Assignment 8

The scene I choose to analyze is from the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones movies. This movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Frank Marshall. The story was by George Lucas and Phillip Kaufman. The scene I choose was the one near the beginning of the movie where Harrison Ford’s character, Indiana Jones, describes what the Ark is to visiting army intelligence officials. The officials were inquiring about the Ark because of a Nazi radio message they intercepted that mentioned the Ark. The scene takes place at the university Jones works at.

Personal perspective: This is one of my favorite movies and has been since I was a kid. Its one of those movies that captures your imagination and kind of takes you to another place, without thinking about it. This scene, in my opinion, is why this is able to happen, because it really sets up the rest of the movie making importance out of the central characters and plot. The scene has a good bit of religious and supernatural symbology that is transfered to the watcher by the creator of the movie. The overall religious element reflects the carefully staged mise-en-scene. For example the location of this scene is in a chapel that looks like it is being used as a classroom. Also there are stained glass windows in the background, an alter-type podium as well as a very large leather bound bible on the table. In a lot of ways this scene is like the one in The Shining where Danny talks to the older guy who works at the hotel about the Shining. Like that conversation shed light on what the shining is and that there was something bad in the hotel, this scene explains what the Ark is and that there is some powers associated with it.

Historical perspective: This mise-en-scene adds and shapes the diegesis of the film. The film doesn’t explicitly state the time period, the political and social environment of the time period, or what the characters believe or don’t believe in, these aspects are all interpreted by the audience through the mise-en-scene, and the dialog of the scene. From this we are able to gather that it is probably some time during the mid to late 30’s, Hitler is ruling Germany and is interested in the Ark, and the U.S. is interested in Hitlers actions, although it seems to be pre-WWII.

Technical perspective: A film analyst could probably say a lot about the types of shots and other technical aspects used in this scene and the craft that went into making this scene what it is. I will attempt to try to interpret these technical perspectives myself. Most of the shots are tight in on the characters giving close-ups and extreme close-ups. There are also some shots where there is rack focus going on because the focus changes from the character in the foreground to the character in the background, without the camera moving. The lighting appears to be low key light because there is fast fall off on many of the characters faces. This affect adds to the mysteriousness of the scene. There is no music in this scene until Fords’ character opens up the bible to the illustration of the Ark. The music then starts and has a creepy supernatural sound to it, which totally adds to the effect. During this time there is an extreme close up of the illustrated Ark, with beams of light coming out of it. This doesn’t seem like it would be an expensive scene to make, but makes a huge difference in the direction the movie takes.

Cultural, ethical, Critical perspective: the overall symbology of this scene goes back to my initial personal response and the description of the mise-en-scene and the diegesis. The scenes overall point is to place importance in the Ark, explain what it is, explain that it has supernatural powers, and to explain that political powers of the day are interested in it. The Ark is a symbol and through the crafting of the scene, the viewer interprets this to be the power of God, whether they are Christains, Jewish or otherwise.