Japanese Viewers Critisize “Indiana Jones”
Mezmerised by hot action stunts while watching the movie ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cristal Skull‘, most of us didn’t pay attention to a scene, which made Japanese film critics get angry.
The anger was directed toward one scene in particular. At the beginning of the movie, Indiana hides in a kitchen refrigerator to avoid a nuclear bomb detonation, which was being tested by the government. The fridge is then blown trough the sky at the time when the town disintegrates. Later, he appears from the fridge totally safe, with no damage at all.
This nuclear bomb scene did not make the general audience worry about historical issues or think beyond the movie itself. In their minds it was typical Indiana, always managing to escape unscathed from the most impossible situations.
Unlike the general audience, however, the Japanese took offence. Their sensitivity to the issue is obviously stemming from the two nuclear attacks they underwent in 1945, when the US detonated atomic bombs in two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They grasp the real consequences of such a bombing and felt that the movies portrayal of it was very negligent and ridiculous.
After the movie premiere, some Japanese expressed their critical attitude against this scene saying that it is absurd. Two of the critics were the most active ones:
According to the website japantoday , critics blame the film director in making light of such a nuclear blast, which is actually a very dangerous thing for humans.
Film critic Ken Terawaki criticized Spielberg for including scenes of a nuclear blast ‘‘just for fun’’ at a time when the world is struggling to do away with nuclear weapons as ‘‘a common enemy of humanity.’
The other concern is the message the movie carries for children, who will think that atomic bombs are not dangerous, because Indiana walked away from the blast.
‘‘The story continues without any reference to damage caused by the bomb and Dr. Jones goes back to his adventures without showing any aftereffects,’’ Otaka said.
The point is, whether people should just enjoy a movie and don’t think about context, or whether they need to go into every single scene in details. On the other hand, film directors should be more attentive, because even small innocent scenes can insult people.
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