Re: Well, it’s still Lucas’s character, not Kasdan’s

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Posted by Indiana Joe from dialup34.multilinkws.com on November 11, 1999 at 15:20:05:

In Reply to: Re: Yes, Kasdan was key! posted by Dirk Pitt on November 11, 1999 at 06:19:16:

: : http://www.smartlink.net/~deej7/album1.htm will take you to an article on the making of "Raiders" which details some of the brainstorming that took place in the creation of the script.

: Yes, one cannot forget Kasdan! After all, his Raiders script was in many ways the true stroke of originality (just notice how derivative -- not necessarily in bad way, however, the next two films are). That article was great, not the least because it confirms many of my problems with Lucas. Kasdan is completely right that Lucas too often sacrifices character development for action. I would have liked to see the full scene with Marion and Indy in the bar, etc.

: And I agree with Rob that we need only look to the Young Indy Chronicles to see what Lucas would do with the real Indy if left to his own devices. First of all, the whole history lesson thing is silly and a waste of an opportunity for a Bildungsroman youth for Indy (that's why I stopped watching the series when it was first on ABC and why I haven't been able to stomach the series now that it's on USA). Secondly, Lucas's Young Indy is inconsistent with the real Indy's past character. From Raiders and Last Crusade we are led to believe that the young Indy was actually rather selfish and stubbornly self-centered. It's almost as if his adventures in the three movies represent his redemption of himself for his selfish past: his break with Ravenwood, his taking advantage and then abandoning of young Marion ("a child"), and his break with his Dad. Lucas is to caught up with his little agendas, usually to the detriment of the characters -- as with his change of that scene in Star Wars where Han Solo shoots Jaba's henchman because he's had enough (not "in self-defense").

I respectfully disagree. If anything, the more characterc-centered “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” realizes the character in ways Kasdan describes than the films. There’s little silly to me about “the whole history lesson thing”, and I can’t imagine what sort of past you might think better suits the character. Lucas’s Young Indy and “the real Indy” are not mutually exclusive - they represent an admirably believable and consistent evolution of a fictional character over his life. I think the reason so many people have a hard time with this is that we don’t really see many ongoing characters developed so fully, with such huge periods of time in their lives covered by the narrative. I wasn’t led to believe from Raiders and Last Crusade that the young Indy was actually rather selfish and stubbornly self-centered; imperfect, yes, and it was clear to me he’d made mistakes, but nothing out of the range of normal human behavior. I actually see his adventures in the three movies not as a redemption of his selfish past, but almost the opposite - to me, he seems like a more mercenary, self-centered character in Last Crusade than anywhere else in the series, in fact; the way I see it, his disappointments with the resolutions to many of his adventures have left him less idealistic than he was in his youth. As far as Lucas being caught up with his little agendas to the detriment of the characters, one has to remember that they are HIS characters. Believe it or not, I’m not wild about the change of the Han / Greedo scene either, but for what it’s worth it simply allows for more possible interpretations of the Han character at that point - it doesn’t erase the existing ones.

- IJ

: -- Dirk




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