Indiana Jones - The Face of Jewish Vengeance

An analysis of how Steven Spielberg structures the Indiana Jones movies around the punishment of Nazis, and specifically the cinematic devices used to undermine the myth of Nazi power.

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[Admin-]

Fun fact: My dad was one of the Nazi’s that was marching during the book burning scene because he was in the airforce and they needed people who could march. So most of those Nazi’s are US airmen

[unmessable]

Indiana Jones is not a meathead muscled action hero. I always thought this was part of his appeal. The way he wins at the end of Raiders is not his brawn, but his brains. In fact most of his iconic victories are due to his knowledge and his quick wits rather than his strength (sword vs gun anyone?).

[Lanosrep]

Indie:"I don't believe in magic hocus pocus"
Indie a year earlier: *Witnessed someones heart pulled out with fingertips and was put under multiple curses causing him pain and putting him in a slave-like cultist trance*

[Callumtrain]

Spielberg later publicly expressed regret at the caricature of the Nazis in the Indiana Jones movies. I remember him talking about it in an interview back in the day. Here is a quote from a New York Times piece from 1993: "Mr. Spielberg recalled that "when we were making 'Schindler, ' Liam came up to me one day and asked me if I could ever make another Indiana Jones movie where the Nazis are cartoon villains. I said, 'Never, never.'"

[caldadextra]

It's even deeper. In the Torah, the high priest Eli's sons also tried to weaponize the ark, and they both died in battle.
The Philistines then capture the ark and also try to weaponize, but not only do they fail, the statue of Dagon the ark was placed in front of collapses.
Basically, according to Jewish tradition, the ark has been kicking ass for thousands of years

[greybigfoot]

A detail I never noticed until I was older, was that in the Last Crusade, when Donavan is negotiating with the shah, he offers gold "donated from some of the finest families in Germany".

Only later did I know that it was meant to be gold seized from Jewish people.

[dominics.]

Wait, the scene where the Ark kills the Nazis ruins the film to some?! OK...

If anything, this scene can be seen as showing of how resourceful Indie is. Maybe these Nazis didn’t die by his hands, but he still played them. Indie knew how to act in that situation and got off unscathed. That scene was a dynamical equivalent of stepping away from the railtrack and not telling your enemy about the incoming train.

[vicenteortegarubilar]

Even if I love inglorious basterds, I would say the actions against the nazis feels more like revenge fantasy than anything else. In indiana jones tales, the vengeance is better integrated in the history in a more meaningful way.
Gret video.

[KevyNova]

Excellent video. To put it in even more perspective, Raiders was filmed just 35 years after WWII, so it was something that Spielberg’s own parents had lived through and I’m sure he heard a lot of stories from his family growing up. It’s kind of weird that Raiders is now closer in time to WWII than to present day!

[Matt-rqbu]

RIP Sean Connery, amazing actor whom will always be remembered.

[MadRobexe]

"As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor I've always felt Jewish." - Harrison Ford
He says so much, with so few words.

[rumpnisse]

Steven Spielberg - The face of Jewish vengeance

*laughs in Mel Brooks*

[ryanscott]

“They’re losers for the hero to dunk on” God I wish there was a history textbook that had that phrase in it

[DwRockett]

Damn I already knew Raiders and Crusades were masterpieces, but this is such an interesting analysis into them. Never thought about the reason why the main antagonists were collaborators rather than simple Nazis. Superb work

[TurbosTantrums]

Elsa describes herself as Austrian, rather than German, and the film is set in 1938, the year of the Anschluss, after which the Nazi government very deliberately removed the name "Austria" from the map, renaming the region as "Ostmark", and the provinces of Lower and Upper Austria as Lower and Upper Danube. I don't know if that's intended to be significant or not, but until relatively recently (and I think probably at the time "Crusade" was released, the narrative of Austria having been Hitler's first victim, rather than a willing participatn, was strong. Perhaps Spielberg is critiquing that, suggesting that Elsa sees herself as a victim of Nazism rather than a participant - hence her continued use of "Austrian" rather than embracing a "greater German" identity.
Or perhaps I'm just talking bollocks.

[Gcombo]

fun fact: for indiana jones and the temple of doom my uncle was one of the kids at the end who was running on the table.

[alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

I suppose we should also mention that the person who wrote the screenplay was also Jewish(Laurence Kasdan). He must also had an influence.

[AviRox]

My first favorite action hero as a kid was Indy. Now, over 20 years later, I'm still finding more and more to love about the movies.

[inFamousguy]

This is legitimately one of the best video essays I've ever seen, keep it up my guy

[Rhythmicons]

If the Ark represents Jewish culture, then does it represent assimilation by the United States when the container disappears into museum archive warehouses? Your analyses are fantastic.