Is It Woke?: Indiana Jones and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’

Disney+ is currently streaming all four Indiana Jones movies before the theatrical release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth and final one, later this month. So I re-watched the original, 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, to see if it holds up.

Steven Spielberg’s rousing adventure still cracks like a bullwhip. And Harrison Ford’s performance as a swashbuckling egghead who literally hangs off cliffs is more nuanced and charming than I remembered. His shy smirk did as much work selling the character as all the derring-do. 

I had also forgotten how delightful Karen Allen is as Indy’s old flame, a hard-drinking badass who greets her ex by punching him in the mouth. Allen’s machismo is welcome, even if she’s playing a romantic interest/occasional damsel in distress.

So the movie holds up. The action is kinetic, the locales exotic, and the special effects remain gruesome. But the real question is: is it woke? It is the year of our lord Two-Thousand and Twenty-Three, so I must ask such things. I am a woke expert, after all. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark is not woke. It is also, at the same time, woke.

On the one hand, Raiders of the Lost Ark isn’t woke because it’s a love letter to a time when white men stomped around other countries like they owned them. However, Raiders of the Lost Ark is woke because Indiana Jones kills lots of Nazis. You see?

Let’s try this again.

Raiders is woke because it has faith in higher education. It isn’t woke because it was made in 1981, and back then, being chased by “primitive savages” who can’t shoot arrows straight and are pissed that you raided their sacred tomb is funny. For many, it’s still amusing. Sure. Laugh. I don’t care. That kind of ooga-booga shtick ages like trickle-down economics.

A famous F. Scott Fitzgerald quote goes, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” And for the duration of this column, I’m going to assume every person who clicked on this link has first-rate intelligence, even the angry anti-woke morons. Thanks for reading. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark is both woke and not-so-woke simultaneously. I suppose I should define the word “woke” once again since the definition changes daily to suit right-wing political fashions. Today it means “cultural Marxism,” whatever that means!

To be woke is to be aware of social injustices. That is the original definition, more or less. The word originated in the Black community and then spread. I don’t think it’s particularly controversial, but conservatives disagree. 

To them, being woke is tantamount to being a terrorist.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sprinkles “woke” over his speeches like a big boy grating generous heaps of parmesan cheese over his spaghetti and meatballs. 

But words have meaning, and to be woke is to know your history. And, once upon a time, not too long ago, white people looted the world with impunity. Indiana Jones is a sexy colonizer. He’s sexy. But also, the other thing. Both can be true. It’s okay. 

Art, like life, can be complicated. Contradictory. Indiana Jones is a gunslinger and a graverobber, but he’s also an educator and an intellectual. Like Superman, he’s a superhero who puts on glasses and lives a life of the mind. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a movie about science versus faith, and brains versus brawn, and American gumption versus Fascist ambition and efficiency.

The movie is so much more than stunts, boobytraps, and Harrison Ford saving the day. It’s an attempt to reimagine what American heroism looks like after the dark, angry Vietnam years.

The men who created Raiders of the Lost Ark, including director Spielberg and screenwriters Philip Kaufman and George Lucas, who created Indiana Jones, reached back to the relative innocence of post-WWII America when the country was victorious and hopeful.

Indiana Jones is neither a soldier nor a government assassin like James Bond. He’s a lanky cowboy nerd who knows how to kick ass but is also intelligent enough not to open his eyes as the wrath of God pours out of the opened Ark of the Covenant. 

The character is a particular Baby Boomer fantasy, a swaggering white man beloved by young women who want to do the right thing. Is stealing magical stuff while growling, “This belongs in a museum,” the right thing? I don’t know. I do know that in the context of these movies, killing Nazis is the right thing. And I tend to agree?

It cannot be overstated, though, how Harrison Ford’s easygoing, aw-shucks charisma gives Jones a very rare trait for a Hollywood killing machine: humility. Not all of Jones’ punches land. He’s not always the smartest guy in the room. He makes mistakes and learns from them. Ford is famously gruff, but his vulnerability made him a superstar.

His Jones is capable of change, which is the essence of wokeness. But maybe that’s me rationalizing a movie that I love and can rewatch repeatedly. 

So, is Raiders of the Lost Ark Woke?

Evidence For: The movie is 100% anti-fascist and there’s just no way around that. The movie also turns an elitist, globetrotting college history professor into a hero, and education is woke.

Evidence Against: If there’s one thing Raiders of the Lost Ark and conservative evangelicals are really into, it’s an angry God. Indiana Jones’ “shoot first, ask questions later” attitude is also the attitude of the anti-woke. 

Final Judgement: Raiders of the Lost Ark is more woke than not, but its still has its fair share of “yikes” moments. Which is fine. It’s just a movie. Enjoy yourself.

John DeVore is a sensitive and thoughtful writer living in New Woke City. His favorite movie is Fiddler On The Roof, followed by Hellraiser. Follow his politically-correct narcissism on Twitter.