“‘Not Exactly a Knight'”: Arthurian Narrative and Recuperative Politics in the Indiana Jones Trilogy” written by Susan Aronstein is an in depth analysis of the Indiana Jones trilogy in reference to the Arthurian legend. Throughout the essay, Aronstein relates how the trilogy mirrors those elements outlined by the Arthurian legend. Though her essay is lengthy and hard to follow sometimes, it is evident that the Indiana Jones trilogy indeed embodies the legend successfully. Many stories in contemporary America exemplify the Arthurian legend. One such story is that of Indiana Jones. Aronstein noted Jones’ resemblance to a synonymous Arthurian character Perceval.
She stated: “that Perceval follows, from his integration into the Arthurian construct, through his aborted… attempt at the Grail Castle, bears a startling resemblance to Indiana Jones’s own development as an American knight” (6).
When examined closely, it is obvious that Indiana Jones epitomizes the standard Arthurian character. An Arthurian knight is characterized namely by three specific elements: an encounter with a foreign land, pursuit to save a beloved maid, and the quest for the Holy Grail or something synonymous. The Indiana Jones trilogy does just that. As Aronstein observes: “The Temple of Doom narrates The Hero’s Encounter with the Otherworldly Wasteland, Raiders of the Lost Ark revolves around The Imprisoned Maiden motif, and The Last Crusade recounts The Quest for the Holy Grail” (8).
The Term Paper on The Truth Behind The Arthurian Legend
In scores of languages and shaped to all sorts of storytelling genres, from medieval epic to modern musical, tales of Arthur and his knights have been enthralling people for more than a thousand years (Alexander 1). The question is, however, how much truth is there behind the Arthurian Legend? King Arthur, Camelot, and the Round Table are three of the central elements in the tales that are told of ...
Through this quote, Aronstein again successfully reiterated her point that the Indiana Jones trilogy exploits the Arthurian legend. Overall, Aronstein’s essay seems accurate. The piece is very detailed and overly lengthy. She effectively made her point within the first eight pages of her essay; however, the information she presented was very convincing. Aronstein was correct in observing that character’s such as Indiana Jones follow suit with the already prevalent legend of King Arthur and his court in current American entertainment.
