For one night in the mid-80’s I was an archeologist, college professor, treasure hunter and overall adventure-seeking badass. I was Indiana Jones for Halloween in 1987. Cheap, pseudo-leather jacket, fake Fedora and even stubble painted on my face. My parents wouldn’t let me have the bullwhip; I won’t forget to mention that fact. And it was a cool costume. In 1989 I was a few years olde
r when Last Crusade came out and didn’t fail to deliver.
r when Last Crusade came out and didn’t fail to deliver.Now a new Indiana Jones movie hits the theaters and things are very different. I am unable to determine whether the change is in me, society itself or the Lucas/Spielberg amalgam (who I envision as a bearded version of “Two-Bad” from He-man swimming in Scrooge McDuck’s money bin). So I’d like to examine each of these very real possibilities: 
1.I have changed: I’m nearly 30 years old and I don’t believe in fairy tales. That being said, a lot of the same people who loved the originals were kids when the films first aired. Would these fans have loved the movies if they were seen as young adults? I hate to make this comparison but it’s inevitable given the pa
rties at hand: The Star Wars prequels are almost universally regarded as inferior to the original films. I won’t elaborate any further so as to avoid nasty emails or such. But the humor, acting and cultural references in the new Star Wars films made the movie seem childish and simple. Maybe that was part of the genius in the originals that I loved so much as a kid. When one of those CGI camels farts or Jar Jar calls something, “Poo-doo” in an off-key, squeaky voice, maybe the 7 year old facsimile of me would laugh instead of cringe. I am fairly sure that this is not the case, if anything because the Indy films are much more adult in nature. Of course there are serious topics in Star Wars: Father-son dynamics, gambling debts and the occasional hand chopped off. But the Indiana Jones list seems much more adult: Knowing that Jehovah starts with the letter “I” in Latin, chilled monkey brains, and let’s not forget the Nazis. Indiana Jones fought the fricking Nazis. It doesn’t get much more grown up than Hitler, does it? Plus Jones never lifted a leg, squinted and ripped a fart while in the “Well of Souls”. I am fairly confident that if I saw Indiana Jones today I would probably be more critical of the stunts (calculating the angle of descent for one of those rides on the whip) but would still thoroughly enjoy the film. I’ll analyze the other 2 factors of the equation, society and the Lucas-Spielberg amalgam, in the consequent installation of Roo.
1.I have changed: I’m nearly 30 years old and I don’t believe in fairy tales. That being said, a lot of the same people who loved the originals were kids when the films first aired. Would these fans have loved the movies if they were seen as young adults? I hate to make this comparison but it’s inevitable given the pa
rties at hand: The Star Wars prequels are almost universally regarded as inferior to the original films. I won’t elaborate any further so as to avoid nasty emails or such. But the humor, acting and cultural references in the new Star Wars films made the movie seem childish and simple. Maybe that was part of the genius in the originals that I loved so much as a kid. When one of those CGI camels farts or Jar Jar calls something, “Poo-doo” in an off-key, squeaky voice, maybe the 7 year old facsimile of me would laugh instead of cringe. I am fairly sure that this is not the case, if anything because the Indy films are much more adult in nature. Of course there are serious topics in Star Wars: Father-son dynamics, gambling debts and the occasional hand chopped off. But the Indiana Jones list seems much more adult: Knowing that Jehovah starts with the letter “I” in Latin, chilled monkey brains, and let’s not forget the Nazis. Indiana Jones fought the fricking Nazis. It doesn’t get much more grown up than Hitler, does it? Plus Jones never lifted a leg, squinted and ripped a fart while in the “Well of Souls”. I am fairly confident that if I saw Indiana Jones today I would probably be more critical of the stunts (calculating the angle of descent for one of those rides on the whip) but would still thoroughly enjoy the film. I’ll analyze the other 2 factors of the equation, society and the Lucas-Spielberg amalgam, in the consequent installation of Roo.
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