PHOTO ESSAY

Indy Spirit

Raiders of the Lost Ark: the remake

By Katrina Onstad

Raiders: The Adaptation Notebook Cover

"Raiders came out in the summer of 1981, and like every other enthusiastic, geeky boy around that time, I was coming off my Star Wars fascination. Okay, not even coming off it, I’m still a huge fan, and I’m 34. But I don’t collect toys anymore.

Why Indiana? Here’s the psychological angle. I come from a divorced family, my father was not always available. I gravitated towards the world of fantasy as a child. I was always traveling between my mom and dad. Little boys need a strong male figure to emulate, and Indiana Jones was that character. I thought: This is cool, he is a consummate, mythical hero in some ways but he’s also a professor, he’s accessible. He’s noble in his pursuits of ancient objects. He’s trying to find this pivotal item of the Judeo-Christian world [the arc of the covenant]. He was a solo kind of guy. He had his leather jacket and he’d go out there in the world, fight the bad guys and get the gold and get the girl. But he had girl problems, so he was a flawed hero. It was this incredible universe. I wanted to live in it."

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