Raiders of the Lost Ark Film Analysis

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2014)

Raiders of the Lost Ark stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, an archaeologist who is on the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant, as contracted by the United States Army. Jones begins his quest by visiting Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen, in hopes of securing the headpiece to the Staff of Ra, which is a key piece to discovering the location of the Ark. Indiana and Marion find themselves in Cairo, being attacked by Nazi's and pursued by Dr. Rene Belloq, played by Paul Freeman. Rene is also an archaeologist in search of the Ark of the Covenant, although his mission is to secure it for the Nazi's and has become the rival of Indiana Jones.
An ever present theme in this film is the moral implication to never give up. The opening scene follows Indiana as he enters a cave to recover a golden idol. He overcomes walking through jutting spears, swinging over a bottomless pit and stepping on the right cobblestones to avoid death. Once he grabs the idol the entire cave is set off of every trap possible. He ends up on the wrong side of the bottomless pit without his whip to get him back across, left hanging into the bottomless pit from a broken vine after attempting to jump over, and chased by a large spherical ball the size of the walkway in the cave. Yet he persevered, never giving up and leaving the cave with the idol in his hands.
In the next scene where he is outside of the cave, Dr. Rene takes the idol from Indiana. This is another example of never giving up as Indiana manages to escape from the natives and arrive home to teach another day at the campus where he is a professor. In addition, he takes another job offered by the United States Army to recover the Ark of the Covenant. Indiana did not let his loss of the idol keep him from trying again on another artifact.
Following the opening of the film, the theme is present through every action that Indiana takes to the end of the film. While Indiana is with Marion at her tavern, Indiana does not give up when the Nazi's attack looking for the headpiece. While shopping in the marketplace in Cairo with Marion, Nazi's spring forth and attack, seizing Marion. Indiana doesn't give up and instead finds the Well of Souls where the Ark is buried and recovers it. He then fights through the Nazi's and saves Marion, taking both her and the Ark with him on a ship to sail to the United States. After the ship is attacked and both Marion and the Ark are taken from him, Indiana persists still, finding himself tied to a pole with Marion while Dr. Rene and the Nazi's open the Ark to find their doom. Through persistence and perseverance, Indiana Jones recovers the Ark and Marion through his devotion to never give up.
The musical score helps to aid the viewer in obtaining the desired feelings by director Steven Spielberg. Through each action scene, music was played that created a heightened sense and built anxiety within the viewer to wonder how Indiana Jones would come out of each fight and trap. There are countless scenes like this throughout the film, including the riot at the marketplace in Cairo and the air strip at the military base in the desert. In each of these scenes, the music plays louder than the previous scenes and the instruments and other sounds portrayed through the musical score are quick, short and blunt.
In addition to the musical score, the other sounds that were used throughout the film help the viewer to become engaged with the film. At the marketplace in Cairo as Marion is running away from a Nazi with a frying pan in her hands, she runs into a dimly lit open doorway to a building and the Nazi follows after. Although the viewer never sees what happens inside of the building, the viewer hears the "GONK!" noise of a frying pan, followed by the Nazi falling back out of the doorway unconscious. The sound emanating from sources not on the screen, are used to extend the dimensions of the film beyond what is seen and to achieve more powerful dramatic effects. Although the viewer doesn't see Marion hit the Nazi or move the body herself, it can be assumed as the viewer watched her run into the building with the frying pan, hear the noise of the frying pan, watch the body fall and watch the body move into the building.
A newer series of films that expresses this moral implication of never giving up is those that include the character of Iron Man. In the movie Iron Man, Tony Stark never gave up in his hopes to escape being held captive in Afghanistan. He later never gave up his quest for green energy by developing the arc reactor. In Iron Man 3 and The Avengers, Tony Stark had accomplished creating an entire building that was completely supported by an arc reactor. In The Avengers, Tony never gave up his ultimate quest to protect the world from obliteration and sacrificed himself for the good of humanity. By never giving up, Tony Stark was able to accomplish all of these things and more.
Through the anticipation, anxiety and heightened feelings brought by the musical score and the engagement of the viewer through sounds within the film, the viewer is forced to follow Indiana Jones and be waiting for more action. The feelings of the viewer are in favor of Indiana Jones and they strive to be successful like Indiana Jones. Through his belief of never giving up he was able to accomplish what he set out to do, with a happy ending.