plausibility and raiders of the lost ark      

here's yet another excerpt from yet another (void) conversation.  one of the themes of the message to which i was responding was that movies in the nineties are more implausible than movies in the eighties.  this isn't entirely evident from the little bit i quoted when replying.  that's not to say that i didn't drift from the topic, but that's what (void) was all about...

On Tue, 6 Jul 1999, Ashley Pomeroy wrote:

I saw 'The Mummy' the other day.  It was fun and entertaining and all that, but not more so than 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', which in ten years time will look a lot less dated than 'The Mummy' will.  Sometimes I think cinema stopped developing in the late eighties and started to go backwards.

it's interesting that you say this, since the whole goal of the indiana jones myth was to make a rollicking adventure film in the vein of the classic cliffhangers from the 30s and 40s.

and are we really not asked to accept things blindly in raiders?

let's see...

• the ark really exists, and has real power (hard to swallow for atheists)
• archaeologists have the most exciting private life and work load of ANY profession
• a true adventurer never, ever, under any circumstances, loses his hat.
• bullwhips are that easy and reliable to use!
• there's a 2000 foot ravine in the middle of the egyptian desert with a carload of nazis splattered all over the bottom.
• marion somehow got out of the basket before the truckload of explosives exploded merely because it fell over.
• indy's face didn't shatter into a thousand pieces when that extremely large man barefisted him in the jaw.
• indy rode a periscope through the ocean and didn't drown.  (actually, the movie doesn't show how he stowed away on the sub, but the marvel comic book version shows him lashing himself to the periscope with his whip.)
• doctor jones always turns to the exact page in the book, never having to look for it.
• the evil nazi trying to run you over will always drive perfectly straight while conveniently straddling a ditch so you can string yourself along underneath, and your battered bomber jacket will protect you completely.
• three words: perfectly spherical boulders.

[truth be known, raiders of the lost ark is one of my all time favorite movies, up there with alice in wonderland and the empire strikes back.]

Children grew up in the eighties believing that if you were hit sadistically in the face by a truck door, you would be horribly injured, whereas modern children will grow up believing that magic is real!

this is one of the funniest bits of sarcasm i've read in a long time.

A stop must be put.

thank you mister churchill.  :)

Tue, 6 Jul 1999 13:47:46