Indiana Jones and the magical artefacts: Powerful objects in popular media and their dangerous connotations
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Keywords
Indiana Jones, Archaeology, Popular Culture, Film, Television, History
Abstract
Popular media is pervaded by magical artefacts. They drive the narratives of films, television shows, and streaming series, enhance their plots, inform the actions of their characters, and provide the viewer with an entertaining and engaging story. However, constant inclusion of these mystical objects provesdangerous to real-world material culture, whether intentional or not. This essay explores how seemingly innocent fictional objects can harm the discipline of archaeology and damage real artefacts through the narratives they tell. Firstly, I detail the tropes involving these artefacts: the lost object, legitimising power through an object, and the need to destroy an object on religious grounds. Secondly, I discuss the impact of mass media on the interpretation of magical artefacts by archaeologists and curators, and how these narratives can harm archaeology as a discipline. Ultimately, I demonstrate how the uses of magical artefacts in popular media have notable ramifications for vulnerable communities across the globe, and the responsibilities we have—as either archaeologists, creators of entertainment, or consumers of popular media—to consider how cultural groups will be affected by the stereotypes and magical objects we attribute to them.
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