He’s SMILING in the poster….yet, he’s using his whip, which suggests he’s probably in some trouble (if he had to resort to his whip).
I get it, the SMILE in the poster (as goofy, out of place and incongruent as it is)…is probably supposed to suggest that this movie is a rollicking good time. However, it takes the DANGER out of the imagery and instead makes it look like a kids movie.
It's like those goofy Pixar posters where they always have the characters smiling and waving to the audience.
shareHe enjoys using his whip. Who wouldn't? 😉
shareMaybe he's just practicing with the whip
shareIts actually a re-release poster http://www.impawards.com/1981/raiders_of_the_lost_ark_ver2.html (hence the tagline 'The Return of The Great Adventure'), but it kind of got adopted as the main Raiders poster used on vhs, dvd etc
the actual theatre one in 1981 was this one http://www.impawards.com/1981/raiders_of_the_lost_ark_ver1.html
That is not the reason, obviously.
These goofy movies are Spielberg's and George's attempts to re-create their childhood TV serials on the big screen and in a more contemporarily 'modern' way. "Indy" and the 'Great Adventure' existed LONG before these movies, and it's sometimes surprising, how closely the movies follow some of the silly formulas of those old TV serials, the guy sometimes even looks like Indy quite a lot.
So the 'Great Adventure' does not refer to.. I mean, what do you even think it refers to? ITSELF? .. but it refers to the old TV serials that George and Spielberg used to watch as kids.
Now, as far as the posters themselves, I don't agree with the original poster. First of all, movie posters are whatever, who cares, it's the movie that counts. Some posters are 'cool', others have interesting ideas or visuals, but if someone is or is not smiling, what difference does that make?
Second of all, LOOK at the smile carefully. It's not the kind of friendly neighbourhood 'happy to see you'-smile. It's a smile depicting CONFIDENCE, as in 'you have no chance against me, you miserable fool, HAVE AT YOU!'-type of smile. It's Indy being 100% certain this situation is easy for him to handle, and that he's better than whatever might be threatening him - he's about to dispose the enemy easily with his whip, and whipping out the whip might have given the enemy a whiplash due to being so surprised at it, which makes Indy smile even more.
Do you want to see a confident, energetic, resourceful character on the poster, or do you want to see a depressed, sad old man wanting to k himself, having no action while the whip just peacefully sleeps on his shoulder?
You want to see depressed misery and gloom, or do you want to see something triumphant and exciting?
You can see these things from all kinds of angles, why did you choose to see the posters that way? It tells more about you than the posters..
He's in danger...and loving it!
shareYou’re right. His smile diminishes the danger of the plot and has now ruined the movie for me.
share