Indiana Jones and the Eternal Digital Stasis

From alt-history to halt history

(This piece originally appeared on my Substack, Artless. Subscribe to that here.)

Pauline Kael was, as a critic, an early-adopter of Spielberg movies; their wit and invention were too manifest for her to be a snob about. Nevertheless she wrote that Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was “so thrill-packed you don’t have time to breathe — or to enjoy yourself much, either. It’s an encyclopedia of high spots from the old serials, run through at top speed and edited like a great trailer.”

Did Spielberg ever read her review? I wonder, because he seems to have turned its critique into his MO for Indiana Jones. Advising James Mangold, who took over directing the new instalment, The Dial of Destiny (as in, destiny calling!) he said to remember, “It’s a movie that’s a trailer from beginning to end.”

But a trailer for what? Scarcely any more those old serials, nor itself, nor even the franchise (Disney has just shelved plans for an Indiana Jones TV series). The trailer is more for what it’s shown is possible, what the new film means for film, perhaps its destiny…

What do you call those stupid fins on the back of a sports car? Those ahead.