//Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and the phase of superiority in the society of United States of America

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was a box office hit back in 1981, having gotten 8,305,823 dollars on its first weekend and a gross 242,374,454 dollars (Internet Movie Database); it was a great success, and why not? The movie had great special effects, grandiose actors, and depicted the American man as force to be reckoned with, and in all, reflected, and still reflects the phase of superiority as it is described by Milton J. Bennett, creator of a developmental model for intercultural sensitivity, within the culture of United States of America.

This movie was filmed in 1980, when the Cold War was still raging, the United States was one of the two most powerful countries in the world and also the eventual winner of the Cold War. Not so long ago the United States had won the Second World War against the Nazis, and the economy was at a high point, and with it, nationalism (“United States”) and nationalism may be an example of superiority (Bennet, 37). So it is not at all surprising that this kind of movie came to be at all.
Both protagonists in the movie are American, white, and well educated, so well educated, in fact, that Indiana Jones is an archeologist teaching in Harvard, he is also brave, handsome, protective of his partner, and very keen. It can be said that these good traits “emphasize the positive evaluation of his own cultural status, not necessarily the overt denigration of others groups” (Bennet, 37) and, these are precisely the words Bennett uses to define superiority.

Other way Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark uses of showing superiority in the above manner is the seemingly endless wit the American protagonist possesses in order to evade every trap and control mechanism ancient civilizations had to protect their treasures, and in doing so, proving himself above these ancient civilizations (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 1-3, 16).

On the other hand, superiority is not only based in the positive thinking of an individual’s own culture, because this phase is also about implicitly denigrating, or thinking less about other people’s cultures, as the author says: “Superiority carries with it an implied denigration of cultural difference” (Bennett, 38), and there are plenty examples of this in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. For instance, there is a huge difference between the buildings, civilization and people outside the United States, and buildings, civilization and people within United States: outside there are no concrete buildings, people wear no suits or “modern” clothes (instead they wear loincloths or robes), little or no cars, no schools etc (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 1-4, 8-24), in contrast to inside the United States, which is only seen a few minutes, where there are cars, Harvard, white men in suits, educated people, concrete buildings and the very picture of everything modern, even in the 1930s when the movie is situated (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 5-7, 30). The case of the Hovitos at the beginning of the movie is very illustrative of this: the Hovitos have their bodies painted, wear only loincloths, use archaic weapons such as darts, bow and arrow and they are not able to speak English, and they are also considered threatening because they are the antagonists of the hero, and they are also not seen as very intelligent because Belloq is using them for his own purposes.

The movie also shows American superiority and denigrates cultural difference in other less physical ways: people of other natinonalities (the two assistants at the beginning of the movie, Belloq, the Nazis) all betray him or are enemies (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 2, 4, 6), while he always stands on a higher moral ground: He is incapable of betraying anyone (even after all the times he has been betrayed), he doesn’t do anything that may harm other people (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 13), he always protects the weaker (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 17, 21), and especially, he says he will not use the Ark as a weapon because he rather put it in the musuem, so it can be known by all (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 7). This higher moral ground is further shown in the way the Nazis are out to get the Lost Ark in order to annihilate humanity, and so the protagonist, an American, is hired by the government in order to stop them from getting it (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 6).

Nazis are further implicitly denigrated by showing them as slave drivers, emotionless beings and cruel (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 15-16) and thus, this can be, as Bennet says, because “the more superior one feels about one’s own group, the more inferior other groups must become” (Bennet, 38). So, in addition to the previous qualities, and to further denigrate German Nazis, the movie shows them as stupid and clueless, because they can not find the Ark even with all their manpower and resources, while Indiana Jones with less than twelve men and only a few tools finds it in one night (“Indiana Jones:Raiders of the Lost Ark”, 18-20).

The movie is successful in showing the American man as a complete hero, a man above all others with little or no flaws, a man capable of triumphing over evil and capable of surpassing every obstacle in his way without even stepping over his own morals, and in doing so, the movie also shows the enormous gap that separates the American man from every other man to ever step on this ground: Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark actively emphasizes the positive evaluation of the American culture and society, while at the same time, implicitly denigrates every other culture that crosses paths with Indiana Jones, be it Hovitos, Egyptians or Nazis.


Bibliography:
Milton, J. Bennet. Education for the Intecultural Experience. Course Packet.

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman. Lucasfilm Ltd. 1980. [The numbers after every reference represent the number of the scene as named in the DVD]

Internet Movie Database. Bussiness Data for Raiders of the Lost Ark. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/business) March 10, 2005.

"United States." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
11 Mar. 2005 .

// current book: A confederacy of dunces by johnn kennedy toole // currently writing: stuff // Current Download: nothing // Current song: The kaleidoscope - fish //