Four Stages of Development – Set-up to Complicating Action Set-up to Complicating Action – Complicating Action to Development Complicating Action to Development – Development to Climax/Epilogue Development to Climax/Epilogue Dangling Clause – The Monkey The Monkey – Marion and Drinking Marion and Drinking – The Snake Pit The Snake Pit Motif – Red Red – Indiana Jones Theme Song Indiana Jones Theme Song – The Ark Theme Song The Ark Theme Song Review Works Cited

1.The Set-Up – Meet the characters – Get a feel for who they are – Establish the double-goal structure Character goal with love interest (usually) to complicate things. 2.Complicating Action – Action goes in a new direction – New situation that the protagonist must cope with – Antagonist – Conflict and tension 3.Development – Goals are in place – Many incidents that create action suspense and delay – Best part to “get the popcorn” at 4.Climax and Epilogue – Straight forward progress toward a resolution – Build steadily toward a point of high action – Will the protagonist’s goals be achieved or not? – Nothing new should be introduced – Ends quickly after

Initially, there is the set up. The set up is where Jones is first assigned to find the ark and travels to meet Marion for a crucial piece to find it. Once we have met Indiana Jones and Marion, we transition from set up to complicating action. The complicating action first begins when we meet the antagonist and he burns down Marion’s bar.

Once we have been introduced to the antagonist, we must move on to the development of the movie. The development takes place when Jones is chasing the location of the lost ark. He knows what he’s looking for, and is on his way to find it.

The development ends when Jones finally finds the ark and is chasing it down. The climax occurs when the ark is opened by the antagonist and then the antagonist and all other Nazis are killed by the ark. Soon after, the epilogue takes place and Jones is back with the people where he initially got his mission as an archeologist. When he walks out, he meets up with Marion and the movie ends directly afterword.

A dangling clause is the use of hints or clues to suggest future action. This is also known as “Foreshadow” This technique is usually used in order to create suspense. There are five common clues to help identify these dangling clauses: 1.Dreams 2.Warnings or Curses 3.Confidence or Cockiness 4.Abundant Attention 5.Static Character

One Dangling Clause that appears in the movie is when the monkey sees a man on a motorcycle and the monkey says “uh-oh” The Monkey saying “uh-oh” suggests something negative about the man on the motorcycle and suggests that something bad is going to happen that involves him. Sure enough, we see that same man in a later scene grabbing a poison of some kind.

Another Dangling Clause in this movie begins where the audience initially sees Marion drinking a lot of alcohol in some sort of drinking competition. This seems like Marion has a real problem with alcohol abuse. Later in the film, Marion is captured and it is her outstanding drinking ability that allows her to make an escape attempt. Marion drinks with a man holding her hostage until he becomes too drunk and Marion uses a knife to try and escape.

Indiana Jones absolutely hates snakes. Jones first reveals this when he and another guy are escaping from the Natives and there is a snake on the plane. Later in the film, Jones has to enter a pit full of snakes in order to reach where the ark is revealed to be.

A motif is a line, image, action, color, or musical theme that is woven throughout the film in order to produce a coherent text

The red motif is spread all throughout the movie. – Initially, the native’s clothing – Lines on the map to show flight path – Monkey’s clothing – Assassin is wearing striped red tie – The poison mentioned earlier – The spine on Jones’s journal – The dot of light that shows Indiana Jones the location of the ark – The Nazi flag – Napkin used by Marion to hide a knife

This motif is spread all through out the movie. – When Indiana Jones is escaping from the natives on a plane. – The plain to Cairo, Egypt – When he finds Marion – When the stature in the underground place with the ark falls. – The motif also reoccurs in the credits, when Indiana Jones is not on screen.

This motif is also heard throughout the movie! – It is played when a book with the picture of the ark is showing – When Jones is going down a rope into the place with the miniature city – In the Ark Cave (The place past the snake pit) – When they find the ark – When the Nazis have the ark

Overall Raider of the Lost Ark is a great movie. The movie has a great story line of action and adventure that is just right for the audience. There is an element of danger among the movie while Indiana Jones is on his quest, which creates suspense, but everything unwinds nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. If you’d like to check it out, you can find more information here:

Works Cited Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Harrison Ford. Paramount, Film.