Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) marked the first movie in the Indiana Jones franchise. It won four Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Michael Ford), Best Sound (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, Roy Charman), Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn), Best Effects-Visual Effects (Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, Joe Johnston) as well as the Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing (Ben Burtt, Richard L. Anderson). Apart from the Oscars, it won 32 other awards between 1982 and 2021. While Steven Spielberg (director) is now a notable name in cinematic history, he had very little success at the beginning of his career. It was only until producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown took a chance to direct his first big movie, Jaws (1975). His success skyrocketed and opened up many doors and opportunities for him in the future, like the Indiana Jones franchise. Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, and Alfred Molina, Raiders of the Lost Ark is considered an homage to cinematic history. Spielberg stated explicitly the film is about movies and designed as a tribute to filmmaking. It directly references Citizen Kane (1941) in the last scene where the Ark is secured in a warehouse, similar to the beloved sled belonging to Kane. Raiders of the Lost Ark also references Lucas’s films, most popularly the cherished characters of R2-D2 and C-3PO who appear as hieroglyphics inside the Well of Souls. It even includes the hilarious Wilhelm scream, an inside joke for Hollywood directors and editors alike. The film was shot in multiple locations, mainly in the USA, Tunisia, France, and England, even though most of the movie takes place in Cairo. I guess Hollywood likes to find an area with a lot of sand and call it Egypt. Because of the film’s importance and legacy, the Indiana Jones character and movie score have been preserved in the OFTA Hall of Fame as of 2021.
Ford portrays Indiana Jones, a journeying archaeologist, who fights with Nazi forces in 1936 to recover the Ark of the Covenant, a relic said to make an army invincible. He teams up with his ex-girlfriend Marion (Allen) to stop his rival archaeologist Belloq (Freeman) from finding the Ark and giving the Nazis its power. Portrayed as a tough and burly character, Jones is well-known for one thing: his ridiculous fear of snakes. How does Jones’ fear of snakes make him a more reliable and understanding hero?
Snakes serve a dual purpose as a symbol in Raiders of the Lost Ark and subsequent Indiana Jones movies. Jones’s fear first came about when he fell into a crate while aboard the Dunn and Duffy Circus Train in 1912. Unlike James Bond, Jason Bourne, Tarzan, Hercules, and countless other heroes in mythology and media, Jones is an action hero shown an actual fear. It shows his humanity, making him relatable to the layperson. Although he doesn’t explicitly say, he shows an aversion to all creepy-crawlies. In the first scene where Indy’s shown stealing the idol in South America, his companion shows his back is full of tarantulas. Indiana looks off to the side as if trying to compose himself and then uses his bullwhip to brush them off. The snakes and insects also serve as a symbol of his tenacity and determination. Despite his loathing fear of snakes, he doesn’t allow himself to be paralyzed to the point of inaction, even when he’s dumped into a pit of them.
Heroes are typically portrayed as fearless. We know this from all our experiences with the media. Bond jumps off a train to have a fistfight with a bad guy. Neo bends out of shape to dodge bullets, Odysseus outsmarts a cyclops, and Natsu Dragneel picks a fight with everyone no matter their difference in strength. Indiana Jones is different. Not so different, but still. By having a hero that is so popular and was considered the pinnacle of masculinity at the time, having such a mundane and laughable fear makes him seem human. Subsequently makes other humans like him more. I think it’s particularly hilarious that his fear of snakes, especially when his line of work loves to constantly expose it to him. Guess that’s irony for you.
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