Hold up there a second

Posted by Michaelson from leospace047.utsi.edu on July 13, 2000 at 19:31:43:

In Reply to: Please explain somebody! Please! posted by mlgm on July 13, 2000 at 13:48:14:

: I have the complaint again and again about how many famous people Young Indy meets. One, it doesn't seem that far fetched to me. Even know, but especially at the turn of the 20th Century, the world of the upper-middle class was very much a small, closed society. If you travelled, you travelled with people much like yourself, you had introductions from people much like yourself to people much like yourself.

: Two, its the show's hook. Shows have hooks. If you'd just watch American cop shows, you'd assume every American cop is either constantly shooting criminals or being shot by them. Actually, most cops go through their career without ever drawing their guns, much less shooting anyone.

: Third, meeting famous people is somehow less likely than finding the lost Arc, the Holy Grail, and Sankara (sp?) Stones? And whatever famous diamond that was supposed to be, and the ashes to whoever. And the Golden Idol at the beginning of Raiders. And a thugee cult? And I assume Indy is going to find Noah's Ark, or Atlantis, or who knows what in Indy IV. Anyone of these would be the crowning achievement of anyone's career, but all of them? In a few years time? All that's OK, but meeting Ernest Hemingway freaks you out? Listen, my father met Ernest Hemingway during WW II. (Dad was recon with Patton's army and before Allied command forced Patton to wait and let the Free French 'liberate' Paris, Patton was supposed to be first in. Dad was recon, so his unit would have been the first in. Hemingway (many famous journalists were with Dad's unit for a week, waiting for the word to go into Paris.)

: Fabulous relics are the movies hook, which is OK by me; as are the famous people in YIJC. Why does the second bother so many, when the first bothers no one at all?

You'll need to way back to the original concept of this series in the first place. Lucas developed this as a history lesson for kids, using the character of Indiana Jones as the morter to hold the series together. Who else but this kind of fictional character could possibly travel the world and have, no matter how unbelieveable it seemed, the opportunity to run across so many historical figures, or be involved in so many historical events? I personally thought today's program was a riot, Indy meeting Frantz Kafka, as until Kafka introduced himself in the story, the entire storyline made no sense to me. As soon as Kafka introduced himself, the whole thing made complete sense, as if you have ever had the chance to read or study any of Kafka's writings, you'd understand the the entire show was framed on his point of view. I don't want to get into a discussion of "Kafkian thought", but it is thought provoking and that's exactly what Lucas wanted the viewer to do....think about the content and if interested, go look it up and read MORE about it. I thought it was an excellent object lesson. The young Indy series was specifically made with that in mind. It was for teaching young viewers either by example, such as the Kafka story today, or by showing a person or event and it's historical place in history. The series wasn't developed to flesh out Indy's past history, he was only used as the vehicle for the story telling. Now, with that in mind, try and watch some of the series again. You may not find it as offensive this time. Regards. Michaelson

Follow Ups:

Yeah. I woke up as a cockroach this morning.... graml 19:55:58 7/13/2000 (1)
- You did??????!!!!!!!!! (nm) Katrina 22:42:43 7/14/2000 (0)

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: : I have the complaint again and again about how many famous people Young Indy meets.  One, it doesn't seem that far fetched to me.  Even know, but especially at the turn of the 20th Century, the world of the upper-middle class was very much a small, closed society.  If you travelled, you travelled with people much like yourself, you had introductions from people much like yourself to people much like yourself.

: : Two, its the show's hook.  Shows have hooks.  If you'd just watch American cop shows, you'd assume every American cop is either constantly shooting criminals or being shot by them.  Actually, most cops go through their career without ever drawing their guns, much less shooting anyone.

: : Third, meeting famous people is somehow less likely than finding the lost Arc, the Holy Grail, and Sankara (sp?) Stones?  And whatever famous diamond that was supposed to be, and the ashes to whoever.  And the Golden Idol at the beginning of Raiders.  And a thugee cult?  And I assume Indy is going to find Noah's Ark, or Atlantis, or who knows what in Indy IV.  Anyone of these would be the crowning achievement of anyone's career, but all of them?  In a few years time?  All that's OK, but meeting Ernest Hemingway freaks you out?  Listen, my father met Ernest Hemingway during WW II.  (Dad was recon with Patton's army and before Allied command forced Patton to wait and let the Free French 'liberate' Paris, Patton was supposed to be first in.  Dad was recon, so his unit would have been the first in.  Hemingway (many famous journalists were with Dad's unit for a week, waiting for the word to go into Paris.)

: : Fabulous relics are the movies hook, which is OK by me; as are the famous people in YIJC.  Why does the second bother so many, when the first bothers no one at all?

: You'll need to way back to the original concept of this series in the first place. Lucas developed this as a history lesson for kids, using the character of Indiana Jones as the morter to hold the series together. Who else but this kind of fictional character could possibly travel the world and have, no matter how unbelieveable it seemed, the opportunity to run across so many historical figures, or be involved in so many  historical events? I personally thought today's program was a riot, Indy meeting Frantz Kafka, as until Kafka introduced himself in the story, the entire storyline made no sense to me. As soon as Kafka introduced himself, the whole thing made complete sense, as if you have ever had the chance to read or study any of Kafka's writings, you'd understand the the entire show was framed on his point of view. I don't want to get into a discussion of "Kafkian thought", but it is thought provoking and that's exactly what Lucas wanted the viewer to do....think about the content and if interested, go look it up and read MORE about it. I thought it was an excellent object lesson. The young Indy series was specifically made with that in mind. It was for teaching young viewers either by example, such as the Kafka story today, or by showing a person or event and it's historical place in history. The series wasn't developed to flesh out Indy's past history, he was only used as the vehicle for the story telling. Now, with that in mind, try and watch some of the series again. You may not find it as offensive this time. Regards. Michaelson

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