Gush about your favorite characters!

*Deep Inhale*

I think Indiana Jones has got to be one of my favorite characters of all time. It’s not often something you watched as a kid is just as magical when you return to it as an adult. That said, I think the reason why I liked him has changed a bit over the years. 

When I was quite young, I pretended to go on crazy adventures with my brothers. Most of these adventures were inspired by whatever videogames we were playing at the time, comic books, bad tv shows, and often included our stuffed animals as adventuring companions. Despite our adventures being filled with weapons (you know, the extra hard FF7 bosses?) We somehow found a way to work Indiana’s more grounded style of adventuring into our play sessions. Without getting too philosophical, I think a lot of life’s challenges can be summed up as adventures, and Indiana was just so cool when he was doing his thing. His outfit is iconic, and he’s so badass that he can take on Nazis, cannibals, and ancient ruins with just his fedora and a whip. He couldn’t fling fireballs, he didn’t ride a motorcycle, he wasn’t anything like Spawn or Cloud, but he didn’t need to be. And he wasn’t just cool, he could be funny without reducing himself to a clown. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that scene where a big guy with a sword stands in his way, and Indie effortlessly dispatches him by drawing a gun and firing. I don’t even think I understood what an archaeologist was when I first saw the fedora-wearing adventurer. 

As I grew older, I think I started to appreciate other aspects of Indie’s character. I went through a period where I prized highly intelligent characters, and while Indie isn’t infallible, he is resourceful and uses his wits to overcome his opponents most of the time. This is what enables him to enter an area filled with Nazis, traps, and SNAKES, yet still come out on top. We’ve already talked about his whip, but have you seen his hands? His whip is a little hokey, but his hands mean business. Somehow, in an adventure where almost everyone has guns, he still finds time to regularly get into fisticuffs with his opponents. And when he’s not punching people in the face, he’s pointing at them. Seriously, Indie has so many scenes where he just points at people that are going to get their comeuppance. Go watch the original trilogy if you don’t believe me. 

Harrison Ford is a person, and like all people, he has some flaws. Maybe you like him, maybe you don’t. But he was absolutely the right person to play Indie during the original trilogy. Few people can do roguish archetypes like he can. Just look at Han Solo from Star Wars if you don’t believe me. But you should, because that original trilogy was an objectively good series. If you’re going to argue that point just save your breath. But I digress. Harrison Ford has that cheeky little smirk and a slew of undeservingly ignored one liners. We all know “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?” but what about…

“I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go.”

“It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage.”

“Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.”

“Water, water, water! Water!”

“It belongs in a museum!”

“X never, ever marks the spot.”

“No Ticket.” (When explaining to everyone on a blimp why he threw someone overboard. Naturally, everyone pulls out their ticket to show Indie.)

But if it was just Indie’s effortless cool, intelligence, and Harrison Ford’s superb acting, he would have been a good character. But what makes him a great character is that the writers understand he needs to fail sometimes. He doesn’t always win, and when he does inevitably lose, its often for reasons way out of his control. One movie opens with him making “deals” with some very dangerous people. While he plays all his cards right, he ends up drinking a poisoned drink. Indie then has to chase down the cure instead of what he initially came for. Though perhaps the best demonstration of an Indie failure is when he tries to recover an idol from a temple filled with booby traps. He gets by all but the last one. He correctly assesses that the idol he wants to take is on a weighted platform, but he guesses the wrong weight and it triggers a rolling boulder trap. What ensues is a dramatic escape scene in which Indie runs through pressure plate traps, gets betrayed, avoids falling to his death, and runs away from a boulder. The boulder scene in particular is iconic and I’m pretty sure every adventure movie was doing it for the next decade or so after that. But even after all that, Indie still doesn’t get to keep the idol. Because even though he did everything in the temple right, the whole business of raiding tombs is filled with unscrupulous individuals. As soon as he gets out, he’s held at arrow point and made to surrender the idol he nearly died for. What makes Indie a great character is that he is flawed. His failures may seem unearned and even unfair, but that’s what endears us to him. If indie perfectly navigated all the traps,  got out with the idol, or avoided the poison, there would be no stakes. I’d know that Indie was above and beyond everything around him. But it’s these setbacks that makes him human. He’s often paired with people he doesn’t fully trust, which makes sense given his line of work. 

And I really think that’s it. He’s got a cool factor that anyone can admire. He’s flawed and fails on occasion, but he always tries his best and rises above those failures. He’s funny and charismatic, and we can laugh at him without him becoming a clown. 

He’s cool, he’s funny, he’s flawed and relatable. 

He’s Indiana Jones.
Gush about your favorite characters!

DELETED08742

ColdAtlas POOHEAD Fanclub Member

Atsushi akajima "do you ever feel like you're being watched"-Sunny

BrokenPromise With Rightious Hands

BrokenPromise With Rightious Hands

hanzo my silliness prevails over my mercy

BrokenPromise With Rightious Hands

hanzo my silliness prevails over my mercy

hanzo my silliness prevails over my mercy

wheels Unique-one of a kind-angel

Sp00ki The real Minos Prime
