I've always been a fan of Indiana Jones, even though I realize the stories are rather far-fetched and do not accurately reflect the nature of archaeology as a field of study. But really, they are pretty fantastic and Harrison Ford is way awesome. So, I thought that the new Indiana Jones movie would also be fantastic.
Nevermind the amazing fact that I talked Dave into going to a movie with me, we went to go see it last weekend. And the rating? Good, but so very very bad. (Stop reading if you haven't seen it and want to without knowing the storyline!)
Instead of battling Nazis like the younger Indiana Jones, this time it's the Cold War and the Russians are the enemy. Same basic principle as the other ones, but a bit updated. Ok. Quite frankly, I was totally into it until they showed the crystal skull. Right away, I knew where they were going and I rolled by eyes. Really, really hard.
My God! the Mayan civilization was founded by aliens! The oldest pseudoscience in the book! In case you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, there is a whole slew of people out there that think the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesoamerica, and others where created by aliens who taught them how to farm, religion (sun worshipping), and basically all the trappings of civilization. The problem here is that Jones is supposed to be an archaeologist. There is absolutely no archaeological evidence for the alien theory. Although, this being a movie made by George Lucas, I was really not all that surprised. And to his credit, he did call them "interdimensional beings" and not aliens. Same idea, in my mind.
It was hard for me to enjoy the movie after the aliens-created-ancient-civilization story developed. Personally, I think that people who believe that ancient civilizations only existed because of extraterrestrial contact only believe so because of a very Western worldview. As in, "Western civilization is the pinnacle and ancient peoples weren't capable of creating such amazing civilizations because we're better than they." The whole social darwinism thing. It just irks me. Damn Victorians!
The movie was still an action-packed adventure, I'll give it that. But as for being enjoyable, for me as an archaeologist, it was not. I didn't have a suspension of belief like I generally do for movies, books, etc. And that really ruined it.
I beg of you, if you see this movie, do not take the story as truth! It is not! I'm just afraid that some kids and people of less intelligence will see this movie and think that it is what archaeology is all about. It is not.
Indiana Jones may have inspired numerous people around the world (myself included) to become archaeologists, but this new movie really makes us look bad. And I resent that.
Good, but very very bad.
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