Is Indiana Jones bad for archaeology?

No

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by Themis Libra

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What people such as Ray Burke need to understand is a basic concept between real life and Hollywood. Everything that is depicted in Hollywood is taking the facts and somewhat skewing them. People in Wicca sometimes get offended by movies which use the Pentacle for movies that state that the Pentacle is a sign of "Satan" or that there's actually a division in magick or that casting a "love spell" is harmless!

Some people might be offended by the movies "Free Willy" because it's about a boy communicating with a killer whale. Others might be offended by "Deep Blue Sea" - talking about using the brain matter of sharks to try and cure a disease or even "I Am Legend" to people trying to really cure cancer because it really takes a minimum of a decade to find a cure for any illness/disease.

Trying to compare the movies of "Indiana Jones" to the actual lives of Archaeologists is like comparing an onion to a cherry. If the movies of "Indiana Jones" made people interested in Archeology, more than likely they would end up watching documentaries that deal with Archeology so really, there shouldn't be any complaints about these movies!

Archeology in itself is a very interesting field of study - people get to learn the past, people's lives, and what went on in a certain period of the world that no one really knew about. Discovering the past can help shape the future and that's whats great about Archeology.

If there was a movie that would truly insult the world of Archeology is: Tomb Raider. That movie is an insult to the Archeology community because it claims that a woman with big breasts, is eye candy, and only has a degree in blowing things up should be running around tampering with uncovered caverns filled with artifacts.

Movies such as Indiana Jones and National Treasure bring a sense of adventure with a mixture of intelligence to the fictional version of real life Archeology.

Everyone knows that Archeology is cleaning and digging areas carefully to ensure that nothing is damaged - archaeologist are like the crime scene technicians of the past - collecting evidence that life existed in a location that was thought to of had no life at all. They help fill in gaps of history and that's a commendable job.

People who claim that the Indiana Jones movies insult the field of Archeology clearly have no respect for art because art depicts real life - it doesn't carbon copy it.

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