Spielberg, Lucas and company filled the movie with a lot of references to mysterious places and magical artifacts. I expected them to come out strong considering that the last movie from the celebrated franchise was released almost two decades ago but I didn’t expect them to integrate a lot of this mythical stuff. Let’s see how many you noticed in the movie. Let’s begin with the mysterious places.
First, there’s the military base Hangar 51 in the Nevada desert. It’s a reference to the famous Area 51 (also in Nevada) of the United States Air Force. It’s primary purpose is to support development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems though conspiracy buffs say that this is a haven for aliens (remember Roswell and X-files).
Next, there are the Nazca Lines. These are a geolyphs (drawings on the ground) located in the Pampa region of Peru. The Lines were first spotted when commercial airlines began flying across the Peruvian desert in the 1920's. They are believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. A leading theory is that the Nazca people's motivations were religious, that the images were constructed so that only gods in the sky could see them.
Some of the most famous Nasca geoglyphs include:
The Spider (approximately 46m long)
The Monkey (55m long)
The Guanay (guano bird - 280m long)
The Lizzard (180m)
The Hummingbird (50m long)
The Killer Whale (65m long)
The Pelican - the largest of them all (at 285m)
Figure 2. The Nazca Monkey (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines)
Then, there’s El Dorado. In the movie, they refer to it as Akator. According to several legends, El Dorado is a “city of gold” and it is located in South America. Enticed by these legends, European empires sent a lot of expeditions to search for this mythical place, the most famous of them being that of Francisco de Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro in 1541. This historic expedition was heavily intertwined with the movie’s plot. Curiously, this was also the case in the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007).
Now let’s go to the objects. First, there was the alien body that the Russians wanted to retrieve from the military base. As described above, Area 51 (where Hangar 51 is most probably based) is believed to be where the US government conducts testing of experimental weapons and, according to conspiracy theorists, where they keep closely guarded secrets about alien-related stuff. Area 51 sometimes serves as a secret government warehouse - a place where the government stores various items whose existence the government wants the general populace to remain ignorant. If you noticed in one scene, The Ark of Covenant (which Indy was able to get in the first movie) can be seen in a box that was broken open in the hangar. (As described in the Bible, The Ark of Covenant is a sacred container where the original Stone Tablets containing The Ten Commandments (given by God to Moses in Mt. Sinai), together with Aaron’s staff and manna. This sacred container was last seen in Solomon’s Temple and was believed to have been lost when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.)
And then there are the crystal skulls. The crystal skulls are a number of human skull models fashioned from blocks of clear or milky quartz crystal rock. These crystal skulls are apparently of ancient origin were found in parts of Mexico, Central America and South America. Many indigenous people speak of their remarkable magical and healing properties though recent studies concluded that the skulls were crafted in the 19th century in Germany. Of these so-called crystal skulls, the famous of them are the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull, The British Crystal Skull and The Paris Crystal Skull.
Figure3. The Anna Mitchell-Hedges Skull (from http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_6_1.htm)
And speaking of crystals and skulls, sculptor Damien Hirst recently held his Beyond Belief exhibit in White Cube Hoxton Square and White Cube Mason’s Yard. One of his work was For the Love of God. This is a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, weighing in total 1,106.18 carats. The centerpiece of this creation is a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead of the skull. The artwork costs £14 million to produce. The skull was bought from a shop in Islington, North London, and is thought to belong to a 35-year-old European who lived between 1720 and 1810.
It is believed that title was supposedly inspired by his mother, who once asked, “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?”
Figure 4. Damien Hirst's For the Love of God (2007) (from http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/damien_hirst1/)
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.world-mysteries.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6712015.stm
http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/beyond_belief/
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/damien_hirst1/
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