Indiana Jones and the Building of a World
“World Building. Ugh. I hate it.” That’s my usual response. But that’s not fair, because I don’t hate it. I actually like world building. I love the nuances of a universe that contains all the same stories. It’s nothing new in the world of literature, television or cinema. So I should rephrase…
“World Building. Ugh. I hate it when it’s done wrong.” That’s much better. And boy, is it done wrong sometimes. That’s not to say that the people doing the building are wrong…wait. I’m trying to be nice. And you can tell that last sentence trying to be nice felt forced, right? Kind of like Thor taking a time-traveling bath in the middle of Avengers: Age of Ultron or perhaps it felt forced like having to see Dr. Wu boarding a helicopter with samples of Dino DNA in the middle of the climax of Jurassic World.
I know, I know. I’m being mean. I’m nit picking. I watch too many movies. I know, I know, I know. Again, I like world building, but when it comes at the sacrifice of the story I’m being told then a step back is in order and reevaluation of what you’re trying to do, as a storyteller, should be examined.
We all survived the original Star Wars trilogy without winks and nods to future installments. We handled the first Back to the Future without having strange time-traveling portals opening up revealing something from the later films. (And 2 and 3 don’t count. They were written at the same time and shot back-to-back)
Could you imagine if Raiders of the Lost Ark (I will not call it Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) came out this year and the filmmakers decided to spin it off into different franchises? Could you? Could you?
I did. (You might need to click and blow it up)
I'm not going to lie. I'd probably watch them all. Damn you, world building exercise. You win.