October 20, 2013 A. Massie
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Alex Massie
Mr. Knott
ENG 4U1
While watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom through the eyes of a Post-Colonial Critic the viewer is presented with a culture much different then they are likely used to. In the film, director Steven Spielberg presents Indiana's local hosts as, although semi-technologically advanced, still very stuck in the past. In the film Indiana Jones, who is played by actor Harrison Ford, is the perfect depiction of an American hero who comes in and saves all of the victimized women and children. Overall Steven Spielberg uses the film to reassure the American audience that they are superior to the third world.
Hollywood provides a very basic and stereotypical view of the foreign society. From the food they serve at dinner, to the practice of voodoo or black magic, as well as the child slaves working within Pankot Palace.
The Sankara Stones in Wave 9.
Screenshot of the arcade version.
English: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Dis...These are all theatrical devices used to develop distaste in the viewers mind towards Indiana's hosts, setting them up as the villains. This view continues to be reinforced throughout the film based on the sacrilegious rituals that were taking place within the depths of Pankot Palace. Director Steven Spielberg uses these strange scenes in order to remind the Western word how much more advanced their culture is in comparison to the film's villains.
Women are seen as being helpless and no more capable than children. In many scenes Willy, the female lead, and Short Round, who is Dr. Jones' trusty Asian sidekick, end up being saved by the charismatic Dr. Jones. Old views are grandfathered into the film, ones which show women as a lower form of human being than the white American male.