The magic of Indiana Jones

I was a 15-year-old high school sophomore in 1981, when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" hit the big screen.

I was in a lousy mood - girl problems, I think - when my brother invited me to go see this awesome movie. I'd never heard of it. I told him I was too tired and would probably fall asleep.

"Trust me," he said. "You won't fall asleep in this movie."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" may not be the best movie I've ever seen (I'm giving the nod to "The Godfather II" on that one) but it's my favorite. In a lot of ways it set me on the path I follow today.

I was then - and remain - a history geek. But for the 15-year-old Jim Cornelius, history stopped in 1890. The 20th Century for me meant the bland suburbia in which I grew up. Yawn. No adventure there.

Then here's Indiana Jones in 1936, running around in South American jungles and Egyptian deserts, battling Nazis and looking cool in that fedora, cracking that bullwhip. And I really liked that dark-haired, feisty Marion Ravenwood. Gotta love a gal who packs a right cross like that and doesn't hesitate to use it.

Maybe this "modern" stuff had something to recommend it after all.

Like all the current archaeologists who trace their interest in their career to the spark provided by Indiana Jones, I can attribute my historical pursuits to the flame lit by "Raiders."

Over the years, I developed a keen interest in the World War I era and the years leading up to World War II. That's my home, historically speaking, and it's all on account of Indiana Jones.

I'm looking forward to seeing "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at Sisters Movie House this week. I know that nothing is ever going to match the magic of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Something only feels new once. And I'm not 15 anymore, thankfully.

But I'm sure I'm going to have a good time, with a nine-year-old daughter who thinks Indiana Jones hung the moon.

I'm looking forward to seeing how an aging Indiana Jones handles the pitfalls of his adventurous escapades.

And that's another part of the magic. Indiana Jones feels like someone you know.

There's something appealing about a hero like Indy. He's a bit of a rogue, especially in "Raiders," single-minded and sometimes ruthless. Yet he's just a guy - what Gary Cooper referred to as his kind of hero: "A right kind of fella."

He doesn't defeat his enemies through overwhelming physical prowess; in fact, he generally gets beat up. Instead, he beats the bad guys by outlasting them, through sheer tenacity. He just never gives up.

Indy is an intellectual. He's highly educated; he's a man of the world. He's a cultured man who isn't afraid to get dirty. Indiana Jones stands as a rebuttal to a cultural climate where intellect and culture are considered effete.

Indy doesn't swagger, but he can sure crack the whip.

It may seem excessive to analyze Indiana Jones as a cultural icon. He's just a movie hero, after all. Yet the movies are our myths, our cultural mirror, our version of the ancient stories that tell us who we are.

And I think we can do worse in our mythic archetypes than Professor Jones.