By: Alec Lawrence
THE INDIANA JONES MIND-BLOWING
ADVENTURE EXTRAVAGANZA!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Slide Three: Plot Development Explanation
 Slide Four-Six: Transitions throughout Plot
Development
 Slide Seven: Dangling Causes Explanation
 Slide Eight-Ten: Dangling Causes
 Slide Eleven: Motif Explanation
 Slide Twelve-Fifteen: Patterns of Motifs
 Slide Sixteen: Conclusion
 Slide Seventeen: Works Cited
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PLOT DEVELOPMENT EXPLANATION
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Set Up: In the set up, the audience meets the characters,
learns their traits, and establishes the “double-goal”
structure of the movie.
Complicating Action: The action goes in a new direction; a
new situation arises that the protagonist needs to conquer in
order to progress on his mission.
Development: All the goals are in reaching distance, and
different situations arise, allowing for suspense, action, and
delay in completing the original goals of the film.
Climax: Considered the highest point of action, where all the
work of the protagonist pays off, or doesn’t.
Epilogue: The resolution of the film; nothing new is
happening, and the protagonists life goes on.
TRANSITIONS THROUGHOUT PLOT
DEVELOPMENT

Set Up to Complicating Action: We meet Indiana
Jones in the jungle searching for an ancient
gold artifact, which allows us to understand his
archeological career and traits. Later, we meet
Marion in her bar when suddenly, after Indiana
walks in to tell her to help him look for the Ark,
the Nazi’s come.
TRANSITIONS THROUGHOUT PLOT
DEVELOPMENT

Complicating Action to Development: When the
Nazi’s arrive, they ask for the Medallion which
would allow them to find where the Ark is
buried, but then have a showdown once
Indiana comes back in to save Marion from
them.
TRANSITIONS THROUGHOUT PLOT
DEVELOPMENT
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Development to Climax to Resolution: The search for the ark
ensues, which is found by Indiana Jones. Later the Nazi’s
capture Indiana, and take the Ark. After Jones escapes, he
high-jacks the truck which has the ark, leaving the Nazi’s no
choice but to chase him. Jones has the Ark back in his
possession after taking out the Nazi’s temporarily, and puts
it on the boat with him to go back to America, only then he is
met by the Nazi’s again. The Nazi’s take the Ark, kidnap
Marion, and leave him no choice but to follow, so Jones
hitches a ride on the Nazi’s submarine. Once the Ark is
opened and kills all of the Nazi’s who looked at it, Jones
takes the Ark, and Marion, to the United States where it is
kept safely in an unknown location.
DANGLING CAUSE EXPLANATION
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Dangling Cause: Something you see or hear
early in the film, but takes a while to return in
the film to show the true importance of it.
DANGLING CAUSES
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The Medallion: When Indiana is having is
fighting at Marion’s bar, the Nazi leader grabs
the fire-warmed Medallion, leaving an imprint
on his hand.
 Later,
we see the Nazi with the imprint of the
Medallion on his hand speaking to Nazi generals,
showing them the imprint, so they can make their
own.
DANGLING CAUSES

Snakes: In the beginning of the movie, Indiana Jones
has an encounter with a snake in his airplane seat. He
then states “I hate snakes!”
 Later in the film, Jones is trapped by the Nazi’s in
the corridor where he found the Ark. The corridor is
filled with snakes slithering all over the floor.
DANGLING CAUSES

Marion’s Drinking: Marion shows that she can
hold down their alcohol; she does this by
drinking shots with a man in her bar in front of
all of his friends.
 Later,
Marion is captured by the Nazi’s, and in an
effort to escape, she gets the guard drunk.
MOTIF EXPLANATION
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Motif: A repeated idea, image, or pattern that is
shown/heard throughout the film in order to
help reveal the theme of the text.
PATTERNS OF MOTIF’S
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Color: Throughout Raiders of the Lost Ark, all of
the colors consist of beige/brown sandy colors,
but when something potentially connected to
the Lost Ark appears, the color red is spotted
on the object or person.
PATTERNS OF MOTIF’S
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Indiana Jones’s Theme: Throughout the film,
Indiana’s theme song consists of heroic
sounding rhythms and loud blasting
instruments.
 Whenever
the theme is played, Indiana is about to
do something heroic.
PATTERNS OF MOTIF’S
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Marion’s Theme: Throughout the film, Marion’s
theme song consists of quite, melodic tones.
 Whenever
a “romantic” scene is coming up, or
Indiana is thinking about Marion, her theme song is
played.
PATTERNS OF MOTIF’S
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The Ark’s Theme: Throughout the film, the Arks
theme song consists of melodic, creepy, slow
and quite tones.
 Whenever
the the Ark is mentioned, an artifact is
pulled up, or anyone is close to the Ark, the theme
song is played.
CONCLUSION
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The entire film, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
consists of both enjoyable action and also
numerous motifs and dangling causes that the
audience can pick up quickly on in order to
follow the storyline of the movie better. The
movie is both easy to watch, but keeps the
audience on the edge of their seat, wondering
what is going to happen next, (most of it
because of the motifs spotted throughout).
WORKS CITED
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Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf.
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and Paul
Freeman.
Lucas Film/Paramount, 1981. DVD.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1990.
Web. 20 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/>.
"Film Guru Lad - Film Reviews." : Raiders of the Lost
Ark Review (Updated). Blogspot.com, May 2011.
Web. 21 Sept. 2012.
<http://filmgurulad.blogspot.com/2011/05/raidersof-lost-ark-release-date-august.html>.