In the beginning of the
Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones is the quintessential mercenary.
Introduced by the song "Anything Goes" in a Shanghai
lounge, it is clear that Indiana Jones will do anything he needs to
in order to get his way. From stabbing Willie with a fork, to
pointing a gun at his adversary, Indiana Jones truly believes that
anything goes. However, as the film goes on, and his situation
changes, Indiana Jones' character takes a turn away from the dashing
mercenary. There are multiple scenes that highlight this kind of
change, and these changes occur all through out the trilogy (because
no one wants to count Kindom of the Crystal skull as a movie).
Early on in the Temple of
Doom, Indiana and company find themselves in an impoverished village,
who task them with finding their lost children and their stolen magic
stone. Pfieffer and Lewis sum up Indiana's new adventure as "this
time around, Indiana Jones would not be seeking out international
artifacts on behalf of a museum" (Pfieffer, 138). This quote
shows that Indiana's character changes from the Temple of Doom to
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Temple of Doom is actually a prequel
to Raiders, although it was produced afterwards. The significance of
Indiana's character changing between the two movies are that in
Temple of Doom, Indiana says the line "for glory and fame"
multiple times. He is in it for the money and fame, not for
archaeological curiosity. Here is where Indiana's character
changes. Instead of finding the stone for himself, he is searching
for the stone to return to the village, as well as the children. This
is where he becomes the indentured knight, asked to complete a task
for the less fortunate, for the weary. One could argue that here he
begins to truly fulfill the role of hero.
Later on in Temple of Doom,
Indiana is snapped out of a trance induced by magic blood forcibly
given to him by the Thuggee cult. After this point, he regains
control of his mind, and you can watch the switch flip in Indiana's
character. He pointedly says to Willie at this moment, "let's
get out of here, all of us." and he then proceeds to stand up to
the overseers of the Thuggee mining camp, and frees all of the
slaves.
In the Raiders of the Lost
Ark, Indiana is shown searching for an idol in a jungle to return to
a museum. Although he fails at this after being thwarted by his
nemesis, he goes back to his university to teach. It is here where
his indentured knight role truly takes form. He is approached by the
United States government to seek out the Lost Ark, as it is rumored
that the Nazi's are searching for it. The Nazi's hope to control it's
power and use it in the war, which is something the United States
wants to do everything they can to prevent that from happening.
Indiana becomes a servant of the United States government, and
accepts this quest to find the Ark. At this moment in the film, he
has something to fight for, and something to believe in, a trait
often found in knightly tales. He isn't perfect, but Indiana Jones's
character does his best to do what is right; by him originally, and
later on by everyone else.
Tom Mather
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