Lam: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- A Parody

               Surprisingly, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had many parodies in the film that referenced back to both Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The references made to Raiders of the Lost Ark generally were related to Marion, while the references made to the Last Crusade were related to Henry Jones, Senior or the concept of the father. Among all of the references in the film, I feel the most prominent one is a mirror of a scene from the Last Crusade. During the scene when Indiana and Henry Senior escape the Nazis by motorcycle, Indiana laughs as they evade the Nazis, but Henry Senior scowls at him. This same scene is mirrored in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull when Mutt and Indiana evade the Russians on motorcycle again. Almost the exact same screenplay was used for that scene. However, it does include one major difference. This difference is the knowledge of the father figure. In Last Crusade, Indiana knew that Henry Senior was his father but chose to not to acknowledge him. Meanwhile, in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indiana, at this point of the film, does not have the knowledge that he is anyone's, let alone Mutt's, father.

                This scene is a parody because it induces a mocking tone or pokes fun at a scene in a prior film and usually proves to be ironic. In this case, the situation is ironic because Henry Senior was a very serious and stout man who did not like Indiana's recklessness and his excitement and joy that came from the reckless behavior. Now, many years down the line, Indiana has aged and reached the age where "life stops giving you things and starts taking them away." After experiencing the loss of his father and Marcus Brody, Indiana finally becomes the father figure. This is partially what makes the scene so ironic. It is that Indiana has both become the father spiritually and physically with the introduction of Mutt's character. Mutt seems to be a more reckless version of young Indiana, perhaps due to the genes from both his mother Marion, a very fiery woman, and Indiana, an also very reckless man. In this scene, Mutt portrays the new reincarnated Indiana, but with even more vigor. Indiana does not exactly scowl at Mutt but instead gives him a glare. At the same time, you notice that it seems that Indiana even realizes that this was how he was when he was Mutt's age. The feeling did not seem to be one of contempt but one of reluctant acceptance that kids will be kids. Indiana takes this position until he learns that Mutt is actually his son. This parody almost seems as if the Indiana Jones franchise has run out of ideas with only the development of a son figure as the last chapter to Indiana Jones's life (Pfeiffer 176).