We finally saw the new Indiana Jones -- it exceeded my expectations by far. The piling on of fifties cliches with a variety of new twists was especially great.In retrospect, I was really amazed at an attack on the movie that I read a few weeks ago titled "Real Archaeologists Don't Wear Fedoras." In it, Neil Asher Silberman, a normally sensible archaeologist (whose works about ancient Israel I have even read) wrote:
"I know that the Indiana Jones series is just a campy tribute to the Saturday afternoon serials of the 1930s and the B-movies of the 1950s, but believe me, it totally misrepresents who archaeologists are and what goals we pursue. It's filled with exaggerated and inaccurate nonsense."
What an idiot -- does he really think anyone takes this movie seriously? Silberman mentions that real science is done in "a combination laboratory, field school, campground and open-air classroom." That is, not during insane chase scenes? He talks about archaeologist's real work: to "excavate and painstakingly document their sites centimeter by centimeter." Yeah, in the movie, the sites sort of just cave in under the adventurers' feet -- they don't need a little knife and a toothbrush to look in the cracks because big cracks just appear by magic. Oh, wait -- that's because of magic. Why don't real archaeologists just use magic? Oh, wait...
Lenny wore the right hat to see it.
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