{"id":11758,"date":"2013-12-03T11:55:58","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=11758"},"modified":"2013-12-03T11:55:58","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:55:58","slug":"spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html","title":{"rendered":"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s been up on YouTube for almost three years now, but last week, for some reason, a vintage TV special on the making of Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/a><\/i> (1981) began making the rounds on the internet.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe I had ever seen it before, though I do recall a friend at school telling me about it and describing one sequence in it, in which Steven Spielberg tries to give Harrison Ford a passionate summary of where the story is going, only to have Ford abandon him mid-story to put some mustard on his hot dog or whatever.<\/p>\n

I mention the special here because it includes a clip of Spielberg on the set of the film\u2019s climax, explaining to some of the extras what the supernatural concept behind that climax is \u2014 and I was intrigued to hear Spielberg suggest that the film might actually differ from the traditions surrounding the Ark as he understands them.<\/p>\n

You can watch the video for yourself below, but the relevant bit comes shortly after the 27-minute mark. In it, Spielberg tells the extras, who are dressed as Nazi soldiers:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s said that the tablets returned to God, and that the Ark was destroyed in the temple of Solomon, but our film, based on what George Lucas\u2019s beliefs are vis-\u00e0-vis the Ark, is that the Ark was in fact moved and not destroyed in the temple, and then discovered by you wonderful people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If there is, in fact, a tradition according to which the tablets of the Law returned to God before the Ark was destroyed, I had never heard of it prior to this, but it certainly sounds like the sort of tradition that could<\/i> have grown around the Ark.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing for me is how Spielberg openly says that the movie disagrees<\/i> with the tradition that he is familiar with.<\/p>\n

As my friend Steven D. Greydanus<\/a> has argued, one of the reasons Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/i> towers above its sequels is because the film\u2019s central plot device \u2014 the Ark of the Covenant \u2014 is no mere MacGuffin. Instead, it is a sacred Hebrew object that taps into \u201cthe quest for Jewish identity and imagination pervading Spielberg\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly still there in the film, but it\u2019s interesting to hear Spielberg admit, basically, that he compromised a bit, by following Lucas\u2019s beliefs about the fate of the Ark and not whatever his own beliefs might be \u2014 and it\u2019s also interesting to see that Spielberg felt compelled to tell the extras what the original<\/i> tradition was.<\/p>\n

Lucas, for his part, shows up briefly to say that the film\u2019s climax was inspired by the fact that, within the Bible and perhaps other traditions as well, \u201cit was always that when they opened the Ark, an event took place.\u201d (See, e.g., I Samuel 6:19<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The making-of special also talks about how Indiana Jones and his girlfriend Marion close their eyes when the Ark is opened and the ghosts rise up because, \u201chere, the premise is that like Lot\u2019s wife, looking will turn them to stone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I must admit I had never made that<\/i> association before \u2014 I had always assumed that Indy could not look at the power of God and live for the same reason Moses and others could not do the same<\/a> \u2014 but the Lot\u2019s wife analogy certainly works.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here is the special in its entirety. Enjoy:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-iAgSyGy5iE<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/i> marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[633,208,201,171,202,209],"class_list":["post-11758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-ark-of-the-covenant","tag-george-lucas","tag-indiana-jones","tag-lot","tag-raiders-of-the-lost-ark","tag-steven-spielberg"],"yoast_head":"\nSpielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2013\/12\/raiders-lucas-spielberg-a-300x163.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html\",\"name\":\"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions","description":"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions","og_description":"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2013\/12\/raiders-lucas-spielberg-a-300x163.jpg"}],"author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html","name":"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-03T19:55:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Raiders of the Lost Ark marked a compromise between the Jewish traditions Steven Spielberg knew and the beliefs of George Lucas.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/12\/spielberg-and-lucas-on-ark-of-the-covenant-traditions.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spielberg and Lucas on Ark of the Covenant traditions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}