Indiana Jones goes to Hell

[Rocket Surgeon]

The 'Complete Making of Indiana Jones' book has a bit to say on this subject. The jist of it is that the production of TOD got darker and darker as time went on.

This is a quote from George Lucas: 'The story ended up being a lot darker than we intended it to be. Part of it is that I was going through a divorce at the time, and I wasn't in a good mood; and part of it was just that we wanted to do something a little bit more edgy.'

Matt

Lucas also said some more in between there, to the effect that you never know what your going to get until you're editing...

They both sounded pretty apologetic regarding the film.

I read some other stuff that Ford, Lucas and Spielberg also back peddled from their stock story and apologized for promoting racist and negative stereotypes of Indians and their culture. I'll post them if I can find them.

There's always someone who complains, good thing Chachapoyas don't have computers and no one cares what Nazis think.

 

[The Drifter]

I read some other stuff that Ford, Lucas and Spielberg also back peddled from their stock story and apologized for promoting racist and negative stereotypes of <b>Indiana</b> and their culture. I'll post them if I can find them.

Yeah, those hoosiers are weird!

 

[Rocket Surgeon]

Yeah, those hoosiers are weird!

Yeah yeah yeah, the "a" and the "s" are neighbors pal!

 

[Montana Smith]

I read some other stuff that Ford, Lucas and Spielberg also back peddled from their stock story and apologized for promoting racist and negative stereotypes of Indians and their culture. I'll post them if I can find them.

I read that the Indian government wanted editorial control of the script, and demanded so many changes that Lucas decided to film in Sri Lanka instead. They found everything they needed in Sri Lanka apart from Pankot Palace, which they had to paint in for the wide shot. Sri Lanka was far more welcoming to foreign film crews.

As for racism, Temple of Doom was far less racist than the adventure stories it is ultimately based upon (those written, for example from late Victorian times into the 1930s). I suppose the main charge is that a heroic white man combats an evil Indian cult and rescues helpless passive Indians. This would have been a staple ingredient of imperial fiction (written from a white-imperialist point of view). One main difference, though, is that the ultimate hero of the film is a young Chinese orphan.

Taken in the context of all four films it is evident that people of all colours are capable of evil. And people of all colours are capable of heroism: Sallah the Arab, Short Round the Chinese, Katanga the black (north African?).

I think the biggest criticism of Temple of Doom was its sustained violence, which makes it appear a Hellish trip. But, as somebody already said, all the films are brutal in one way or another.

 

[mister64]

The film feels very clastrophobic from when Indy and friends get underground to pretty much the end of the film. That is what makes it hellish to me, not really the heart-ripping-out, or turning Indy evil, but that you are stuck underground with no escape. If more of the film had been outdoors I would enjoy it more. The other Indy movies don't seem to dwell on single locations this long (Venice in TLC felt long, but at least there was some breathing room).

 

[Montana Smith]

The film feels very clastrophobic from when Indy and friends get underground to pretty much the end of the film. That is what makes it hellish to me, not really the heart-ripping-out, or turning Indy evil, but that you are stuck underground with no escape. If more of the film had been outdoors I would enjoy it more. The other Indy movies don't seem to dwell on single locations this long (Venice in TLC felt long, but at least there was some breathing room).

'Cluastrophobic' is an apt description, mister64. The film is quite intense - from Club Obi-Wan into the dark, crowded streets, to the aircraft, released only by the escape in the liferaft, which takes the characters directly to the desolate village. Then it's the palace and underground.

The children of the village were kidnapped specifically because they were small enough to crawl into the narrow tunnels under the palace, in search of the missing Sankara Stones: specifically into claustrophobic spaces.

This opressive feeling does make Temple of Doom different, and for me gives it validity in the series.

 

[Stoo]

I read that the Indian government wanted editorial control of the script, and demanded so many changes that Lucas decided to film in Sri Lanka instead. They found everything they needed in Sri Lanka apart from Pankot Palace, which they had to paint in for the wide shot. Sri Lanka was far more welcoming to foreign film crews.

In the DVD bonus features, Robert Watts says that if it would've been filmed in India, they would not have been allowed to use certain words such as "maharajah, etc." nor indicate the name of the country.

As for racism, Temple of Doom was far less racist than the adventure stories it is ultimately based upon (those written, for example from late Victorian times into the 1930s). I suppose the main charge is that a heroic white man combats an evil Indian cult and rescues helpless passive Indians. This would have been a staple ingredient of imperial fiction (written from a white-imperialist point of view). One main difference, though, is that the ultimate hero of the film is a young Chinese orphan.

Being well-versed in this area, the only film I can think of that differs is "Gunga Din" even though the heroic character was played by a non-Indian! (After almost 2 decades of hunting, I FINALLY managed to buy a copy of the EXTREMELY RARE film, "Clive of India", which is very relevant to "Temple of Doom"!)

Taken in the context of all four films it is evident that people of all colours are capable of evil. And people of all colours are capable of heroism: Sallah the Arab, Short Round the Chinese, Katanga the black (north African?).

Very true but (without getting off-topic) just wanted to point out that I don't think Katanga is North African. Must see if there's a thread about Katanga...If not, he deserves one!

The film feels very clastrophobic from when Indy and friends get underground to pretty much the end of the film. That is what makes it hellish to me, not really the heart-ripping-out, or turning Indy evil, but that you are stuck underground with no escape.

It's this aspect that really jusitifies the "Indiana Jones goes to Hell" quote from The 'Berg. The audience is locked in a dark place and taken deeper & deeper into the bowels of the earth, right down to bubbling lava pits. (Back in '84, the scariest moment for me was when Shorty was being pulled between the carts over the lava and about to be smashed into the rocks where the tunnels divided.) The prolonged, hellish experience makes the exit on the cliffside all the more thrilling and a near master-stroke (in terms of suspense)!

 

[Rocket Surgeon]

Found it...(forest and the trees!).

Violence wasn't the film's only flaw as some critics found inexcusable the way ethnic minorities were treated in the film. Audiences laughed and grimaced with the unspeakable delicacies that were served up at the Pankot palace's banquet while some people were annoyed by the way Indian villagers were presented because they looked like lepers! During a London press conference Ford apologized, again, by saying: "I have absolute sympathy with those criticisms. If that was so it's regrettable and to be guarded against next time. I don't want to be outwardly racist but movies are dependent on stereotypes. But I'm sorry that occurred and I'll use what power I have to make sure it doesn't happen again."