to think Indiana Jones is a highly unsuitable film..

[seeker]

... for anybody, never mind children. We watched it this evening, and I was amazed at the racism, the sexism - it was like something made in the 40s!

[seeker]

But Kerry - HE may not be, but the FILM is!

And, actually Schindler's List indicates that he is unlikely to be anti Semitic - I don't think it says anything about other forms of racism, does it?

[Heathcliffscathy]

kerry darling why on earth would the director of a great film about the holocaust ergo not be racist?

racism is totally illogical: someone can be anti-semitic but not anti black. vice versa. someone can seem incredibly pc but be racist against white english working class people.

seriously, you cannot draw a conclusion about someone being a racist or not from the fact that they make a film which is about genocide.

[seeker]

5'm being thick -ToB?

[dingdong05]

The 1st film Raiders of the Lost Ark, was fab (tha was the drinking under the able one)
The 2nd was was The Temple of Doom- the one with the little boy and the blonde who flounced around all the time and was shit. Never mind the stereotypes/racism, it hangs onto the success of the 1st film and adds nothing new. In fact it detracts from the 1st film by its crapness.
Happily the 3rd Last Crusade was great too, I was especially pleased with Mr Connery, even though he's only 12 years older than the man playing his son lol

[MamaMaiasaura]

Ah well, ds1 (8) thinks it is fab, he hums the tune to help him get off to sleep allegedly (personally i think he was humming it becuae he was playing with his toys in bed). I think if you look at many films closely there is always something someone could take offense to.

[Heathcliffscathy]

kerry there are loads of jewish people that are racist against people of colour. there are loads of people of colour that are anti-semitic.

i like to think that there are more of both that aren't!

and you're probably right, i'm just saying that just cause he makes one film that isn't racist doesn't mean that he isn't!

[dingdong05]

My favourite quote from the Last Crusade is
"Well, I'm as human as the next man"
"I was the next man!"
On finding out they'd both shagged the same woman

[seeker]

Kerry - have you seen The Temple of Doom?

[seeker]

But I don't want my children absorbing the stereotypes - and the film would have been just as much fun without them.

[seeker]

And it's not insidious, it's overt!

[seeker]

All people from the Indian sub-continent are backward or superstitious or criminal or untrustworthy or eat live bugs and chilled monkey brains. Or all five. And need Kindly White Men to help them All other foreigners ditto, except for small Asian boy who was rescued from a life of degradation by Kindly White Man who he duly worships in return.

And while I'm on the subject, women shriek and scream and teeter round on high heels and are figures of fun. They are also only interested in money, diamonds and making sure their hair's OK.

[HonoriaGlossop]

it's a period-set film, it would be pretty ridiculous if the people in it had all the views and values of today; it was set in the 20's and 30's.

It's hokum, you watch it, enjoy it, and yes as youngvisiter says, you use it to have a good and useful conversation about society, and it's treatment of all vulnerable groups.

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[Bouncingturtle]

Steven Spielberg is Jewish, which probably explains his desire to do Schindler's list. You cannot draw conclusions on whether he is is racist based on that. I think it is more telling the fact he directed The Color Purple.
I love Indiana Jones and agree shouldn't read too much into it, it is merely a reflection of the times that were set. But it does raise interesting questions on how we view the acceptability of racial/gender stereotypes in cinema.

[Bouncingturtle]

Apologies for bad grammar ds was distracting me darn fussy baby won't stay latched on

[wastingmyeducation]

The female character in Temple of Doom is silly and hysterical as a contrast to the strong, independant female character in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I've always thought of her as stereotyping materialistic western society rather than women per se, but then I'm not hysterical and so don't get offended by that. In the food scenes, isn't she the one made to look ridiculous? Indy actually points out that she's offending the villagers and embarassing him by turning her nose up at their food.
And the baddies are the Thuggees, not the villagers, or even the Maharajah who was being used, so it doesn't really stereotype all Indians really.
Of course there are some elements of stereotyping at work, but it's a blockbuster type adventure movie, which are based in deep-seated cultural archetypes. However, I think you're all very unreasonable.
Airplane, on the other hand -

xx

[cornsilk]

I watched Airplane on Saturday. Agree it is but at the time it must have been acceptable.

[onebatmother]

It's a really long time since I saw any of these films.
But I ssupect that the structure of 'adventure' films like Indiana is inherently colonialist and therefore likely to be racist.

but if I remember rightly, wasnt' airplane a pastiche of 'exploitation' films, mocking their racist/sexist stereotypes? Which of course doesn't mean that it can't be racist..

[Bouncingturtle]

Onebatmother - that's certainly how i saw the airplane films!

[onebatmother]

Forgot to add that most people had heard of racism and sexism by the 80s, so the film's age is no excuse (I was a 13 year old feminist in 1981).

And even if a film/novel etc portrays a racist/sexist era, it's not okay simply to mirror those mores; one really has to take a moral position on them to avoid being charged with racism oneself.