WillKill4Food said:
By that logic, it would be acceptable to make a movie about the Civil War that paints the slaves as black Sambo stereotypes or a Western that paints native Americans (the other "Indians) as mere savages.
That's taking it a bit far, don't you think? The denizens of Pankot are preposterous, but the rural villagers seem like everyday rural villagers. From ANY country. And, frankly, (I can't believe I'm going here) during the Civil War, despite the natural equality of African slaves as human beings, we are talking about a population which was intentionally kept ignorant. Think about "Glory" wherein one sees the broad spectrum of contemporary (to the Civil War) African Americans. Everything from the Boston educated man to the Folksy wisdom of Morgan freeman's character. The filmmakers did not shy away, however from the fact that some of the troops are ignorant, backward fellows who don't know left from right. It was a fact of history. Furthermore, somewhere between "Stagecoach" and "Dances with Wolves" one might find a more accurate picture of Native Americans... Neither mindless aggressors nor some sort of "nature children" the Plains cultures were based on personal glory through combat and acquisition of livestock. That means they had a beautiful, complex culture. It also means they were bloodthirsty warriors who weren't very good neighbors. In their defense, the Americans were
worse neighbors.
Regardless, I doubt that the filmmakers gave it that much thought. They probably didn't care whether their portrayal of Indian culture was accurate.
Nope, they probably didn't. it was meant to be a Saturday Morning Serial, not a bloody travelogue.
Yes, but does the existence of the Raven bar harm anyone? Do anachronisms hurt anyone? No. Meanwhile, as I will show in a second, the depiction of the Indians was hurtful and not just sloppy, but altogether malicious.
Exactly who was "harmed" by Temple of Doom?? Offended, sure, but is offense actually harm? Again, I maintain that it was simply tasteless.
Indians have never eat chilled monkey brains with eyeball soup. Perhaps there have been one or two isolated incidents that I am not aware of, but that has never been a common delicacy on the subcontinent, especially not among royals. I have many Indian friends (perhaps that plays some role in my disgust), and, having eaten with their families on many occasions, I must say that it was downright dishonest to portray Indians that way. The fact that Lucas hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write the script because of their supposed "knowledge of Indian culture" makes it that much more heinous. Surely they knew that what he was showing was not only ridiculous but hateful.
Yes, yes, many Hindus do not even eat meat. The dinner scene is an absolute low point in the film. it is childish and stupid and goes for the gross-out factor. It seems right at home in an Abbott and Costello movie. I am often astounded at how many people seem to think it portrays Indian food in any way. Perhaps the dinner scene should have gone more like this: "Dear God, this is hot!! Whoa! who mixes chili peppers and cinnamon? Why is there marjoram and cardamom in everything?? Are you going to eat your naan?"
Again, I will not argue that the dinner sequence is not stupid.
I don't care about the portrayal of the cultists, at all. Religions can be evil, and, unless I am mistaken, some Thugs did worship Kali. The cardiectomy was an Aztec practice and Kali-worshipers generally opposed blood-spilling, but the filmmakers choice to depict other religions' sacrificial practices is understandable. I am bothered by their neglecting to mention that Thuggee groups were not exclusively worshipers of the goddess Kali, who they called Bhavani. The Thuggee of the 1830s were a form of organized crime, more a paramilitary group than a religious cult. The film's portrayal of modern Thuggee would be completely acceptable if at some point Indy had made some mention of the fact that not all worshipers of Kali were blood-crazed and not all Thuggee were worshipers of Kali.
See this entire thread. This is actually the topic at hand.
However, the portrayal of the other Indians remains inexcusable. Once more, I quote Tharoor's article, Indiana Jones and the template of dhoom:
Tharoor's claim that the film perpetuates negative stereotypes (really, it would be accurate to say that the film even created certain negative stereotypes) seems to be substantiated by the work of Yvette Rosser, who examined the treatment of India in the social studies curriculum for the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas. She found that a large number of Asian students complained that their American teachers talked about the negative stereotypes in Temple, such as the eating of monkey-brains, as though they were a matter of fact. I think I remember my jingoistic high school World History teacher making similar mistakes. The fame that Doom has garnered over the years seems in itself sufficient warrant for the film to have some sort of disclaimer, "Warning: The 'Indian' practices depicted in the following film are actually a pastiche of reviled cultural practices from across the globe, assembled together to disgust Western sensibilities. The 'real' India bares little resemblance with what you are about to see."
Who the Hell would think this was historically, culturally or in any way accurate. A man jumps out of a plane in a life raft for Christ's sake!
It may sound extreme to suggest that the film needs something like that, but ask yourself: do you think this film would be made today? Given the budget they had to shoot with, I think the filmmakers could've spared a little cash to bring in a real Indian expert. Is it any wonder that the Indian government banned the film? Shouldn't the filmmakers have taken the hint when the government refused to allow them to film in the country?
No, but then the film wasn't made today. Look at the history of cinema and you will find many better films than TOD that would not be made today for fear that someone would be "Harmed" by their existence.
Also, I have several Indian friends who (for reasons I can't comprehend
love this movie. I only have one who hates it, but she grew up in London and I think she got tired of people asking if they really ate monkey brains in India.
So, in short, Watch TOD or don't. But under NO circumstances take it seriously.