4/4     I hate Raiders of the Lost Ark (original). I like adventure movies,
        Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, history, archaeology, and the Bible,
        but the movie vacillates between stupid and boring to me. Anyone else
        feel the same way? My gf told me "*YOU* of ALL PEOPLE don't like it?"
        \- Raiders doesnt aspire to great heights, but for what it is, it is
           almost perfect.
        \_ I read that 75% of the college people who majored in archeology
           were inspired by Indiana Jones. Can you believe that? Stupid.
           \_ Inspired and "think it is real" are very different.  Shit
              I was inspired by War Games and I never thought that I was
              going to be hacking defense computers and starting WW3.
           \_ This is much stupider than the 75 percent of college people
              being inspired by $$$$$
              \_ #t,
                 being inspired by $$$ = being greedy = being normal human
                 being inspired by Indy = being naive = being stupid
           \_ as opposed to the percentage of premeds inspired by ER?
              \_ or lawyers inspired by LA Law?
           \_ "I'm gonna major in traveling around the world having
              adventures!"  I don't know if it's stupid so much as naive.
              \_ I (and you) don't really know if that's what they're thinking.
                 They may have just liked Indy, causing them to investigate
                 archeology, which they then appreciated on it's own merits.
                 Actually this seems more likely.
        \_ I guess I can agree that Raiders is pretty dumb, but so what?
           Raiders isn't Hamlet. Its just a fun diversion, and on that
           count it almost completely succeeds (the only scene I didn't
           like is the end where the ark melts the Nazis).
           Personally, I really disliked the most recent Indy movie. After
           Eps. 1-3, I was prepared for a truly dreadful movie, like Temple,
           but what we got was bad on the level of Starship Troopers.
           Lucas and Spielberg should have just remade Fate of Atlantis.
           \_ I really enjoyed Raiders (obviously !op), but it kind of ruined
              it for me when a friend pointed out that Indy's actions don't
              actually do anything to stop the Nazis. After all, the Nazis
              only get the Ark because IJ finds it, and the Ark blasts the
              Nazis when they open the Ark, so it really doesn't matter if
              IJ stops them or not. About the only thing he accomplishes is
              saving Miriam, so I guess it's not a wash, but the movie
                     \_ Marion. Named my cat after her.
              is a pretty strong indictment of the ability of one person to
              change things.
              \_ G-d was acting through Indy. - motd rebbe messiah
              \_ Nazi == Socialist == Obama
              \_ look at the date of the setting-- you are saying you wanted
                 him to prevent WWII?  But then it would be an alternate-
                 history movie!  We know the Nazis weren't stopped by Indy!
        \_ The movie itself is not perfect but it's a perfect adventure movie.
           The Indy character is a cool one, macho yet not, tough but self-
           deprecating in certain ways.  The adventuring in exotic lands thing
           seemed more exciting when I was a kid and the world seemed more
           exotic than it does today.  I thought the Nazi thing was kind of
           dumb.  The movie had a lot of really memorable scenes.
           Actually it's really hard to be objective about this
           movie because I saw it as a kid.  This goes for a lot of movies.
           Top Gun is pretty stupid too but somehow it had a huge cultural
           impact and was probably pretty good for what it was.  Same with
           Indy.
                \_ I actually disagree with most of you guys.  Raiders of the
                   Lost Ark is a brilliant movie on a lot of levels.  It's
                   an update of the 1930s pulp adventure novel, in the same
                   setting and subject matter.  In many ways the latest film,
                   crappy though it may be, is getting back to these roots:
                   it is a 1950s pulp story set in the 1950s.
        \_ I love many things about all of the Indy movies, but the last
           one was made up of more bad than good.  It was the most awesome
           movie ever up until a little bit after Indy and Proto-Indy finish
           their motorcycle race through the Princeton library, then it
           loses its way.