Indiana Jones - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Indiana Jones - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Indiana Jones is an archeologist and adventurer in a series of movies written by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Although “Indy” is a fictional character, he is based on several real explorers and adventurers, the most famous of whose is Roy Chapman Andrews. In general, he seeks out legendary artifacts such as the Lost Ark or the Holy Grail, saving them from the hands of the nazis in a pre-WWII setting.

Indiana Jones, throughout the three movies in the 80’s (Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989), became associated with the actor who played him, Harrison Ford. The Indiana Jones movies offered casual entertainment with adventure, romance, humor, and splendid action scenes. Besides Harrison Ford, a variety of famous actors and actresses had been starred in the episodes of the series (among them we find Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, and Kate Capshaw for example).

In the 1990’s, Indiana Jones vanished from the movie screen, but lived on in other creative works of different genres. Dozens of novels had been published about the adventures of Indiana Jones preceding or following the movies, some of them being in ways almost as enjoyable as the movies themselves. The computer game company of George Lucas also released various adventure games related to Indiana Jones.

Eventually, in 1992, the early life of Indiana Jones was made into TV series, under the title of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” starring Sean Patrick Flanery in the role of the young Indy. The series, besides of being entertaining, had the aim to teach the history of the early 20th century to younger audiences. Being sort of a documentary in this manner, the series lacked the elements that made the original Indiana Jones movies successful, and came to an end after 30 episodes.

Today, Indiana Jones lives in the re-released DVD version of the original movies. A new movie is also prepared, although there is not much to be known about it so far. “Indiana Jones 4,” however, will star Harrison Ford again in the role of the famous archeologist, who is, by now, in his sixties.

Picture 1: Indiana Jones