Indy's strange behavior towards Marion

IndyJoey

Member
Ok, so in Raiders, he thinks Marion dies, and nearly commits suicide. Then recently after he finds her and is all happy again. But then he dumps her?:confused: :confused: :confused: Why would he leave her if she meant so much to him? I mean, he could obviously find another woman, but, Marion meant so much to him, yet he leaves her, right before their wedding? This has been troubling me for some time now... I just dont understand why he did that... ok, i understand not getting married, because he doesnt want to be tied down, i guess, but leaving her entirely??? Do any of you have any thoughts on why he would do that?
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Because Indy's a womanizing rat who prefers to seduce his students.

In 1957 he realizes he's old and grizzled and alone and that Marion's the only drunken idiot who'll take him.

:p
 

IndyJoey

Member
Finn said:
You don't have much experience on human relationships, eh?
Im 14 years old, how much experience do you expect me to have when the only women in my school are stupid, and sleep around with other guys, who are my age. And i look at them and wonder what this generation has become... So, if you have kids that are my age, at least in America, be careful, because most girls are really trashy currently... i cant say if theyve always been like that or not, but in my generation, they are.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
IndyJoey said:
Im 14 years old, how much experience do you expect me to have when the only women in my school are stupid, and sleep around with other guys, who are my age. And i look at them and wonder what this generation has become...
Not a sign of our times really...

Anyway, since fully explaining this issue would probably make one of the longest posts in this board's history, I think it'll suffice to say that time will reveal you the answer to your topic.



All right, let's say the following: While the world Indiana Jones inhabits does involve some fantastical elements... it's by no means a fairytale.
 

IndyJoey

Member
Finn said:
Not a sign of our times really...

Anyway, since fully explaining this issue would probably make one of the longest posts in this board's history, I think it'll suffice to say that time will reveal you the answer to your topic.



All right, let's say the following: While the world Indiana Jones inhabits does involve some fantastical elements... it's by no means a fairytale.

Are you saying that the phenomenon of 14 year old girls sleeping around only happens in the state of California? And are you trying to say that he has a fear of commitment?
 

Montana Smith

Active member
IndyJoey said:
And are you trying to say that he has a fear of commitment?

Not to answer for Finn, but I'd say that Indy's lack of committment was a character trait.

Indy was inspired by many previously created characters. One of those named in the creative process was James Bond, the notorious womanizer who managed to stay married for all of about five minutes (ending in one of the finest scenes in the whole of that series so far).

The discarded Monkey King script had a disturbing scene in which an infatuated student tried to kill herself because Indy wouldn't return her affections.

However, KOTCS was conceivably set up as the end of the road for Harrison's Indy. It was time to reflect on the past (the recurring image of the Ark once again), and the matter of Marion, the woman who turned to prostitution after her relationship with Indy.

KOTCS was about tying up endings and making amends. All of which can be symbolized by the knot of marriage, which was a fairly frequent occurrence for the leading men and women of the cliffhanger serials that gave rise to Indiana Jones.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Archaeos said:
I must have missed that part in the movie. Would you mind to elaborate :confused: ?

During their reunion at The Raven:

INDY
Take it easy. I'm looking for your father.

MARION
(bitterly)
Well you're two years too late.

INDY
What happened?

MARION
Avalanche. Up there. He was digging. What else? He spent his whole life digging. Dragging me all over this rotten earth. For what?

...

INDY
Not a bad way to go. Doing what he loved.

MARION
Don't give me that stuff! What do you know?

I'm the one that was left in a bad way. He didn't have a penny. Guess how I lived, Mister Jones. I worked here. And I wasn't the bartender.

...

MARION
You son-of-a-b!tch! You know what you did to me, to my life? This is your handiwork.

INDY
I never meant to hurt you.

MARION
I was a child!

INDY
You knew what you were doing.

MARION
I was in love.

INDY
I guess that depends on your definition.

MARION
It was wrong. You knew it.

INDY
Look, I did what I did. I don't expect you to be happy about it. But maybe we can do each other some good.​
 

Archaeos

Member
Wow, Montana, great work and so much effort! Highly appreciated! (y)

However, I think I made a horrible mistake :eek: , misunderstood your original post :confused: , and caused you loads of work for nothing :eek: . I thought you meant KOTCS :dead: , and that Marion started to be a professional prostitute (hmm, is there sth like a unprofessional prostitute?) AFTER Indy left her pregnant etc. Meaning that her RAF relationship was just one of those "professional" incidents... etc.

Terribly sorry... very angry with me for misunderstanding this :mad: .
 

IndyJoey

Member
Archaeos said:
Wow, Montana, great work and so much effort! Highly appreciated! (y)

However, I think I made a horrible mistake :eek: , misunderstood your original post :confused: , and caused you loads of work for nothing :eek: . I thought you meant KOTCS :dead: , and that Marion started to be a professional prostitute (hmm, is there sth like a unprofessional prostitute?) AFTER Indy left her pregnant etc. Meaning that her RAF relationship was just one of those "professional" incidents... etc.

Terribly sorry... very angry with me for misunderstanding this :mad: .
I hope you are being sarcastic, but i can't completely tell, because i can not hear the tone of voice you are using... But if it wasnt sarcasm... dear god :sick:... dont you think that calling marion a prostitute is jumping to conclusions... If it was sarcasm... then (y)
 

HenryJunior

New member
Well I think the intention was it could be any damsel in distress situation for any of the following sequels. They ended up writing and performing a very solid screen couple that worked, and most audiences probably expected it to continue. TOD is excusable since it takes place before Raiders, but it would been interesting to see Marion return in LC and have to compete with Elsa in a sub-plot.
 

foreverwingnut

New member
There was a discussion between Spielberg and Lucas about possibly keeping Marion as Indy's love interest in all the sequels, but ultimately they agreed that Indy would win the hearts of other gals. Indy spent so much time globe-trotting that I'm not surprised he would choose to break-it-off with Marion. I like that he let her go before his wandering eye would have lead him to cheat on her. Cheating would have been far, more hurtful to Marion and she and Indy might never have gotten married. I like to think of Indy's womanizing as an extension of his love for discovery and adventure. Plus, if there hadn't been other Indy babes, then we wouldn't have that really great thread to vote over which girl we each liked best!
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Archaeos said:
Wow, Montana, great work and so much effort! Highly appreciated! (y)

However, I think I made a horrible mistake :eek: , misunderstood your original post :confused: , and caused you loads of work for nothing :eek: . I thought you meant KOTCS :dead: , and that Marion started to be a professional prostitute (hmm, is there sth like a unprofessional prostitute?) AFTER Indy left her pregnant etc. Meaning that her RAF relationship was just one of those "professional" incidents... etc.

Terribly sorry... very angry with me for misunderstanding this :mad: .

It was no great work, I took it from the Revised Third Draft screenplay. :)



IndyJoey said:
...dont you think that calling marion a prostitute is jumping to conclusions...

What other conclusion is there? She tells Indy that's what she had to do. Campbell Black's novelization adds a "you understand?" to the innuendo:

"Guess how I lived, Jones? I worked here. And I wasn't exactly the bartender, you understand?"


Incidentally, the novelization also has an extra scene with Indy's other love interest in Raiders. Though after meeting Eaton and Musgrove he can't stop thinking about Marion:

A pretty young girl appeared in front of Indy. She was carrying a bundle of books and was pretending to look studious, efficient. Indy brightened when he saw her.

"Professor Jones," she was saying.

"Uh-"

"I was hoping we could have a conference," she said shyly, glancing at Marcus Brody.

"Yeah, sure, sure, Susan, I know I said we'd talk."

Marcus Brody said, "Not now. Not now, Indiana." And he turned to the girl. "Professor Jones has an important conference to attend, my dear. Why don't you call him later?"

"Yeah," Indy mumbled. "I'll be back at noon."

The girl smiled in a disappointed way, then drifted off along the corridor. Indy watched her go, admiring her legs, the roundness of the calves, the slender ankles. He felt Brody tug at his sleeve.

"Pretty. Up to your usual standards, Indiana. But later. Okay?"

"Later," Indy said, looking reluctantly away from the girl.

...

The girl, Susan, said, "I really hope I didn't embarrass you when you were with Brody. I mean, I was so . . . obvious."

"You weren't obvious," Indy said.

They were sitting together in the cluttered living room of Indy's small frame house. The room was filled with souvenirs of trips, of digs, restored clay vessels and tiny statues and fragments of pottery and maps and globes-as cluttered, he sometimes thought, as my life.

The girl drew her knees up, hugging them, laying her face down against them. Like a cat, he thought. A tiny contented cat.

"I love this room," she said. "I love the whole house ... but this room especially."

Indy got up from the sofa and, hands in his pockets, walked around the room. The girl, for some reason, was more of an intrusion than she should have been. Sometimes when she spoke he tuned her out. He heard only the noise of her voice and not the meaning of her words. He poured himself a drink, sipped it, swallowed; it burned in his chest-a good burning, like a small sun glowing down there.

Susan said, "You seem so distant tonight, Indy."

"Distant?"

"You've got something on your mind. I don't know." She shrugged.

He walked to the radio, turned it on, barely listening to the drone of someone making a pitch for Maxwell House. The girl changed the station and then there was dance-band music. Distant, he thought.

Farther than you could dream. Miles away. Oceans and continents and centuries. He was suddenly thinking about Ravenwood, about the last conversation they'd had, the old man's terrible storm, his wrath. When he listened to the echoes of those voices, he felt sad, disappointed in himself; he'd taken some fragile trust and shattered it.

Marion's infatuated with you, and you took advantage of that. You're twenty-eight, presumably a grown man, and you've taken advantage of a young girl's brainless infatuation and twisted it to suit your own purpose just because she thinks she's in love with you.

Susan said, "If you want me to leave, Indy, I will. If you want to be alone, I'll understand."

"It's okay. Really. Stay."

There was a knock on the door; the porch creaked.

Indy moved out of the living room along the hallway and saw Marcus Brody outside. He was smiling a secretive smile, as if he had news he wanted to linger over, savor for as long as he could.

"Marcus," Indy said. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I think you were," Brody said, pushing the screen door.

"We'll go in the study," Indy said.

"What's wrong with the living room?"

"Company."

"Ah. What else?"
 

HenryJunior

New member
Good catch Montana on those extra scenes, I'd nearly forgotten about them, since it wasn't in the movie I've kind of always disregarded it. Rather obvious, but it does seem the plan was to give Indy a pattern not unlike James Bond.

New movie= New Girl.:)
 

Archaeos

Member
HenryJunior said:
It does seem the plan was to give Indy a pattern not unlike James Bond.

New movie= New Girl.:)

Alas, Marion left a far deeper impact and long-lasting impression in the audience than thought. So I think bringing Marion back for KOTCS was almost a necessity, and very good. Unfortunate that she remained as flat in character as Shia "TheCow" LaBeouf's chest. I would have focused more on the reunion, have Indy consciously be forced to seek her out or be lured by her (but not via the Mutt surrogate). In fact, the more I think about it, I really would have preferred the daughter plotline (see here, among other threads), to be perfectly honest, Diane Krüger in that role :D
 

Brooke Logan

New member
foreverwingnut said:
Plus, if there hadn't been other Indy babes, then we wouldn't have that really great thread to vote over which girl we each liked best!

I agree. I really like Marion but I liked getting to know the other two girls as well, Willie and Elsa. Marion was perfect for Raiders but Willie and Elsa were perfect for their films.
 
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