Indiana Jones



Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.,[10] usually nicknamed as "Indy" for short, is the main character of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials. The character first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, to be followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles from 1992 to 1996, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008. Alongside the more widely known films and television programs, the character is also featured in novels, comics, video games, and other media. Jones is also featured in the Disney theme park attraction, Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland which also exists in a similar form at Tokyo DisneySea.

Jones is most famously played by Harrison Ford and has also been portrayed by River Phoenix (as the young Jones in The Last Crusade) and in the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles by Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flanery, and George Hall. Doug Lee has supplied Jones's voice to two LucasArts video games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, while David Esch supplied his voice to Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and John Armstrong in Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.[11]

Particularly notable facets of the character include his iconic look (bullwhip, fedora, and leather jacket), sense of humor, supposedly deep knowledge of many ancient civilizations and languages, and fear of snakes.

Since his first appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones has become a worldwide star and remains one of cinema's most revered film characters. In 2003, the American Film Institute ranked him as the second greatest film hero of all time.[12] He was also named the 6th Greatest Movie Character by Empire magazine.[13] Entertainment Weekly ranked Indy 2nd on their list of The All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.[14] Premiere magazine also placed Indy at number 7 on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.[15] On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Indy at number 10.

Appearances
A native of Princeton, New Jersey, Indiana Jones was first introduced in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, set in 1936. The character is an adventurer reminiscent of the 1930s film serial treasure hunters and pulp action heroes, whose research is funded by Marshall College (named after producer Frank Marshall),[17] a fictional college in Connecticut, where he is a professor of archaeology. In this first adventure, he is pitted against the Nazis, traveling the world to prevent them from recovering the Ark of the Covenant (see also Biblical archaeology). He is aided by Marion Ravenwood and Sallah. The Nazis are led by Jones's archrival, a Nazi-sympathizing French archaeologist named René Belloq, and Arnold Toht, a sinister Gestapo agent.

In the 1984 prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, set in 1935, Jones travels to India and attempts to free enslaved children and the three Sankara stones from the bloodthirsty Thuggee cult. He is aided by Short Round, a young boy, and is accompanied by singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw).

The third film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, set in 1938, returned to the formula of the original, reintroducing characters such as Sallah and Marcus Brody, a scene from Professor Jones's classroom (he now teaches at Barnett College), the globe trotting element of multiple locations, and the return of the infamous Nazi mystics, this time trying to find the Holy Grail. The film's introduction, set in 1912, provided some back story to the character, specifically the origin of his fear of snakes, his use of a bullwhip, the scar on his chin, and his hat; the film's epilogue also reveals that "Indiana" is not Jones's first name, but a nickname he took from the family dog. The film was a buddy movie of sorts, teaming Jones with his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Jones,_Sr. father], often to comical effect. Although Lucas intended at the time to do five films, this ended up being the last for over eighteen years, as Lucas could not think of a good plot element to drive the next installment.[18]

The 2008 film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, became the latest film in the series. Set in 1957, 19 years after the third film, it pits an older, wiser Indiana Jones against Soviet agents bent on harnessing the power of a crystal skull associated with extraterrestrials discovered in South America by his former colleague Harold Oxley (John Hurt). Jones is aided in his adventure by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and her son—a young greaser named Henry "Mutt" Williams (Shia LaBeouf), later revealed to be Jones's biological child, Henry Jones III. There were rumors that LaBeouf will take over the Indy franchise.[19] This film also reveals that Jones was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor department to the Central Intelligence Agency) during World War II, attaining the rank of Colonel in the United States Army and running covert operations with MI6 agent George McHale on the Soviet Union.

Character description and formation
In his role as a college professor of archaeology, Henry Jones Jr. is scholarly and learned in a tweed suit, lecturing on ancient civilizations. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it is revealed that Jones is influenced by the Marxist Archaeologist, Vere Gordon Childe, whose qualified acceptance of cultural diffusionism theory he propounds. Ironically, though Childe loathes fieldwork,[29] Indy goes on to say, "If you want to be a good archaeologist, you gotta get out of the library." This is in tongue-in-cheek contrast to the previous film's comment, "Seventy percent of all archaeology is done in the library."

However, at the opportunity to recover important artifacts, Dr. Jones transforms into "Indiana," a "non-superhero superhero" image he has concocted for himself.[30] Producer Frank Marshall said, "Indy [is] a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt. [...] That's the other thing people like: He's a real character, not a character with superpowers."[31] Spielberg said there "was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes. I mean, Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, make the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him."[32] According to Spielberg biographer Douglas Brode, Indiana created his heroic figure so as to escape the dullness of teaching at a school. Both of Indiana's personas reject one another in philosophy, creating a duality.[30] Harrison Ford said the fun of playing the character was because Indiana is both a romantic and a cynic,[33] while scholars have analyzed Indiana as having traits of a lone wolf; a man on a quest; a noble treasure hunter; a hardboiled detective; a human superhero; and an American patriot.[34]

Like many characters in his films, Jones has some autobiographical elements of Spielberg. Indiana lacks a proper father figure because of his strained relationship with his father, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Jones,_Sr. Henry Senior]. His own contained anger is misdirected towards Professor Abner Ravenwood, his mentor at the University of Chicago, leading to a strained relationship with Marion Ravenwood.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-broderaiders_30-2">[30] The teenage Indiana bases his own look on a figure from the prologue of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, after being given his hat.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodecrusade_35-0">[35] Marcus Brody acts as Indiana's positive role model at the college.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodecrusade_35-1">[35] Indiana's own insecurities are made worse by the absence of his mother.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodedoom_36-0">[36] In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he becomes the father figure to Willie Scott and Short Round, to survive; he is rescued from Kali's evil by Short Round's dedication. Indiana also saves many enslaved children.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodedoom_36-1">[36]

Because of Indiana's strained relationship with his father, who was absent much of Indiana's youth searching for the Holy Grail, the character does not pursue the more spiritual aspects of the cultures he studies.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] Indiana uses his knowledge of Shiva to defeat Mola Ram.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodedoom_36-2">[36] In Raiders, however, he is wise enough to close his eyes in the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant. By contrast, his rival Rene Belloq is killed for having the audacity to try to communicate directly with God.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-broderaiders_30-3">[30]

In the prologue of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jones is seen as a teenager, establishing his look when given a hat. Indiana's intentions are revealed as prosocial, as he believes artifacts "belong in a museum." In the film's climax, Indiana undergoes "literal" tests of faith to retrieve the Grail and save his father's life. He also remembers Jesus as a historical figure – a humble carpenter – rather than an exalted figure when he recognizes the simple nature and tarnished appearance of the real Grail amongst a large assortment of much more ornately decorated ones. Henry Senior rescues his son from falling to his death when reaching for the fallen Grail, telling him to "let it go," overcoming his mercenary nature.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brodecrusade_35-2">[35] The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles explains how Indiana becomes solitary and less idealistic following his service in World War I.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-37">[37] In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Jones is older and wiser, whereas his sidekicks Mutt and Mac are youthfully arrogant and greedy, respectively.