Why was Indiana Jones upset at the end of Raiders?

[matthunter]

Is the Ark actually an analogy for nuclear weaponry? The Nazis are trying to beat the Allies to it, it's deployed in a limited manner, scores a victory and the US then tries to keep it under wraps from everyone else.

Indy is the one arguing for the more beneficial applications that came from nuclear physics like NMR, nuclear energy... we still don't let some nations have nuclear reactors in case they develop weapons...

 

[fireproof78]

I think that was sand, representing what was remaining of the stone tablets God had written the 10 Commandments on.

Sighs...joke, it was a joke referring to the ashes of dead Nazi soldiers ending up in the Ark.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It's all supposition. For all we know, they did open the Ark and absolutely nothing happened.

Thus coming to the conclusion that Indy and Marion were completely full of themselves!

 

[Christopher]

Thus coming to the conclusion that Indy and Marion were completely full of themselves!

I just realized what an odd expression "full of oneself" is. I mean, what else would you be full of? Aside from air and stomach contents, what else occupies your interior volume except yourself?

 

[fireproof78]

I just realized what an odd expression "full of oneself" is. I mean, what else would you be full of? Aside from air and stomach contents, what else occupies your interior volume except yourself?

It's an old phrase, but I always took it to mean full, as in satisfied, except with pride vs. food.

 

[Christopher]

It's an old phrase, but I always took it to mean full, as in satisfied, except with pride vs. food.

I think it's more like one's thoughts or attention being fully occupied with oneself.

 

[Kor]

Dictionary.com says "This expression uses full of in the sense of “engrossed with” or “absorbed with,” a usage dating from about 1600."
Unfortunately, they don't give any specific examples of the early usage.

Kor

 

[DonIago]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who went looking.

 

[Christopher]

Makes sense. Still, my mind has a way of looking at idiomatic phrases literally, and sometimes doing that produces weird and fun results, as in this case. "Of course I'm full of myself! What else would be inside me?"

 

[Jax]

Indy was upset because his actions had no impact on all the events that transpired.

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Wouldn't his future wife have died if he stayed at home doing nothing? I know not quite central to the Ark plot but still.

 

[DonIago]

Didn't the Nazis follow Indy to Marion's bar to begin with?

 

[Roundabout]

It is--a point hammered home by Belloq's ritual. Jones questioned the government agents about the "top men" researching the Ark--his argument suggests he believes the government will approach studying the Ark in some clinical (probably secularized point of view) as if it were some random mechanical device instead of understanding that it required only one kind of approach (with enough awareness of the Ark's history to refrain from repeating Belloq's ceremony).

Remember, he says to Marion, "They don't know what they've got there", so he's pretty much convinced himself that the government (again, not approaching the Ark in the way it was meant to be accessed--if the government agents' earlier disdain for religion and/or religious objects was any indicator) might end up causing some sort of catastrophe.

You're right about that.

Interestingly, Indy started out as a rationalist. Before Indy set out on his trek, Brody cautioned him that the Ark should not be "taken lightly", and that the Ark was like nothing Indy had ever gone after before.

Indy pooh poohed his warning. He replied "Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? ... I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus". Of course, he then also packed his gun.

But by the end of the movie, ironically, it was Indy who was warning about the supernatural powers of the Ark. Indy got religion, so to speak, at least about the Ark. Oddly enough, this was sort of the same pattern with him in some of the following Indy movies.

Btw, the John Williams music that came on at the end of that warehouse scene was awesome. The Raiders theme is one of John Williams' best.

Well, according to 1 Samuel 4-6, when the Philistines stole the ark, God afflicted them with tumors and plagues and kept knocking down their statue of Dagon while they weren't looking (apparently), so they sent it to Beth-Shemesh, whose people appear to have been Jewish, but they still got killed when they looked in the Ark (either 70 of them or 50,070 depending on the translation), so I'm guessing nobody's supposed to look inside it.

Thanks for posting that info. I don't usually read the Bible. But I did check out the verses that you mentioned. It was a surprisingly good read. It seemed like a tale of the paranormal. Almost stranger than fiction, or is it.

 

[Christopher]

Indy pooh poohed his warning. He replied "Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? ... I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus".

And then the sequel (or prequel, really) revealed that he'd encountered the mystical Sankara Stones one year before that.

 

[Roundabout]

I didn't realize, until now, that Temple of Doom, in universe, happened before Raiders. Good to know. I guess it makes his remark to Brody questionable. But I'm not going to hold that against him or the movie.

 

[Christopher]

I didn't realize, until now, that Temple of Doom, in universe, happened before Raiders.

Yeah, it was 1935, while Raiders was 1936. I think the reason was that they wanted Indy to be more immature, to be in it for "fortune and glory" at the start, and to grow into the man he was in Raiders. Or maybe they just wanted to avoid bringing back Marion or dealing with the Nazis.

 

[Roundabout]

I wonder how many movie goers, at the time, noticed that Temple of Doom was set before Raiders. Then again, I don't think most of them would have cared, even if they did realize that to be the case.

The Temple of Doom story really didn't have anything to do with the Raiders story, so it probably wouldn't have made much difference to most movie goers. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's good to know, but it really isn't a big deal, entertainment wise.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Interestingly, Indy started out as a rationalist. Before Indy set out on his trek, Brody cautioned him that the Ark should not be "taken lightly", and that the Ark was like nothing Indy had ever gone after before.

Indy pooh poohed his warning. He replied "Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? ... I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus". Of course, he then also packed his gun.

But by the end of the movie, ironically, it was Indy who was warning about the supernatural powers of the Ark. Indy got religion, so to speak, at least about the Ark. Oddly enough, this was sort of the same pattern with him in some of the following Indy movies.

The films were never very consistent on how Jones viewed or believed in the supernatural; in Raiders, he--as you point out--did not believe in the power of the Ark until he witnessed it, but in The Last Crusade, Jones--knowing the world is far bigger than the black and white--not only did not believe in the Holy Grail (again, until its power was undeniably manifested in front of him), but needed to find his faith when stepping out on the "invisible" bridge. It made no sense that Jones would fully accept the power of the Ark, yet need to go through those disbelief-until-he's-forced-to-believe, steps again with the Grail.

Further, at the end of Temple of Doom--the prequel to Raiders he's witness to and admits he understood the power of the Shivalinga stones--obviously supernatural in nature--which made no sense, considering his behavior in the next story, chronologically speaking. Temple of Doom should have been a sequel, so at the very least, Jones' character (regarding belief in the supernatural) would be consistent.

 

[FormerLurker]

I found his belief in the supernatural consistent, if quirky. From the beginning, as seen in the Last Crusade opening, he accepts that those around him have a far stronger and more personal belief than he does, and basically goes along to get along. He's well versed in several types of mysticism, all apparently spawned by his father's research and belief, but finds need for skepticism for himself. Starting with Temple of Doom, he finds himself repeatedly coming up against forces for which he has no rational explanation and ultimately, if begrudgingly, works with the mysticism he finds (on a case by case basis to protect his own sanity).

 

[Christopher]

I found his belief in the supernatural consistent, if quirky. From the beginning, as seen in the Last Crusade opening, he accepts that those around him have a far stronger and more personal belief than he does, and basically goes along to get along. He's well versed in several types of mysticism, all apparently spawned by his father's research and belief, but finds need for skepticism for himself. Starting with Temple of Doom, he finds himself repeatedly coming up against forces for which he has no rational explanation and ultimately, if begrudgingly, works with the mysticism he finds (on a case by case basis to protect his own sanity).

I used to have the tie-in novels by Rob McGregor, which started with Indy just out of college in the 1920s, and had him come up against supernatural phenomena in every book. I suppose that would make his skepticism in the movies harder to reconcile. (There were also some books by Martin Caidin, but I didn't read those.)

Then there was The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which were straight historical fiction with no supernatural elements at all. I think their producer Rick McCallum once said that he approached it as if Young Indy depicted the real life of Indiana Jones, and the feature films were in-universe fictional accounts embellishing the "real" Indy's biography with fantasy elements.

 

[UssGlenn]

Wouldn't his future wife have died if he stayed at home doing nothing? I know not quite central to the Ark plot but still.

Didn't the Nazis follow Indy to Marion's bar to begin with?

Following Indy was the quickest way to find Marion, but they would have tracked her down eventually. And she would have pulled the same stunt with Toht, gotten herself killed or best case permanently blinded, without Indy there. Then the Nazis leave with the original medallion for Belloq to use.

Marion knew how important the headpiece was, but still, you'd think once she had a hot poker 2" from her eyes she'd pull it out from her shirt and say "here it is". They are going to find it in moments either way.