Why was Indiana Jones upset at the end of Raiders?
- Thread starter suarezguy
- Start date
But not surprising, since the government agents--the point people who sought and hired Jones in the first place--did not believe in the Ark, nor have a cultural awareness of it. Its clear that Jones' complaint to Marion indicated the government did not fully believe his (and Marion's) account of what happened, so aside from unqualified people ("top men") trying to study the Ark, it held no value other than being another acquired object from an enemy power. Nothing more.
And that's the tragedy. I don't care if they believe in the Ark, but it is historically significant.
I admit I'm not too familiar with archaeology, but from what I understand, issues of original ownership and repatriation can get quite murky when it comes to items that were plundered in ancient times (or left somewhere by a ruling power such as Persia or Greece), long before the colonialism of the last few centuries and the formation of today's nation-states, not to mention all the shifts in boundaries, the population movements, changes in cultural identity, and so on, that take place within any given region over the course of thousands of years.
In-universe, the Ark had been in Egypt for 3,000 years until it was uncovered in 1936. 1936 was also the year of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty as the Kingdom of Egypt sought to reduce British influence. Some cursory reading indicates that at that time, any antiquities excavated within Egypt's borders were supposed to be considered property of the Egyptian government. If formal legal frameworks had actually been adhered to in the Tanis Dig depicted in "Raiders," then the excavators would have been reporting any and all finds to the Egyptian government. And if they had known about the Ark, Egypt likely would have claimed it as a piece of their own ancient history. Though I surmise that there still may have been some British bureaucracy involved during the transitions resulting from the Treaty (British troops wouldn't completely leave Egypt until 1956).
Kor
In-universe, the Ark had been in Egypt for 3,000 years until it was uncovered in 1936. 1936 was also the year of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty as the Kingdom of Egypt sought to reduce British influence. Some cursory reading indicates that at that time, any antiquities excavated within Egypt's borders were supposed to be considered property of the Egyptian government. If formal legal frameworks had actually been adhered to in the Tanis Dig depicted in "Raiders," then the excavators would have been reporting any and all finds to the Egyptian government. And if they had known about the Ark, Egypt likely would have claimed it as a piece of their own ancient history. Though I surmise that there still may have been some British bureaucracy involved during the transitions resulting from the Treaty (British troops wouldn't completely leave Egypt until 1956).
Kor
Until some careless driver busts it open in 1957.
Perhaps that's best swept under the rug.Until some careless driver busts it open in 1957.
Kor
Could they open it in modern times with a drone or bomb disposal robot? If they record what happens and watch the video, will they still die?
^ I would say..yes, if their reasons for opening / using it stood in opposition to its intended purpose, hence the reason why all of the corrupt Ark party were destroyed, even though Belloq was the one responsible for opening and attempting to use it.
Therefore we box it up and we seek no further information regarding it.
That's just science!
I would imagine the "top men" concluded that the potential risks outweighed the potential rewards.
Right...
I still think the "top men" line was just the guy brushing Indy off. The government didn't know or care what it really was. They just signed the paperwork and shoved it aside to be somebody else's problem. After all, they had only an anecdotal account that it had any kind of power.
And let's not forget how widespread anti-Semitism was in the US at the time (and before, and since). This was 1936, a time when many prominent Americans still openly supported the Nazis, and speaking out against them was controversial. So a lot of people in the government would've been uneasy with the Ark being part of Jewish culture, and unlike Hitler, they might not have believed in its supernatural power. So they would've probably just wanted to avoid having anything to do with it, hence sticking it in a giant warehouse to be forgotten.
Unless the "top men" understood the history/religious belief in the Ark, they too would be just as Jones' stated: people not knowing what they have. Remember, at the time Jones was approached, the U.S. government had no knowledge of the importance / recorded power of the Ark, as evidenced by their line of questioning, and writing off Hitler as being a "nut" about such artifacts.
By the time the Ark was brought to Washington, its doubtful the government just so happened to have knowledgeable researchers on hand--when they had to see outside help for something no one in the government understood.
Just a bunch of ashes that they are not sure where they came from...
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