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.