Wlos: Raiders Blog

          In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, we see the legendary American archaeologist, Indiana Jones, make the leap from mercenary to indentured knight.  While this leap is hinted at by various happenings throughout the film’s course, it becomes largely apparent when Jones faces his most trifling fear and enters a cavern (which contains the ark of the covenant) that is inhabited by a copious amount of dangerous snakes.  His decision to do this is a poetically artistic showcase of the fact that Jones has come to the realization that what he’s doing is not about him.  By facing his biggest fear so that his task can be accomplished, he displays a recognition of the wait that has fallen on his shoulders.  In this moment, we see that he feels as if the buck stops with him, therefore, no matter what dangers lie in the cavern, he must step his game up, and essentially, by stepping his game up, isn’t he extending himself for an outlined cause?

            While I script this piece and recall the scene, I realize that something unique about it is the open display of danger that Indiana is given.  During many of his endeavors he has come across dangers, such as booby traps and people betraying him, but in the case of the snakes, the danger to his life is placed in front of him in a measurable manner.   For this reason, I find this scene to be an especially fantastic showcase of his leap from mercenary to indentured knight.  It exemplifies the fact that Indiana Jones is not a man who encounters danger, he’s a man who faces it.

            Why is it so important to realize that Indiana Jones is a man who faces danger?  By facing danger while a cause that is beneficial for other people, an individual knowingly takes a weight on their shoulders, a weight they don’t have to take.  And indentured knight is one who has accepted a task from a government.  They have a job to do, their not seeking anything for personal benefit.  If Indiana Jones were facing danger with the goal of personal benefit, he very well may have judged his potential for gain to be far less than what he had to risk with the apparent danger.  But his agenda is not about personal merit and loss, it’s about his mission, and he’s stepping up to the plate because that’s what the mission is calling for.  Gain isn’t calling for that.  He could find more gain elsewhere without having to risk so much.

            The fact that the writers chose to make the apparent danger snakes, which are Indiana Jones’s cardinal fear, is a head nod to the significance they place on his ability to face danger.  They were looking to highlight the fact that he’s extending himself for a cause that is independent of him and not configured by his potential for gain and vulnerability for loss.  He’s not being economic, he’s being civil, he serves not himself, he serves his cause.  He’s an indentured knight.  Humorously, it seems the actor portraying Jones in the film, Harrison Ford, also experienced a test.  In regard to filming Raiders, Ford said it was “’the hardest job I’ll ever have.’” (Pfeiffer and Lewis 116).  Even the actor knew what was going on.  

Andrew Wlos