(Editor’s note: Columns may contain the author’s opinion)
Mr. Potato Head once found a miniature potato golden idol version of the fertility goddess — presumably before being chased by a boulder.
And, no, this was not in the latest “Toy Story” sequel.
When “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” came out a little over 15 years ago, a Mr. Potato Head version of the classic Indiana Jones from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was released. A select group of pop culture figures were given this treatment, and it gave the, at the time, 30 year old film, another giant check on its list for being a pop culture icon.
(And the stirring theme it played when you pushed the hat mechanism got me through challenging days teaching remedial courses at a technical college.)
Flashforward after a Spielbergian fade out…
For 45 years this year on various screens, fictional archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones (Henry Jones, Jr. … IYKYK) has been chased by a released boulder because of a booby trap. Steven Spielberg directed material from friend George Lucas and Lawrence Kasfan and Philip Kaufman to bring the iconic character to life.
Their iconic boulder scene has been peppered into parodies (among other scenes) from the 80s on forward, including through Weird Al, “The Muppet Babies”, “The Simpsons”, and “Family Guy”.
In fact, when “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is rewound and repeated, the action waxes Sisyphean. In real time, though, Dr. “Indy” Jones figuratively has the trials and tribulations of Sisyphus – not only in or near a South American temple but around the world. (According to an ancient myth, both Zeus and Hades doomed Sisyphus / Sisyphos to roll a boulder up a hill – only to have it roll back down again and to have to repeat this action.)
Unlike the mythical figure, though, at least he can escape to new adventures. Also, he is often opposed to more tangible foes — crooked colleagues (the nasty, snooty Belloq played well by Paul Freeman comes to mind), negative nationalists, and greedy governments. Like with his role as Hans Solo, Harrison Ford does all this with sarcasm, wit and smirks. The skill of Harrison, though, is his emoting deep feeling behind the sarcastic mask. You can tell he cares about the ones he is helping, the causes he is fighting for. And that is the stuff of universal heroes.
Journalists as well as authors of both non-fiction and fiction books have alluded to the Sisyphian struggle Indy encounters and have compared it to existentialism and the modern work life – particularly one without a work-life balance. In fact, when I worked service jobs as main or side jobs in restaurants, convenience stores, and retail establishments for over 20 years from university on forward (finally getting a reprieve at 40), I felt that pain of the mundane repetition of physical tasks. But I do not think I could have handled the brutal outdoor adventures of Indy.
Though I did venture into the woods behind my childhood home a lot and fished in a pond near that property, I tended to be more a bookworm – particularly in my older childhood, teen years, and adulthood. Also, I was involved in church, so I did become the typical Sunday School and youth group guy in some ways. In action (if not entirely appearance), I resembled the chubby Boy Scout friend of young Indy in the third film. I urged my friends not to get in trouble.
Being the Sunday School kid, the scene where the government officials are not aware of the story of the Biblically-referenced Ark Indy is being asked to pursue made me chuckle. When the officials act ignorant about ark’s origins, Indy asks rhetorically, “Didn’t you guys ever go to Sunday School?” Studies of the Old Testament in First Baptist Church in Barnwell actually increased the interest in the film and, to me, its real life history.
Next, perhaps no other theme song save for the Masters of the Universe one or Superman was hummed by me as a kid than the Indiana Jones theme. The riveting score by John Williams is catchy and repetitive at times – something one expects from a film that was patterned after old movie serials.
While pretending to wear the iconic leather Fedora hat and use a jump rope or whatever was found as a whip, I often hummed that while going on adventures on my own. Only, a glass ball in an antique lamp or a decorative gold egg would be the artifacts / treasures.
When I worked for two years for the outdoor education program, Nature’s Classroom, in Massachusetts, we not only had field group work but visual, auditory, kinesthetic, experiential mini-lessons we taught. One of mine was on going to explore the colonial rock walls of New England deep in the woods and their history. During breakfast in the dining hall, we would use posters and skits to advertise the classes. For this archaeological mini-lesson’s commercial, I pretended to be Indy, hummed the theme, and even dropped down behind a table to indicate a pit opening up.
Speaking of history, Nazis are mentioned early on in the film. In elementary school, I know I was taught that they mistreated many groups and how they came to power out of fear of depleted resources after World War I. But I did not realize how truly evil their ideology was until further studies in middle school and beyond, including about the Holocaust. The use of Nazis appears a little more casual at first in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. But when a Gestapo leader played with menace by veteran actor Ronald Lacey tells Marion, Indy’s feisty ex-girlfriend, “Let me show you what I am used to” while holding a hot poker, one is taken back. If one has studied history, one travels straight to the tortures and other depraved acts they inflicted on the Jewish people as well as millions of murders, those of differing ethnic groups, the disabled, little people, and homosexuals. And the snorting, cackling bespectacled horror of a man sends chills down one’s spine. Never forget.
Even Marion, who tends bar to an unsavory group in Tibet and holds her own, shows the first indication of fear as she is begging for her life from the leader. She can outdrink any man and, unlike, the female lead in what I think was a prequel, “…Temple of Doom”, she fights more alongside Indy. Karen Allen plays her with funny sarcasm and grit. Her feistiness and strength probably started my lifelong fascination with feisty ladies. I have always been friends with steel magnolias, not hothouse flowers. I was partially raised by one of the former – my late Grandma Hattie.
Marion, however, does share one of my fears – of snakes. Even Indy has it with all of the brave acts he usually does. His fear of serpents becomes a long-running gag in the series of films. As I grew up in the country, I realized the danger of snakes. I watched my late Grandma Hattie hack poisonous snakes to death with a garden hoe and my mother run over one over and over with a mini-van. The yells of “Get into this house! There’s a snake out there!” reverberate even in my adult mind. I know very well the instinctual stillness that falls over you when you encounter one in tall grasses and in the woods. And, yes, like with Indy, I lean toward herpetophobia. In fact, though I knew it could not be true, I even imagined a real snake was in the cinema with my family when during an Indy snake scene, my sister’s necklace got unlatched somehow and fell down her neck. She screamed proverbial bloody murder and may have even yelled, “Snake!” My memory of it is hazy, but I know I jumped straight out of my seat as she did – much to the chagrin of those around us.
And, finally, when I was young, I could not watch the scene where they open the ark. But as I grew older, I watched with relish as the faces of evil ones melted away. You have got to see that on the big screen.
Whether in a grueling service job or a mundane office 9 to 5, give yourself a reprieve from the Sysphean life and watch the iconic boulder and that archaeologist based on 30s black and white serial main characters. Watch it on the big screen as the only way people in the Depression era could. And do so at the Miller on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m. and come dressed in your best Raiders characters. The first 20 patrons to arrive dressed in theme with the movie will receive a voucher for a free popcorn!
Ron Baxley, Jr. is a veteran journalist who has been a published author for 34 years and is working on writing a Southern-set television series. His latest satirical Southern fantasy Oz book, “O.Z. Diggs the Fifth Estate” is the third in the O.Z. Diggs VII series. For additional columns and fiction, go to https://substack.com/@ronbaxleyjr . Contact him via ronbaxleyjr.com .
