sheffsteve
New member
So as a consequence of the suspension of disbelief question I posed this occurred to me; Does an Indiana Jones story have to have an element of the supernatural to it or does a vanilla story work fine?
Raiders Story Conference Transcript, 1978
GEORGE LUCAS: I thought it would be interesting to have him be a sort of expert in the occult, as an offshoot of the anthropological side of this thing...A study of ancient religions and voodoo and all that kind of stuff. He's a guy who sort of checks out ghosts and psychic phenomenon in connection with the kind of things he does. He's a sort of archeological exorcist. When somebody has a haunted house, or a haunted temple, and nobody will go near it, he is the one who will go in there and do it... Assuming that he believes in the supernatural because he deals with it, he is the one they send into the haunted house...A lot of the times they are hoaxes. And he can figure it out.
kongisking said:Of course its possible...whether or not its desirable or would be fundamentally rejected by audiences is a whole 'nother matter. I personally love the supernatural elements of these movies, as they give it a larger-than-life, pulpy feel that compliments the character and gives him more interesting adventures. But if someone did a straight, real-world Indy story about him just reclaiming some stolen treasure from an artifact smuggling ring or something....I mean, jeez, its not exactly my idea of an Indiana Jones adventure, but if its done well? Then hip hip hooray, and good for it.
And heck, its entirely possible some of Indy's adventures don't always have a supernatural element or occurrence. That would be rather outrageous luck*, for him to always run into magical stuff, and if he weren't so skeptical and cynical about it all, he'd probably reveal it to the planet, and we'd be living in a very different world now.
*Then again, Indy is the patron saint of Insane Good Luck...
Goodeknight said:Keep in mind that few of the YIJC had heavy supernatural elements. A lot of people loved those. I enjoyed them, but, for me, they fell a bit flat.
sheffsteve said:I admit the YIJC were in my mind when I was asking the question. I could never really get along with the show when it was broadcast on the BBC and I certainly haven't seen them all really because they lacked interest for me due to the absence of a supernatural element.
sheffsteve said:Indy is called a expert in the occult in ROTLA yet at many times in the films exhibits great scepticism for one who must have experienced many strange things.
sheffsteve said:Since I don't know YIJC well I would be interested in finding out which episodes feature a supernatural element.
Montana Smith said:My take on it is that as a professional Indy is perpetually on guard against being caught out and embarrassed by falling for a hoax.
Therefore he treats each new supposed instance of the paranormal with suspicion, until he's experienced the phenomena for himself.
Goodeknight said:The least supernatural of the three is TOD, which has the "I understand their power now" ending. Return of the children is great, but it's not the Holy Grail.
kongisking said:Though I personally feel TOD's ending was probably the most uplifting and cathartic of all the endings for the original movies. Because there wasn't a bit of bittersweetness to it (besides possibly the fact Indy and Willie are not gonna last---but even that's a victory for us ). It's pure, unleaded happy ending, and after the intensity and insanity we saw for the last half-hour, its completely deserved. So, it may lack really overt supernatural-ness, but its oddly the most satisfying ending for an Indy adventure because its all about humanity and compassion, not a cool set-piece based around a magic object.
kongisking said:TOD's ending was probably the most uplifting and cathartic of all the endings for the original movies. ... It's pure, unleaded happy ending, and after the intensity and insanity we saw for the last half-hour, its completely deserved. So, it may lack really overt supernatural-ness, but its oddly the most satisfying ending for an Indy adventure because its all about humanity and compassion, not a cool set-piece based around a magic object.
Goodeknight said:I agree with you there. TOD ending doesn't blow you away like the climax of Raiders, or give you that "oooo" feeling of seeing Henry Sr. brought back from the brink of death. But, seeing the children and their families reunited always gives me a huge smile, with all the screaming and laughing, mom's breaking into tears, etc. Heartwarming. And a real moment of growth for Indy, letting go of the fortune and glory to see the bigger picture.
Djd1 said:Going back to the Young Indy theme, not only was it painfully short of the supernatural but worse, it was painfully short of archaeology! He almost did anything but...
If they'd made a series that was something along the lines of a Relic Hunter - but with a budget - that would have been worth watching.