On Indiana Jones and a 1951 comic book that did race and gender better
When the Indiana Jones movies were released, I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark , hated The Temple of Doom , thought The Last Crusade was slight, and had no interest in seeing The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so I skipped it. Recently, I’ve been watching action movies while I exercise, so I decided to revisit Indiana Jones. I found Raiders of the Lost Ark holds up well. Marion Ravenwood is, like Indy, tough and competent. Sallah, Indy’s Egyptian friend, is fully capable in his own right, and so is a black supporting character, Simon Katanga, the captain of a cargo ship that’s attacked by Nazis. Ravenwood, Sallah, and Katanga feel like they had adventures before Raiders began and would have more after it ended. But the credit for the respectful treatment of those characters must go to Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders ’ primary writer. The Temple of Doom seems every bit as sexist and racist today as I remembered it when it was released: The only significant female character is incompete...