Indy IV stuff and thoughts

[lazypadawan]

Harrison Ford, in an interview with McPaper a couple of days ago, had this to say about the character who ended his full-time career as a carpenter:

"He gives "no credit to the culture for embracing (Han) as a hero. He's dumb as a stump! He's certainly got a good heart, but I think he's certainly a much less interesting character than Indiana Jones.

"The breadth of his story utility was never extensive. He was the foil between the other more compelling elements of the film. There's not breadth of character to explore beyond what we got out of him."'

For us long-time SW fans, this is nothing new. Ford has expounded on the shallowness of Han Solo for at least 25 years if not longer. I just don't know why he thinks Indy is somehow more complex than Han, except for perhaps the fact that Indy is the main character while Han is not. I realize Han isn't packing a lot of PhDs and he's one of those guys who acts first and thinks about it later, but I don't think he's dumb as a stump either. Moreover, people like him for the following reasons:

1. He holds his own even with characters who have powers and abilities he doesn't have.

2. He has his own ship.

3. His best bud is Chewbacca, and everybody loves Chewbacca.

4. He's not entirely good, but not evil or a heartless son of a bantha like Boba Fett.

5. He is snarky.

Bonus like: Women think he is hot.

I know Josh Holloway (Sawyer on Lost) has said that his character is inspired in part by Han, but while watching ANH, ROTJ, and part of TESB last weekend, it's really obvious that it is the case. I sort of expected Han to call Leia "Freckles." Although she isn't as freckle-y as Kate.

In any case, TFN linked to a thing on that bastion of excellence in journalism, contactmusic.com about Lucas's hopes and dreams for Indy IV:

We're not gonna have adoring fans sending us e-mails saying how much they loved the movie. We're gonna have a bunch of angry people saying, 'You're a bunch of a**holes, you should never have done this. You've ruined my life forever.'"

Don't forget about raped childhoods! From my standpoint, of course there are people who are going to complain no matter what, but I don't foresee a backlash a la post-TPM. There isn't the same crazy buildup to the movie nor is there as many people who have pinned their whole lives on Indy. The worst it'll get is whining over Ford's age or the way Shia LeBeouf's hair is parted.

But it does show how much the overdone hatefest on the part of a vocal minority really got to Papa George. Geez, if it bothered me, I can't imagine how it felt to the guy who created the whole thing, even with the money it made.

Indy stuff has been hitting the stores too. The LEGOs came out a while ago, now I'm finding Dr. Pepper with Indy boxes. Good thing I'm not much of an Indy collector!

Comments

[maidenjedi]

We found Indy M&Ms at the store the other day.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

Han may not have a fancy schmancy PhD to his name, but he is far from "dumb as a stump." Besides which, HF has more in common with Han than with Indy -- Han is clearly a self-taught man in terms of flying a ship and maintaining it, much as HF taught himself carpentry from books. So does Harrison consider himself "dumb as a stump" too? Or is it just Han he considers dumb because he has some weird grudge against SW?

As for Indy's supposed depth -- what depth? He never changes, he never grows. (Han does both.) He's exactly the same character at the end of "Last Crusade." Speaking of which, "Last Crusade" is a movie in which Indy gets fooled and outwitted by a female Nazi, because he's too busy letting Little Indy do his thinking for him -- even his father is amazed that he could be so stupid.

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

Han and Indy are two of my favorite characters. They're both great. But I do have to agree with may child that out of the two, it's Han that grows as a character. Indy is the same throughout all three movies.

[sreya.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Poor Papa George! Really, I find it amazing that he agreed to do Indy IV after being burned so badly by the prequel nastiness.

Hey, maybe this May for the anniversary, we should start a Thank You campaign of fans mailing nice thank you notes to George!

[matril.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed George Lucas went ahead and did Indy IV with that kind of bitterness. He definitely needs to hear some more prequel love. I'm glad he made them! I appreciate the OT even more thanks to them.

I would say Han and Indy are about equally deep, except Han's character undergoes continual growth. The Indy movies are too episodic for any prolonged character development.

[nic]

I recently watched TESB with fresh eyes. Han was AMAZING. A gentleman, a hero, and seemed so much deeper than the man I'd seen before. (I'd always been a Luke-girl and paid little attention to Han.)

I don't get it how anyone can dismiss him.