Indiana Jones and the Crystal Cash Machine

I don't know why it is that Mr. Spielberg always feels the need to put some unnecessary cuteness in his movies, but he always does, and it drives me nuts. This time it is gophers, I can't imagine how much of the reported $185 million budget went towards making those little creatures so cute, but it must have cost a pretty penny. I think we all know by now that I am not the biggest fan of summer blockbuster movies, but I keep going, what's my problem? Maybe I'm hoping for a revelation. We shouldn't expect too much of Indiana Jones, it is meant as a homage to Saturday morning adventure movies of the 40s and 50s, and as such it is not rocket science. The latest installment, a resurrection of the franchise (and it is first and foremost a branded product with multi-level marketing capabilities), is set in the 50s--partially to account for Harrison Ford's natural aging. This film swings from one big, over-the-top special effects piece to another for what seems like an eternity, but it is an interesting film in terms of story content, which, much like Japanese superflat art, collapses about 40 years worth of pop culture into 120 minutes.

The focus is largely on conspiracy theories and the major ones of the last few decades come together in a seamless package here in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull--Roswell, Area 57, flying saucers, nuclear blasts, communist agitators, alien invasion, mayan mythology--it's all here, presented as one romping adventure for Indy and his band of intrepid explorers, saving the world from the bad guys once again. I think films like this are most helful in reading the cultural temperature, helping us identify the things that lurk beneath the surface of our culture, refelcting our hopes and fears and everything else. The ongoing cultural love affair with conspiracy theories and alien visitations must say something about our inner desires and fears. Perhaps the loss of trust in institutions which seems to characterize our times is reflected in the belief that the government and just about every other organization is 'out to get us' or at least, withhold the truth from us, and of course the alien-invaders-meet-the-mayan-in an end of the world scenario must surely speak to our need for some sense of the sacred and the beyond, i spite of our ongoing msitrust/dismissal of traditional faiths etc. The ancient cultures are always much more intelligent that we and this seems to speak to our suspicion that the modern world, in spite of its discoveries and technological advences, is somehow lacking at its core--I don't know, I had to find something to take up my time while Harrison Ford was enduring his umpteenth physically impossible, death-defying, pain-avoiding, commie-busting stunt, oh and watching Cate Blanchett as a Stalinist psychic wasn't enough...

Comments

[LauraHD]

like you, what i'm wondering (having now seen it a week or two late) is what this says about our underlying culture. if, as they say, it takes 5-10 years from idea conception to screen then this film is firmly rooted in turn of the century stuff - y2k, 9/11, etc. i think if you view it as such, it's an interesting commentary on the times...

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