would be a bit too overt. SOME marker will have to exist to mark the boundary of the entrance of the garden, but I think some investigation and reasoned looking will be necessary to find it. I would imagine the cherubim would only become visible and active (the smiting machine, as bob put it) should somebody unworth try to pass by the barrier (or fail the test.)

By the way, how's THAT for a run-on sentence?

I don't think Indy should have any direct encounters with God, and I think if the Cherubim are smiting, it ought to be quick, and awe-inspiring. I see a small pile of ash in my mind.

I do think having the snake make a cameo is important, but I'd put it in for comic reasons, as a tension-reliever after the smiting occurs. Sort of a reminder to Indy that he's treading dangerous ground.



Lorn
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
I think the serpant thing would be a great sub-plot. I am not even sure how it would be addressed. I am sorry I have missed a few of the exchanges with Bob, lorn and the others. I guess the biggest thing I am starting to see is that we are discussing the "Eden" plot from the stand point that we are seeking truth; and as we all know, archeology is the search for fact. So what facts do we have that supprt a Tree of Life theroy?

1. The tree of life, as presented in the Genesis story is that tree which would allow man to live eternally. As lorn pointed out, in our current state, that would mean imperfection.

2. DNA holds the code that could/would provide us with the ability to allow for the creation of a perfect strand, without any blemish.

3. DNA looks like a ladder, but I won't stray OT by tieing it into the Jacob's Ladder theroy of ascending into heaven.

4. Now that our wisdom (received with at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) has allowed for cloning, is it possible that we could clone God? This may also be off thread, but if we assume the DNA present on the Shroud of Turin in that of Christ, couldn't we clone him, have that embro put into the womb of a virgin and thereby create a souless Antichrist?

I realize that this strays a bit from traditional archeology, but when the Brother of the Cruciform Sword had the knowledge of the Grail, they didn't retrieve it. Who's to say that in the fifties, there isn't some American Government agency that knows that Armageddon is possible, and guards such a volatile piece of history. Even an indirect connection can be seen. This also gives weight to the McCarthy hearings, and Communism brought up in similar threads. Heck, they could even split this story in two and film it all at once...=)

I just think that archeology, theology, history, philosophy all run together, hand in hand.
 

Indy_Girl

New member
uhmm from a few pages back about everlasting life, int he last crusade Indy drinks from the goblet to ensure that it is the right goblet, so therefore would that mean he would live forever from that film? perhaps also being the reason he survived the tank going over the cliff i'm just speculating but if it was everlasting life then it would be pointless since thats already being covered, but maybe not, anyone clear it up for me?
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
Indy is not immortal. The knight in Last Crusade was immortal because he stayed within the temple. He never crossed the seal. And even if the grail were to make him immortal, it wouldn't effect the situation on the tank since that happened BEFORE he drank from the grail. He survived the tank because he was able to leap off at the last second and grab hold of some vines (you can actually see this if you look very closely when the tank goes over the edge.) Then he just climbed up those vines.
 
Hey, I've seen Last Crusade countless times, I don't remember seeing any Indy-grabbing-vines-just-before-going-overboard shots... Widescreen? Fullscreen?

Tell me, people, IS IT TRUE???
 

FAN

New member
Am I the only one who has read the Bible?
How on earth do you exspect even Indy to get past two angelic beings specifically sent there by God to prevent any man from eating of the tree of Life, and after the flood no mention of the tree or Garden is made, in fact for all we know it could have been destroyed or taken to heaven. The only way you could do this would be if they found secret document hidden in a cave or something recording that a man acctualy found the Garden of Eden. Then perhaps the U.S. government send's Indy to find it before agents sent by Khrushchev do. Both the communist and the U.S. government top officials are after the tree of Life. And in the end even though they get rid of the enemy agents and find the Garden of Eden and get to the tree of life, it vanish's before they can do anything as well as the Garden of Eden and like the Holy Grail they naver attain the goal. This is just an idea and it needs alot of work as far as it goes. Mabye the Tree could work.
What do the rest of you think?
 

Aaron H

Moderator Emeritus
(my father is a Pastor, so I have read the Bible)

For the Indiana Jones movies one must dimiss logic in order for the movies to have any success.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Mine too, what a coincidence. I guess that's for another thread. Seems like this one is about done.
 

FAN

New member
You may desmiss logic but you cant desmiss God. In fact if you ever read your Bible then you would know what happen to the many people who desmissed God. In fact you had better read throughout your hole Bible because according to George Lucas it will have a lot of Biblical stuff in there, which could be any were. You will also find numerous of things beside the Garden of Eden that they could use.
 

Aaron H

Moderator Emeritus
That reminds me, George Lucas' father is/was a Methodist pastor (I don't know if he still alive). Steven's father was the Jewish equvilant to a Decon/Elder. Just a bit of insight into each of the men, since that is what influences the movies.
 
Top