Hacker Cinema
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984 · Film · 118 min
Part of Indiana Jones Collection
Directed by Steven Spielberg
After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees – and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.
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7 comments on Hacker News
One example: watch some 80s movies again. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom stands out. Indy forces a kiss on a woman and it is seen as romantic -- she says no but wants it. A lot of messaging like this is just accepted and we never think about it. But when you realize it, it happened a lot.
Same. If you watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or the Police Academy films, they're so racist that if they were still popular they'd need massive disclaimers. Books are easier to edit so they have.
Maybe you can refresh my memory? The ark in raiders was a macguffin. The only overtly religious character I remember was the imam. If you mean temple of doom with the Kali cult, that's closer except for one important detail. Other movies are careful to mentally distance depictions by having cults be underground or otherwise abnormal and isolated. Think midsommar, wicker man, etc.
The narrative of apocalypto is literally the mainstream Maya priests kidnapping and torturing people to sacrifice them before the protagonist is saved by the distraction of Spaniards arriving. I would consider the same thing with Christianity swapped a bit distasteful as well, but I can't think of any movies like that. Handmaid's tale would count, but that's a deliberate critique rather than unintentional stereotyping.
I'm going to complain about the 1984 selection. Here are the top 10 grossing films from 1984 (from Box Office Mojo):
1 Beverly Hills Cop $234,760,478 $234,760,478 100% - - 2 Ghostbusters $229,242,989 $229,242,989 100% - - 3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $179,870,271 $179,870,271 100% - - 4 Gremlins $148,168,459 $148,168,459 100% - - 5 The Karate Kid $90,815,558 $90,815,558 100% - - 6 Police Academy $81,198,894 $81,198,894 100% - - 7 Footloose $80,035,402 $80,035,402 100% - - 8 Romancing the Stone $76,572,238 $76,572,238 100% - - 9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock $76,471,046 $76,471,046 100% - - 10 Splash
Their picks are Amadeus and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Amadeus is probably the "critics pick" but I can't come up with any formula that picks the #3 box office as "most popular" from that year. I don't remember it being particularly well received when it came out, and it certainly is panned in hindsight. Hardly anybody would pick it as their favorite from that list of 10 movies...
It’s kind of a relief to see so many other people say that the violence is too much for them.
I was 8 when the original MK came out. It was gross and extreme, but it all felt like a cartoon, it didn’t seem threatening. When it showed up on Genesis, I found the blood code and learned every fatality, knew the game inside and out. When MK II arrived on SNES, it was even better!
By comparison, my impression of modern MK games is that they aim to creat the experience of actual human suffering. I guess it’s unavoidable that the detail of the violence would have to grow with the technology, but it makes me uncomfortable, I find it too unpleasant. Watching it is the difference between the heart removal scene in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and a recent Saw movie.
> ...25 sequels, but none of those films will be memorable.
* Back to the Future 2 * Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom * Army of Darkness * Goldeneye * Evil Dead 2 * Terminator 2 * Ghostbusters 2 * Captain America: Winter Soldier * Batman: The Dark Knight
Yeah, none of those sequels are memorable. We should stop making sequels and only make original films so we don't waste money on travesties such as these.
Overdone computer-enabled post-production colour manipulation is one of the (many) reasons I find it hard to watch a lot of film and television drama productions of this century.
I much prefer the result when the manipulation of colour is achieved through lighting on the set or location.
Two examples of films I think have fantastic use of colour in the lighting are Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Desperately Seeking Susan.