If you have been listening to our podcast since the beginning, or at least haven’t been living under a rock for the past 40 years, chances are you have seen the premiere movie of everyone's favorite whip toting artifact “collecting” archeologist, Indiana Jones. Of course I am talking about the beloved Raiders of the Lost Ark. What you might not have considered is: who is Indiana’s main foil and what impact does that have on the movie?
Photo by Jeremy Bishop from Pexels
Who Plays What Role
Even though Indy’s name is not in the title, there is no doubt he is written, as we like to say in the biz, as the protagonist. The protagonist, simply put, is the character that the story revolves around. It is usually pretty obvious who the protagonist is in a film since they tend to get the most screen time and are the focal point of the movie. Similarly, all movies have what is called an antagonist. As you might expect, the antagonist of a movie plays the role of opposing or being antithetical to the protagonist’s mission.
In some cases, this can be pretty clear, like Batman and the Joker, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar, or Chief of Police Martin Brody and that dang shark. In so many cases though, it can be way more abstract than that. Maybe the antagonist of a film isn’t really a character at all but some thought or idea the main character has, like the coming of age story told in the 2007 hit movie Into the Wild. Or is an external entity but not a single character, such as everyone who is not Theo or Kee in the 2006 post apocalyptic movie Children of Men. For Raiders, however, this is not quite as clear.
So Who are the Antagonists?
Well first off, this may be obvious, but in case it is not, a story might have many antagonists. In the case of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark, there are several.
So then we may ask, what are the most important ones? There are some obvious answers that we could consider, like Toht, the absolutely crazy Nazi who gets branded by trying to grab the super heated Staff of Ra head piece. He is repeatedly quite menacing to both Indiana and everyone else in Indy’s posse.
Perhaps it’s Belloq, who is framed as Indy’s arch nemesis after robbing him of a golden fertility idol in Peru. He then subsequently is chosen to lead the Nazi’s search for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which we are told would allow the wielder to become invincible.
You might even suggest that the Nazi party or Hitler himself are the antagonist, since what they are looking for is the artifact. But even with all those options, I am going to suggest that there is one antagonist in this film that almost everyone overlooks. This antagonist is possibly even responsible for how compelling and entertaining the movie is. It is Indiana Jones himself.
Let’s Explore What This Means
The first time we see this dichotomy is right away in the transition between our opening sequence and the rest of the movie. In the former, we see a whip toting, fedora wearing adventurer, Indiana. And in the latter we see the stuffy-glasses wearing, tweed suit adorning Dr. Jones. Indiana loves the adventure and the thrills and romance that come along with it. Whereas Dr. Jones enjoys the thirst for knowledge and the tireless pursuit of artifacts. We can call this dichotomy “Indiana & Dr. Jones”. Not convinced? Let's look at a couple examples.
The first example we will take a look at is when Dr. Jones and Marion reconnect for the first time. The conversation starts off like you might expect. They are catching up a bit and trying to reason about what happened in their past. Then there is a brief, but sudden, change in tone. Dr. Jones tries to buy her. Fortunately, she is interested but, of course, because of their history she is going to play hard to get. She tells him to come back tomorrow. This demonstrates that even in a place where there is some personal familiarity, Dr. Jones will come out cold and calculated and try to buy his way through a situation. Immediately after this, however, Dr. Jones sheds his cold and calculated vibe and comes back as Indiana to save Marion from some menacing Nazis.
An even better example is the confrontation he and Belloq have in the bar in Cairo just after Marion's supposed death. Belloq suggests that they are more similar than they are different. Indy straight up rejects this based on the fact that he has morals. Belloq, of course, is working for the Nazis, and Indy would never dream of working for them. In this moment, we see Belloq try to appeal to Dr. Jones’ obsession with fortune and glory by explaining to him that the Ark is a radio to God. Indiana rejects this. Firstly, he has grown less interested in fortune and glory. But he is also still hurting after Marion’s death and is now confronted with his sworn enemy. So, naturally, he is inclined to reject the more exacting part of his nature.
We also see one of the best examples of this in his final confrontation with Belloq. He threatens to blow up the Ark unless Belloq lets Marion go. Belloq, of course, calls his bluff and appeals to his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. In addition, the Nazi colonel also makes a similar appeal, asking him what he would do after he pulls the trigger. Naturally, we see the struggle Indy faces, but ultimately he realizes Belloq and Dietrich are right. No matter the side of him that wins in the end, we see that Dr. Indiana Jones could not pull the trigger. One could easily see this as a character flaw in the strictest sense. But of course, as an audience, we view him as a more complex character. One who is curious, romantic, and human as a result.
A Better Movie Because of It
Alright, so we know Indy is full of internal conflict, but what makes this so important? Well, it's fairly simple, really. When you build characters who have believable character flaws, they become more relatable. In the case of Indy, we not only want to root for him because he is the main character, aka the protagonist, but we also want to root for him because he speaks to our own internal conflict between doing what's right and just vs. what will give us power and glory.
Similar to what we have said on S.S. Cinephile before: it’s a case of characters over plot. While the other antagonists in this movie help move the plot forward, as well as provide a mirror into the internal conflict that our fedora wearing hero is facing; it’s the very round aspects of the character of Indiana Jones that draws us in for a cool two hours.