Indy, unnecessary? I think not.
On the Internet and on an episode of the television show Big Bang Theory, there is a theory – we will call it the “Unnecessary Indy Theory” – that implies in the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones’ involvement was unnecessary in stopping the Nazis as they never would have completed their delivery of the Ark of the Covenant to Hitler because they all died upon the opening. This theory also proposes that Indy has no impact and is not necessary to the overall plot, and goes on to make the accusation that he is not the history-salvaging hero we have presumed him to be. This theory is flawed and fails to consider an important, but unseen character.
In the movie and in real life, the belief is that the Ark is imbued with God's power as Marcus Brody explains to us when warning Indy of its mysteries and dangers if disturbed: “…Nearly three thousand years, man has been searching for the Lost Ark. Not something to be taken lightly, No one knows its secrets. It’s like nothing you’ve ever gone after before.”
This possible power is set up and reinforced when talking to the “G-men” as they are attempting to convince Indy to go on the quest by pointing out the picture showing light emitting from the Ark. When questioned by the agents, Indy states that it is showing, “…Lightening, fire, the power of God, or something.”
Indy enters the quest with a not-quite-atheistic, but at least an agnostic view towards the belief in God, as faith does not help when looking for quantifiable facts. Being a scientist, he needs to take this position. His acknowledgement of the need for faith comes in the third installment of the series. At the beginning of which, he states, "(Archeology is) the search for fact. Not truth. If it’s truth you’re interested in, Doctor Tyree’s Philosophy class is right down the hall," and culminates with Henry Jones Sr. being healed by the water from the Cup of Christ.
We do know from The Last Crusade that Indiana was raised in a religious household. Henry Jones Senior’s attitude and diary bear this out in the Jones house scene with young Indy and his dad. “May he who illuminated this...illuminate me,” Henry says aloud to the ethereal plane while sketching in the diary.
Once on the quest for the Lost Ark, there are many subtleties that allude to unseen powers circling Indy and our other protagonists.
The flame flickers when Marion is looking at the medallion in her bar shortly before the Nazis arrive and the battle for the headpiece occurs.
While Sallah and Indy are consulting the old sage in Cairo, a wind blows inexplicably. We know it is supposed to be inexplicable by observing the characters reaction to the wind.
As Indiana, Sallah, and workers are digging in the right place; a wrath-filled storm quickly forms with lightening, wind, thunder, etc.
While on Captain Katanga’s ship, power from the Ark burns the Nazi symbol from the box in which it is incased with only a rat and moviegoers to witness the event.
There are several other small, but more ambiguous instances, so I will not list them here.
The four main subtleties outlined above can be explained away as light refraction, random wind, “weather happens,” and there is even a real-world theory that the Ark might have had some radioactive element inside that could explain the power of God effect and thus, explain away the symbol burning.
My point here is not to prove whether God does or does not exist in reality, but only to pose the theory that we are to at least, within the mythology of the film, believe there is a God character, or at least some power that can act of its own volition and even control events. The feel of the film is what I am referring to and as omniscient viewers we are to notice and experience the “chill effect.”
As we see with most heroic epics throughout history, the hero experiences many ups and downs during the quest. Indy is not different in this manner. The hero is always able to reach down inside, find the hidden strength, take advantage of the circumstances, and rise to the challenge.
In the belief surrounding the Ark of the Covenant, God has hidden it until which time he is ready to use it again, and we can assume with hindsight looking at the Nazis and WWII that he would not have wanted them to get their hands on it and use its power for evil purposes. That said it is my contention that God uses Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. to re-hide the Ark that will be found regardless of our hero, as the “Unnecessary Indy Theory” states. This is what is commonly referred to as Divine Intervention.
Indy is constantly benefitting from helpful happenstances and other characters at just the right time. Sallah comes to Indy’s aid more than once. When the Nazis question why he is within the roped area around the map room opening, he cleverly pulls the rope Indy needed to climb back up out of the hole disguising Indy’s presence. Sallah then, gathers blankets and a Nazi flag to fashion as a rope for Jones’ extraction.
Sallah also has a friend who owns a ship that can get Indy, Marion, and the Ark out of Egypt. This friend Capitan Katanaga shows his friendship to Sallah by not exposing the two and even tries to barter for Marion. (Though an insult to Marion, it was his only option to try and save her.)
The character of the monkey is very important as well, in that it ultimately takes one for the team as it were when it eats the poisoned dates. Was this retribution on the monkey and its owner for the evil-inspired actions that each of them take? (i.e. Exposing Marion’s basket hiding place in the market scenes.) We don’t really know that answer, but none the less, the monkey’s death helps our hero.
Dr. René Belloq is another “helper” in Indy’s quest. As the main antagonist, he is constantly “one-upping” Indiana at the game of archeology. The problem to his goal is that his pride makes him keep Indy around because of respect towards our hero. This respect is not mutual on Indy’s part, but Belloq believes they are cut from the same cloth. Because he cannot bring himself to destroy Indiana, Belloq encourages Indy by simply not directly discouraging him. Leaving Indy (Marion was not Belloq’s decision) in the Ark’s original hiding place was a passive-aggressive attempt and thus, subconsciously gave Indy the opportunity to escape. Dr. Belloq is simply playing a professional game with Dr. Jones and needs Indy to compete with and eventually beat, or there is no point. He wants to ensure that Indy is around until the end for the awards ceremony, if you will.
The God character depicted in the film is a creator god and likes to see his creation succeed when there is a positive outcome for the whole of creation. Given this personality trait, God will help those who help themselves, and in this case, helps Indy continue moving towards the final Divine goal even if it is not the goal of our hero. God uses the physical actions of his creation to move a spiritual plan forward even if the characters do not understand. (The mysteries of God, et.al.)
I realize that I still haven’t proven the existence of God in the film. Well, I site the final scene where we see the Nazis burned with Shekinah glory and our heroes loosed from their bindings.
If we were to believe that one of our characters was reporting what happened at the ceremony, it would require that one of the survivors actually witnessed what happened. Indy and Marion are the only two survivors and do not see the spirits, or the melting, or the light emitting from the Ark as their eyes are closed during the whole wrath of God moment. This insinuates that this part of the scene is meant for the moviegoer to see as what actually happened and not to rely on Indy and Marion's opinion of what happened. We are the omniscient viewer and in that position, there is no conjecture and since we are the only witnesses to the actual events, what we saw on film is what happened.
In the “Unnecessary Indy Theory,” there is also the assertion that Indy fails on his quest of delivering the Ark to the museum and therefore, there is no need for his character. This part of the theory is also flawed when you consider that if God exists in the movie, then this omnipotent character intended to re-hide the Ark once discovered by using the U.S. Government.
I site the latest installment of the series…
In The Crystal Skull, the Russians invade the very warehouse where we find out the Ark was hidden, but they do not even consider that it may be there, or rather that since they are looking for an alien, it does not even begin occur to them that the Ark of the Covenant might be hidden here. Therefore, it may not have been Indy's intention to hand the Ark over to the U.S. Government, but apparently, it was God's intention to re-hide the ark in a non-descript and bureaucratically-ambiguous warehouse.
All of this follows that God used Indiana Jones to find the Ark before the Nazis could and through his Odyssean-style quest, guide it down the rough road to a pre-ordained location of seclusion. So, if you want a theory here’s one. Indiana Jones is completely necessary to the story because the God character needed him to physically deliver the Ark to a new hiding place. One where it is no longer buried in piles of sand, but it is buried under piles of government paperwork. Or, to put it more succinctly, Indy is God’s ordained delivery boy.
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