Will New Indiana Jones Movie Be Good for Peru? Probably Not
Set for its world premiere today at the Cannes Film Festival, and then its wide release on Thursday, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will feature Peru prominently in its story. One preview for the movie shows a plane flying over the Nazca Lines and according to another the characters will also take their quest to find the Crystal Skull into Peru’s jungles. Looking back at the past Indiana Jones movies, Peruvians should hold their breath before cheering the arrival of Indiana Jones in theaters.
While the Indiana Jones movies are unquestionably exciting as movie going experiences, they also unfortunately have often portrayed developing and non-western countries in a very negative light. The most striking example of the tendency is how the country of India is portrayed throughout Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. If you’ve seen the movie, then you most likely remember the striking scene where Indiana Jones and his cohorts are offered monkey brains as a delicacy inside the palace of a local person of prestige. Soon thereafter, the heroes find themselves in a secret passageway teeming with insects right next to a bedroom.
These, of course, are just a few examples of how India is treated as a destination. Probably the biggest insult though is the most dramatic and memorable aspect to the movie. A cult leader in the Temple of Doom rips peoples’ hearts out with his bare hands, in preparation for human sacrifices. I was a kid at the time that I first saw the movie. I think if I had seen it as an adult, all of these things would have made me want to jump right on a plane to India.
If you still aren’t believing that the Temple of Doom and other Indiana Jones movies have had some, to put it nicely, cultural deficiencies, check out this scholarly assessment of how Indiana Jones movies have tended to be racist. Other critics have also seen the movies as pro-American propaganda:
The tales of Indiana Jones are tales of knighthood, modernizations of medieval chivalric romances in which America stands in for the Arthurian court, the Third World becomes the forest of adventure, and the Nazis or Thugees function as hostile knights to be defeated in an effort to recuperate and reaffirm America’s cultural destiny.
So what does this mean for Peru? If the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull portrays Peru negatively, this might create a downtrend in tourism to Peru. Tourism is vitally important to Peru’s economy, and also to conservation of its archaeological and natural treasures. According to Peru’s National Institute of Natural Resources, approximately 93% of international tourists visited at least one protected area (e.g., national park) during their visits in 2002. These visits help boost international awareness and support for conserving and protecting the world treasures found in Peru.
There are quite a number of potential ways that the Kingdom of Crystal Skull might slight Peru and its people. Given that part of the movie’s events will take place in the Amazon rainforest, it’s very possible that its ecosystems will be treated as exotic and foreign, teeming with unpleasantries such as dangerous insects, snakes, and hostile, savage natives. A preview for the movie, in fact, shows some form of indigenous-looking characters, that Indiana in narration refers to as the “living dead.” Of course, this probably won’t inspire many viewers to want to visit the rainforests of Peru. Nor will the film’s potential depiction of challenges in urban environments, transportation needs in the country (will we see llamas?), and its treatment of food offerings necessarily appeal in a positive way to viewers. Right now, I am imagining someone offering guinea pig to Indiana and his amigos and this being used as a point of grotesque humor for audiences. Can you believe they eat that? Gross!
The movie’s plot is also rumored to in some way to involve aliens. There are quite a few archaeological sites in Peru that have theories about aliens associated with them, such as the aforementioned Nazca Lines. I’m not sure how this potential aspect to the film would reflect upon Peru. Peruvians do tend to find amusement and interest in these alien possibilities. One example of such amusement is shown in this humorous commercial for a beer named after the famous archaeological site of Caral. It remains to be seen if this potential alien aspect to the Indiana Jones story might actually be something positive to inspire tourism and interest in Peru.
In the end, perhaps what audiences will care about most is whether or not Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull is any good, and if an aged Harrison Ford still has his Indy-mojo. Peruvians, however, should hope that millions of people around the world will walk out of theaters over the next few weeks with a positive feeling toward Peru, rather than a possible thought of “I’m glad I never have to go there.” I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
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Photo Credit: David James/Paramount Pictures
I saw the new Indiana Jones movie. It was sooo wrong about sooo many things! It kept on mixing up ancient Mayan culture with ancient Incan culture!! My boyfriend (who is Peruvian) and I watched it together. He was practically insulted by all of the mistakes. Even the picture on the cover is of a MAYAN temple, and yet the movie takes place in Peru! No where neeeear Mexico! The Incan civilization wasn’t even close in its time period to the Mayan.
Other than that, it was a good movie
I have just seen this movie and overall I enjoyed, after many years I could see Indiana and his friends jumping and running all over. If you go just for fun you will love it but if you want to go for history or geography you, e.g. Nazca Lines are not in Cuzco, in Cuzco we do not play mexican charro music (although they are also beautiful). I think this movie will just attract some attention to Peru just like the movie SECRET OF THE INCAS starred by Charlton Heston (Former Indiana Jones) and Yma Sumac in 1954.
There are many mistakes in the movie, as for the places indy visited for example: when they fly to nazca the map describing the plane trayectory take them to cuzco,which is far away frm nazca HUGE MISTAKE.. another one they feature the nazaca people as people from the andes the clothes they wear are from peru of course but not from the area where they suposed to be and the background music is not peruvian but mexican….its a movie i know but i am a peruvian myself and to me this is ridiculous and outrageous because suposedly DR JONES is a teacher in a very well know institution an also and arquelogist,some mistakes can be tolerated,but then again not when it comes to name places and show them somewhere else in the map this is an ofense to any peruvian…mr spielberg own some apologies is like say that new york is part of mexico..or the eifel tower is in spain …please be more careful next time mr spielberg..
thank you …
Dear friend Levy, do you know that a guinea pig has more protein than chicken and less fat? In many developed countries animals are artifically grown, their food is not natural.
Here in Peru guinea pigs are eaten mostly in small cities, it isn’t(unfortunately) an extended tradition. The guinea pig’s flavour is really good. Well, you need to experience it. I haven´t seen (and don’t think I’ll do) Indiana Jones but this is not the first movie that makes several mistakes caused by lack of serious investigation. But this kind of mistakes are expected when someone is trying to show a wonderful country like mine (Peru) in only one movie.
Viva el Perú carajo!
I just recently returned from Peru and enjoyed it tremendously. After emerging in Incan heritage of Peru I have noticed many confusing details in the movie but I chose to ignore them and simply follow the story the way movie intended. It’s pointless to expect historical accuracies in a movie where ants eat people. The movie is pure fantasy and Peru is simply a backdrop. Wrong choice of country given that movie is mainly about Maya but I don’t see it as insulting or doing any harm. Most people won’t know much difference.
I would also like to concur with Eileen that those concerned with Peru tourism should focus their efforts on making the country safer and more hospitable for visitors (Lima) rather then historical movie inaccuracies. Perception affecting Peru tourism in a very real way is that it’s seen as unsafe. Such concerns never stopped me but I’m not exactly a typical tourist.
I found a very stupid mistake on the movie when Indiana said that Pancho Villa teach him “Quechua”. First “Quechua” is a native South American language and pancho Villa is Mexican, so these guys are really stupid or they think that the people are stupid. That is very sad, that why some people think that people in USA are ignorant.
Saying that Indy knows “Quechua” because he knew Pancho Villa is like saying the Statue of Liberty is located in Canada. I think the movie has reinforced the idea that all Latin countries are like Mexico. I feel offended by the fact that they did not take the time to do some research and make sure they were accurate even when Indy is supposed to be archaeologist.
Although I think your article is right on the money on many points (american propaganda, condenscending screenplay), may I remind you that Indiana Jones movies don’t take place in our time, but fifty years ago and more, when countries such as India were in fact well underdevelopped, no more than british colonies (and we all know that the British were not very keen on providing means of developpement to their colonies)? I’m not saying that the movies depict the reality, they’re MOVIES, but you have to take that fact into consideration, wich you don’t seem to have.
And is there ANYBODY that will dare to say that the Nazis weren’t a bunch of criminals?!? (by the way: 1- Oscar Schindler was a member of the nazi party - as most of the Germans and Austrians at that time, its not like they had much of a choice - , but not a Nazi 2- that movie’s based on actual facts so I don’t think you can compare it with fictions such as Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park!)
As for the movie “The Color Purple” (other way around, Luis!), it was about the black community during the reign of the KKK, not a movie about the KKK, and its point was to shed light on the fact that black women that had to put up with abusive husbands and/or fathers (remember, her 2 children were the fruit of incest) on top of the racist activists were totally helpless, had nobody that they could turn to. The good people in that movie were black too; heck the only white character that has more than 30 seconds of screen time is the governor’s wife! Ans she might not be actually mean, but she sure is a nut case!
I will not make apologies for Spielberg (funny how you guys seem suprised that the bad guys are often Nazis and Japanese: Spielberg is JEWISH, of course his favorite target is bound to be the Nazis!), or for the Hollywood movie making industry. But you can’t criticize and condemn them because they do what every movie industry on the planet does! Or are you so byest that you think that Indian, German or even Norwegian movies don’t contain propaganda?!?
I am Peruvian and I live in France, I think Indiana Jones it is only a fiction movie, like the past Indi movies, no one will learn history from them. What do you want? a lesson of history from an American Movie, come on!, even Peruvians do not know well their history, when I was teach history about Incas and pre-Incas, but nobody cared about, and some of the teaching was fake and nothing to do with modern discoveries, they teach you that Peruvians were conquered by 13 Spanish, etc hahaha, now it make me laugh . Stop being hypocrites, Recently I was really interested by serious Inca history I have read the book: The Conquest of the Incas, by John Hemming, or, The Incas, by D. Altroy.
If you are really interested on Inca History these books will clarify a lot of thinks.
I liked the movie, Is a fiction movie, with fiction characters in semi fiction places (Like the three before). So stop being stupid and if you want to have a fun go to cinema, and if you want to learn history read books or watch Discovery or History Channel.
Two more thinks,
One: that, at least,makes everybody talk about Peru for 1 week (better than nothing).
Two: I like the idea of Latin America as an unique country. We have a lot of learn about union.