• the217
• Blogs
• Capes & Cowls
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull *SPOILERS*

• RSS

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull *SPOILERS*

posted by Matt Knicl at 11:00 pm.

• Bookmark & Share
• Comments (0)

The X-Files Paradox

One of the main criticisms that I’m hearing is about the subject matter of the film, which of course was the mystery Indiana had to uncover. At first, I was a little hesitant when we discovered the contents of the box in the air base, and while I was violently opposed to the notion of aliens and Roswell for Indiana to tackle, the premise was altogether not outside the realm of Indiana Jones feasibility.

Not only has Indiana witnessed the relics of supernatural artifacts of the past in action, like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, but he has witnessed pagan magics at work and met an immortal knight. Why not an alien? The way the history of these “grays” was taken was also interesting in that the evidence of aliens in early civilization exist in paintings and the crystal skull. The film borrows on the actual theories some fringe scientists and archaeologists have.

Actually seeing the alien was a problem for some people, and while Indiana has met living supernatural entities before, I agree the way the aliens were presented were a unique, specific portrayal that meant the film had to decide what aliens should be, as opposed to hinting to the idea of aliens in general. There may be other lifeforms out there, but to have them made of crystal with hive minds that were magnetic was too filtered for my taste. But, showing the gray was not a bad thing because, using the aforementioned fringe theories, there are several instances of early culture that hint toward beings that looked like that - elongated headed creatures driving wheel-like vehicles. The problem is that the film had to make creative decisions, like altering the crystal skull’s shape, which pigeon-holed this as science fiction instead of science possibility.

Of course, as a comic nerd obsessed with the ideas of continuity and how things fit together, my main concern is the X-Files paradox. What is the X-Files paradox? It’s where a series of film or movies make universal claims about reality and then contradict it in a following episode. What I mean is in X-Files they have aliens creating mankind in one episode, and in another Mulder will meet Satan, meaning God created man. Mythology and science contradict and nothing makes sense.

Indiana Jones has God and supernatural entities influencing events in “magical” ways. Then, all of a sudden in this film we have aliens and the idea that they built human society. That doesn’t jive. But, these two ideas don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Let’s go back to the fringe theories - many of them use Biblical passages as proof that aliens have visited Earth, like the story of Ezekiel in the chariot equals an alien in a spaceship abducting a human.

The professor at the end says that the aliens went to “the space between space.” For me, what this means (and I’m glad this wasn’t overtly stated) is that the aliens are what we humans would call an angel. Creepy, huh?

I found this movie a good installment to Indiana Jones because he is uncovering the mysteries of human existence. I’d actually love to see a 5th, though I wonder what the next mystery could be.

For further reading, check out books about “Ancient Astronauts”, the works of Thor Heyerdahl, and John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies.

Matt Knicl: My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.