Unbelievably, we actually saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the theater, this weekend. (A friend took us.) So we were interested to read a post by Grace over at Heroine Content that takes on the racism and sexism in the Indiana Jones series. And while it would be easy to simply classify these attitudes as part of the de riguer ethnocentrism associated with the average Hollywood blockbuster, when it comes to Indiana Jones, there’s just a little bit more going on. And that little bit has a little bit of a lesson to teach: when basing your work off of the products of the past, you’ve got to be careful about the pitfalls of your source-material.

The Indiana Jones series has many antecedents, but probably the most obvious are the old Republic Serials. For those without a “classic film” bent, it might help to explain that these were a series of action/adventure shorts, split into a dozen or more chapters, and played in combination with other “feature” pictures. Many of the Republic serials (and their counter parts from other studios) often focussed on fast action, and awe-inspiring derring-do, rather than subtle plots and in-depth story telling.

This influence might be most clear in Raiders of the Lost Arc, where the audience is treated to a “short” that takes place before the primary plot takes hold. Of course, this serves as a really quick character sketch of Dr. Jones, and makes the following professorial scenes stand out. Here’s an action adventure hero with a secret identity, the movie tells us. But, except for the fact that it’s mostly self-contained, that first little lagniappe is a nod to classic serials past.

The problem with sourcing your brilliant film-franchise concept from early twentieth century film serials is that many of them could often be casually, unabashedly racist, sexist, and possibly some other stuff, too. Civil rights and feminism have moved us a little further away from those sorts of attitudes, but the documents of ages past aren’t going to be so easy to shake off.

So, on top of the kind of broad-stroke liberties Hollywood generally takes with ethnicity and gender, Indiana Jones also has to cope with its basis in the highly demeaning forerunners. This means, of course, that its creators should be especially careful with it.

Not that they didn’t try; as much as we think that … Temple of Doom is the weakest of the original trilogy, it’s the one that goes far out of its way to explicitly demonstrate just how much respect Indiana has for the cultures he encounters by giving us someone to act as a contrast; unfortunately, this is done by including Willie, the ugly-American character, whose intolerance is often coupled by Lucille Ball/Olive Oyl-style whining and crying.

Still, you’ve got to be really careful.