Coffee break musings

Posted by Inbanana from ppp63.nwnetwork.net on January 10, 2001 at 13:45:50:

In Reply to: Re: Indy Jones based on ????????????? posted by graml on January 10, 2001 at 07:07:45:

Have casually looked for that Bingham photo on the Internet; I believe the one we're both referring to is the shot of HB standing next to a mule.
It's a goody, durn tootin'!
Personal belief is that claims for one-to-one correspondance of Indy and real individuals are greatly exaggerated.
One could also toss Richard Halliburton into the Indy Blender...
I suggest that Indy the character isn't based on any one person, as much as he is based on those serial heroes, as you say.
However, those serial heroes may have been inspired in part by the newsreel-fueled exploits of various wacko explorer types such as Andrews.
Some even appeared in serials as themselves: Frank Buck fought fictional spies onscreen, while the closest he got to them in real life was probably over gins at the Raffles hotel bar.
Archaeologists sometimes love to compare themselves to Indy, while pretending with irony to dismiss the character as irrelevant. Whatever; but as a feller from the British Museum once noted, there are an awful lot of drab college professors out there who've got bullwhips hanging on the inside of their office door!
Male archaeologists often enjoy projecting the macho intellectual image, and Indy suits that perfectly.
But whether it's a useful exercise to pinpoint the "real" Indy is, in my humble opinion, in doubt.
I'll bet that all of these claims of correspondance would be news to George Lucas (but perhaps we can start the "George Lucas Hypnotic Regression Fund" to plumb his subconscious depths, and find the REAL inspiration. Imagine the horrors that would rise from those waters: like a cross between Bridey Murphy and Jar-Jar Binks).

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: Have casually looked for that Bingham photo on the Internet; I believe the one we're both referring to is the shot of HB standing next to a mule.
: It's a goody, durn tootin'!
: Personal belief is that claims for one-to-one correspondance of Indy and real individuals are greatly exaggerated.
: One could also toss Richard Halliburton into the Indy Blender...  
: I suggest that Indy the character isn't based on any one person, as much as he is based on those serial heroes, as you say.
: However, those serial heroes may have been inspired in part by the newsreel-fueled exploits of various wacko explorer types such as Andrews.
: Some even appeared in serials as themselves:  Frank Buck fought fictional spies onscreen, while the closest he got to them in real life was probably over gins at the Raffles hotel bar.
: Archaeologists sometimes love to compare themselves to Indy, while pretending with irony to dismiss the character as irrelevant. Whatever; but as a feller from the British Museum once noted, there are an awful lot of drab college professors out there who've got bullwhips hanging on the inside of their office door!
: Male archaeologists often enjoy projecting the macho intellectual image, and Indy suits that perfectly.
: But whether it's a useful exercise to pinpoint the "real" Indy is, in my humble opinion, in doubt.
: I'll bet that all of these claims of correspondance would be news to George Lucas (but perhaps we can start the "George Lucas Hypnotic Regression Fund" to plumb his subconscious depths, and find the REAL inspiration.  Imagine the horrors that would rise from those waters:  like a cross between Bridey Murphy and Jar-Jar Binks).

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