Disney: Why I Don’t Like Indiana Jones

Hey! Hallie here!

I want to make clear that I’m not going to be talking about my dislike for the entire ‘Indiana Jones’ series. Because I don’t dislike it. The movies are (mostly) fun and enjoyable. I do, however, have a problem with the title character of this series. Indiana Jones is an incredibly dislikable character. Throughout every single movie in the franchise. He’s a jerk, especially to women, and he doesn’t really seem to care about much aside from his image and what he thinks belongs in a museum. But I do understand that my hate for such a beloved character has to be better explained. So with that in mind, here’s a list of reasons why I don’t like Indiana Jones.

He’s an Awful Archeologist:

As someone who uses the “this belongs in a museum” line as a way to sound honorable, he’s pretty despicable. All he does is steal artifacts from historical sights. Oh, and while he steals these artifacts, often from people who have some sort of cultural tie to the object, he destroys said historic sights. That giant boulder was there for a reason: To keep intruders out. I don’t see why Indiana Jones didn’t deserve to be crushed by that boulder considering he is an intruder. Maybe that boulder wouldn’t have been there if he cared to learn more about the location he was breaking into instead of attempting to steal a precious golden idol (without gloves) by replacing it with a random sack. He talks pretty consistently about how locals in the areas he visits tend to have a bad opinion of him and you don’t really have to wonder why.

He Treats Women Horribly:

Let’s start out with his first love interest, Marion Ravenwood. He dated her when she was only fifteen, which is disgusting. The relationship obviously didn’t go well because she socks him in the face when she meets him again. She also tells him that she didn’t know what she was doing while she was in the relationship because she was so young. Which Indy refutes even though he was absolutely an adult and should have been the responsible one in the relationship. Or, better yet, shouldn’t have been in the relationship at all. Next is Willie Scott, who he mocks for being frequently frightened and irritated by the circumstances even though he dragged her along on the adventure against her will. In most romance scenes they’re fighting, and even then Indy never takes ‘no’ for an answer and finds some excuse to kiss her. And maybe she gives in, but that’s an issue with the movie, itself. It perpetuates the idea that when a woman says ‘no’, she doesn’t mean it. There is no excuse for the amount of times Indy ignores everything she says in favor of what he wants. A similar scene occurs with Elsa in the third movie, but I’ll give this movie a slight pass because Elsa is manipulating Indy the whole time. It’s still a harmful thing to put in a movie, though.

He Doesn’t Care About His Friends or Family:

The amount of times Sallah helps Indiana Jones without getting thanked makes me absolutely certain that Sallah needs a new friend. Indiana Jones also meets Short Round, an eleven year old, and decides to take him on trips as his chauffer. An ELEVEN year old. I would also like to point out that all of the trips he goes on are too dangerous for a kid. He doesn’t even spare much thought to Short Round when he’s in trouble. He has the idea that Short Round can take care of himself. While that’s somewhat true, it’s also incredibly negligent. Finally, he spends an entire movie ignoring his own father in favor of a girl he just met. Who ends up being a Nazi. Indy doesn’t spare a thought for anyone he’s with unless they can somehow help him achieve one of his own goals.

Bonus! Han Solo is Better:

I wanted to put this here because a lot of people claim that Indiana Jones and Han Solo are basically just the same character. That is very, very, wrong. Han Solo actually cares about people other than himself. He very obviously cares for Chewbacca and values his safety over any possible reward, even when he relies on rewards. When he meets Luke he’s instantly annoyed by him, but after only a few hours being stuck with him, he starts genuinely wanting to help him out. Every time he attempts to leave the Rebel Alliance for the betterment of himself, he ends up turning back and risking his life for them. The worst of Han’s conduct happens with Leia. Once again, this has everything to do with the writing in this movie, which, unfortunately, was a pretty popular way of writing a suave leading man at the time. Leia holds her own against Han when she wants to, but she also has a positive response to him kissing her after she pushes him off of her several times. However, there is a scene that stands out quite a bit to me when it comes to their relationship. On Endor, Han walks out to see Leia visibly distraught. He asks her what’s wrong and she doesn’t tell him (Partly because Luke just told her about her messed up family tree and she’s still processing). He immediately gets jealous that she was speaking to Luke a moment ago but will not speak to him, and storms off. But he stops after only a few steps. He turns around, instantly apologizes, and tries to comfort her. I know this sounds like the bare minimum, and it is, but we don’t see a lot of guys do this in media, even today. Indiana Jones certainly wouldn’t have done it. He apologizes to Marion once about his mistreatment of her and she calls him out for not meaning it. Han is better. Period.

So maybe don’t put Indiana Jones up on a pedestal. We have a new movie coming out soon with Harrison Ford involved, but I can’t say I’m very excited for this one. Part of the problem is that ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was a really bad movie. But part of it is also that I’m getting really tired of this character. I’d be cool with continuing the franchise. But maybe change the main character to someone who’s a lot more sensible and respectful. I know Harrison Ford has famously praised Indiana Jones as his favorite role to play, but that doesn’t mean he has to be my favorite character to watch. Sure, Harrison Ford looks like he’s having fun in every ‘Indiana Jones’ movie, and I appreciate seeing that. But the character of Indiana Jones isn’t something I can get behind.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie