Indiana Jones and the Mirror of Wokeness

Still from 'Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny' with Harrison Ford as Indy and and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw, Indy's goddaughter and, according to some, the movie's attempt at 'wokeness' in the form of a female adventure hero set to take over from Indy. — Lucasfilms

Of the myriad of movies premièring in the blockbuster season of summer 2023, only one reeled me in as a definite must-watch within the first few days of its release in Malaysia: Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny. As soon as possible, not out of fear of spoilers, but rather due to the anticipation of critics who seemingly are just loving the opportunity to give it some hate.

Mind you, I’m talking about Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny, aka “the movie that officially premièred at the Cannes Film Festival in May, got a five-minute standing ovation, then got slapped with a lowly 43% rating on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, followed by the Internets explaining how yet another classic was spoiled by today’s “woke” culture. That one.

For over a month before the movie’s general release in the United States in late June (it opened in Malaysia on June 29), Harrison Ford’s Indy was being dismissed as an outdated hero that Hollywood intends to replace with a younger, more gender-inclusive version, in this case, his goddaughter’s character played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Now, if you want to know what a movie’s like, it’s clearly better to watch it than to read about it. And truth be told, I was going to watch this movie whatever the critics said. But then, I was always going to watch Indy.

I remember the first time in the cinema when I watched Indy climb along the bottom of a Nazi-filled truck, only to reappear at the front and punch the bad guys in the face. The whip became a cool weapon, more so than guns. And I couldn’t watch that last climatic moment in the first film for years because, ugh, melting faces burnt a hole in an impressionable mind.

From the classic movies to the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (seriously, who else watched that TV series?), even the Indiana Jones And The Fate of Atlantis video game, I consumed them all in search of more adventures. I can accept that not everything Indy is necessarily good. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was not the Holy Grail of movies (pun fully intended). The vitriol for Dial Of Destiny, however, seems overstated.

Hate is a visceral emotion. It is an extreme, and isn’t just an opinion, but a principle of poison that you rally around. Why is there so much hate for Dial Of Destiny?

This ill-will seems indicative of a larger culture clash, with “liberals” at one end, “conservatives” at the other, and entertainment caught in between. For some of the most reshared and retweeted criticisms, the issue isn’t about milking a franchise dry, but about represented identities. The switch from a male to a female lead (or a white mermaid to a black one) is less the straw that broke the back and more the brick that seems to be solidifying a new, unfamiliar foundation for society.

This battleground for a cultural war is confusing to me at times. I understand that we have things that we are uncomfortable about. But the world is made up of diverse people, with different beliefs, and to hate on filmmakers and content creators for reflecting that is maybe rather missing the point: if a piece of art challenges the way you think, you should embrace that challenge and explore the issue at hand.

Take my initial understanding of the title of the very first movie: Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I immediately thought about Noah’s Ark (Nabi Nuh to Muslims), which then led me through a temporarily disorienting journey about how you could fit thousands of animals into such a small box.

Meanwhile, the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible is one the Israelites used to smite their foes, the Philistines. In the Quran, it has no big significance, and it’s only in doing some research for this article that I found out that it is mentioned only once, as a symbol used by Talut (King Saul) to cement his authority.

This deeper understanding is fascinating, but truth be told, that initial mental dissonance did not diminish my enjoyment of Raiders because, at the time, I loved adventure, and that’s what that story gave me.

A review by me about this latest Indy film would be about how part of growing old means reflecting on the decisions made when you were younger, and how you should accept – or regret – those choices. But then, I would say that, of course, because I myself am reaching those crossroads.

It’s the context of what I get from these movies that is important. It’s like how films about historical events say more about the people making movies at that time than it does about the historical events being portrayed. They’re more like mirrors of culture than history books.

The outcry against “wokeness” that Dial elicits reveals more about the critics themselves rather than the movie. Maybe it’s like looking at society and not liking what you see, or even looking into a mirror and not liking what you are seeing back.

While we can’t steer societal evolution or Hollywood’s output, we can control how we approach both. Keeping an open mind when settling down with our popcorn and machine-made coffee may be artificial, yet if it satisfies in that moment, while giving us food for thought later, isn’t that the entire point?

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In his fortnightly column, Contradictheory, mathematician-turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi explores the theory that logic is the antithesis of emotion but people need both to make sense of life’s vagaries and contradictions. Write to Dzof at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.