Mansor Puteh

 

I just read Christopher Goodwin’s “Lucas’ Touch, Spielberg’s Magic” on their latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that was republished in the New Straits Times of Malaysia today, 20 May, 2008, two days before the film opened in local cinemas and elsewhere.

           In July 1995 I wrote a review, “Spielberg’s films mostly propaganda” for a local paper in which I posed this question:  Did I teach Spielberg how to make better films?

            I sent a copy to his office at the Universal Studios lot.  Later I read from an American trade magazine that the reason why he was reluctant to produce a new Indiana Jones film was because he did not wish to produce one that would leave “a bitter taste in the mouth.”

            How could this be so?

            As I wrote in my article and reiterated in my letter to him, all first three Indiana Jones films had “crooks” or “bad people” who are of color:  Arabs, Muslims, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, South Americans, Asian Indians, Chinese, and so on.

            How could he not feel guilty for doing this notwithstanding the tons of money he was making?  Yes, I wanted to make him feel angry and guilty.

           I must have had some effect, as some of his later films would prove.  Not long after, he produced The Color Purple, starring Oprah Winfrey, about an Afro-American woman in the early years of America.  This was followed by Amistaad, the story of an African forced to come to America to be traded as a slave on cotton plantations.

            It took the team of Spielberg and Lucas to come up with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which does not have characters or images that demean America.  The “crooks” in this film are the Old Russian communists of 1957 when Soviet Union was seen by many Americans to be ruthless.  

            Sometimes I wonder if Soviet or Russian filmmakers had ever made films where their cooks are Americans instead.  It would be fun to view such films to study the psychology of the Russian film makers and their audiences.

            Spielberg’s “adventure films” (read American adventure films) may thrill many American viewers, but he should not expect those of us from here to feel the same way.  Like others in the audience, as a youngster I was confused when I first saw his Raiders of the Lost Ark in Kuala Lumpur.  I soon learnt fast why this and his other two films did not seem right to me and others in the audience; the films had images that demean us.  I was annoyed by the stereotypical portrayal of Arabs in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

            Later as a graduate student at Columbia’s MFA Film Directing program, I learned a lot more about films and how Hollywood producers think.  I was lucky to have as instructors such luminaries as Milos Forman who won Oscars for best director in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, and count among my classmates one who won an Oscar nomination for best screenplay in Philadelphia.

            This forced me to again take a look at Spielberg’s films.  I do not want to believe that I had taught Spielberg and/or Lucas how to make better films, although privately that was what I wanted to do with my letter.

            I wish Spielberg would use the medium of the cinema more to promote greater understanding between all the peoples in the world.  Film makers like him need not be trapped making films that demean others, meaning the people of color, nor do they need to produce films promoting white supremacy.

            The world of cinema has not changed much since it was first introduced at the end of the 18^th Century.  Meanwhile the world has, especially since the “9-11” incident.

            Film makers, especially those in Hollywood, should use this creative medium to soothe the pains of the masses, especially victims of powerful states and leaders.

            Indiana Jones is no balm.  Spielberg and Lucas have a bit more to learn if they truly want to be accepted as filmmakers to the world and not only to Americans and other Westerners.

           

 The writer is currently working on a feature film, Malaysian Snow, which he hopes to introduce a new genre in world cinema.

 

 

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.