The Indiana Jones franchise is highly regarded by many. Some would consider the films classic works of masterful cinematography, or simply take for granted that they must be good, being creations of Steven Spielberg. Others might hold the films dear for more nostalgic reasons, having grown up watching them, or else simply loving them for their own sake.
Whatever associations fans have with the films, it's almost always shaken a bit when going back and re-watching years later. With Indiana Jones, there are aspects that might not shine as brightly as they do in fans' memories or others that simply don't make any sense.
10 The Dinner Scene
In The Temple Of Doom, Willie, Indiana, and Short Round find themselves sat around a table as dinner guests to the Maharaja in India.
The scene takes an absurd turn when every single dish on the table turns out to be more outlandish from the last. The food in the scene is exoticized to a point of insult, each new presentation accompanied by the hysterical — and not in a funny way — shrieks of Willie.
9 The Main Premise Of The First Movie
Indiana spends the first movie looking for the Lost Ark. The entire goal of the movie is for Indiana to get to the Ark before the Nazis do, thus preventing them from using it for evil purposes.
When the Nazis open the Ark and ultimately meet their doom, they are indeed stopped from executing their plan and it backfired. While it isn't fully explained, it's possible they would have never been able to use the Ark anyway, as their intentions weren't pure.
8 Indiana Stealing From Foreign Countries
Some scenes in the films feature Indiana sprinting from one large group or another, trying to get away with the latest sacred item he has gotten his hands on.
It's easy to assume that those chasing him are the "bad guys," as viewers are conditioned to love Indiana, but upon greater scrutiny, it's obvious that Indiana is the thief in some situations. The western habit of taking items from other countries to put in Western museums was much more normalized in the past and is becoming less and less of a justifiable practice - so while the character was meant to be working under good intentions, times have certainly changed the context.
7 Indy's Efforts Are Misguided
Indiana makes an effort to listen to the members of the cultures he visits. It seems like he is making a good example of himself when he does just this for the people he comes upon in India in the second movie, listening carefully to how strangers terribly stole their precious stone - but then, isn't this similar to what Indiana is seen doing at the beginning of The Lost Ark?
Indy condemns the people who stole the villager's sacred stone, but Indy himself was stealing a sacred artifact when viewers first met him in the opening scene of The Lost Ark. Why is one condemned, and not the other?
6 Trusting Short Round Over Willie
Willie proves herself pretty much incapable, but it's still strange to hear Indiana telling a small child to protect a grown woman when he goes off and can't be around to look out for her.
Both Short Round and Willie are used as comedic characters, but Short Round ends up with more respect than she does. Even though he is very mature for his age, it still doesn't make much sense that he's left in charge.
5 The Shift From Marion To Willie
The first movie offers viewers a stellar female lead. Marion commands the scene from the get-go. She owns her own bar, she's intimidated by no one, and even while she obviously has feelings for Indiana, there's no tiresome swooning.
The second movie makes itself rather regressive with respect to its female characters by introducing Willie. Now, not all women have to be as tough as Marion, but the greatest difference in the two is that despite their personality contrast, Willie still could have been a well-rounded character with personal agency, and she fell far shorter than Marion.
4 Indiana Taking A Drink From An Enemy
Indiana is meant to have gone on several adventures and faced many a foe. He should know by now that one of the most obvious things a person shouldn't do, and that any viewer knows from watching films, is to take a drink offered to one by someone who is interested in their downfall.
And yet, Indiana does just this in the opening scene of The Temple Of Doom. Shouldn't he know better?
3 The Dancers In The Fight Scene
The famous action scene at the start of The Temple Of Doom occurs in a club where dancers are featured as entertainment. The dancers come out on stage for their number in the middle of a shootout, with people running around like mad and Indiana and Willie both crawling on the floor.
For a brief moment, they seem as though they are deciding whether or not they should keep dancing, as if determined that the show must go on even through intense chaos and danger. It's a subtle moment, but still odd.
2 The Inflatable Boat
Willie, Indiana and Short Round are falling to uncertain doom when they realize their plane is out of fuel and their pilots have abandoned them.
Indiana remedies their situation by getting them all onto an inflatable boat, mid-air - a boat that somehow safely lands them and then goes on to carry them down a large cliff drop, to boot. This seems pretty unlikely and doesn't make much sense when watched today.
1 Indiana's Reasoning
The best thing about Indiana Jones is the actor that plays him. No matter what direction the films go in, Harrison Ford makes sure that Indiana is a purely pleasurable character to watch. However, the charm is so palpable that it can distract from the subtle fact that Indiana's reasoning is contradictory.
In The Temple Of Doom, Willie accuses Indiana of acting in pursuit of glory, and he doesn't contradict her. At other times, the film makes it clear that he's interested in the greater good. But putting precious foreign items in a Western museum is a debatable reason for taking them, and it's confusing that someone with such respect for foreign culture would do this. One might wonder if a modern-day Indiana would do the same.
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