Spielberg represents women differently in the film as men; there are minimal female roles and one main heroine – Marian. All the females are represented as maternal and weak. One example is where Sallah’s wife looks after her children and another is the Arab woman in the kitchen. He does this to represent the “typical” 1935 women at the time – the females live off the husband and look after the house and family. Marian though is different but still has aspects of the ’35 girl. She looks after the monkey like a mother and when being chased she picks up a frying pan to defend herself linking her to the kitchen. She is also shown as vulnerable and defenseless because she has to be saved from the Arabs. Spielberg does this because it is based on the basic storyline: good guy sees girl, kills hundreds of enemies and rescues the girl; Marian is the girl. Marian character disagree with the typical girl as she smokes, drinks and lives on her own in foreign lands and has also killed people. This is done because it is original and she is different to other women at the time.
Spielberg representation of Americans is very biased. They are shown as courageous, in charge and virile. An example is where Indy is in the cave and he takes the idol. Spielberg does this because he is American and the film is made for Americans so it would have to have a feel good theme. He also does this because they are the good guys of the film – the all mighty nation that takes on Germany. Americans are also shown as mercenaries’. Examples are Marian selling the piece to Indy and her getting paid to go with him. I think Spielberg does this because they put a price on everything and pay for it. E.g. they sell the gold idol even though it is priceless to the native Indians.
Ethnic social groups are represented as the complete opposite to the Americans’. The Americans’ are shown as courageous and in charge whereas the Ethnic groups such as Arabs. Napalese Sherpas and the Indians are all expendable, hostile and exploited. The Sherpas’ are shown as expendable where the Nazis say, “shoot them both”. The Arabs and Indians are shown as exploited and hostile because they are slaves to the Nazis’, they pay them to fight or just take whatever they want from them. Spielberg shows them like this because he is American and they are third world countries, they are a minority compared to the Americans and therefore less important in his views. The Ethnic groups are represented as violent and immoral. They are shown like this when the Arabs fight Indy in Cairo, the Sherpas’ attack Marian in the bar and where the Indians chase Indy in the beginning sequence. They are only like this because they are getting paid – they are mercenaries. I think that Spielberg does this because he is trying to say that everyone has a price, everyone will put aside there moral issues for the right amount. The Indians are prepared to do anything for their god.
Spielberg represents the past with little accuracy. He has Hitler and The Nazis’ exposed as evil in the film where they torture people where in real life they were much more evil in the concentration camps killing nearly 6 millions Jews, half of there race. I think that Spielberg might have wanted them to be more violent but it is a family film –PG- so he would have limitations. Hitler is represented as crazy, whereas in real life he was very intelligent, he wrote a book and kept the concentration camps secret. Hitler is represented as crazy because all films with a good guy need a main bad guy, in this case it is Hitler and he has crazy ambitions of world dominations.
This film has few relations with contemporary concerns of the period (1970-1980). They are represented as main parts of the scripts. One of the concerns at the time was a lot about UFO’s and extra terrestrial life – this is shown in the ark and the ghosts at the end. Another concern was women independence, a lot of protests and strike happened and this is represented in the film where Marian has a role where she has to fight and isn’t a stereotypical 1935 women. The last major contemporary concern in the film is the Vietnam War. The American people felt scarred by this – a small country defeating a superpower. The American people felt better when they saw one man take on a huge nation and win. This is represented I the film because it was on Spielberg’s mind at the time so influenced the film.
In the “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” the audience is positioned in the film to make the Americans look huge, they are all powerful and no one can beat them. This is shown obviously in the film when Indiana Jones – one American takes o a huge nation such as the Germans and wins. This is shown in the film because Spielberg is American and the film is for an American audience. The audience is positioned in the film to show men as typical 1935 men and typical good guys. We know this because the men are represented as courageous and well educated, strong and brave. This is done because the audience at the time liked leading men roles and women had very little independence. Women are depicted as weak, maternal and vulnerable. This is also very stereotypical for the time but there is change with Marian and her freedom. The audience is positioned to see ethic groups as expendable, exploited and violent. This is done because America is a 1st world country and no other 3rd world countries matter. Overall I like the way everything has been represented because any other way wouldn’t have worked as well.
