Peter's New Project

The only time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark was in a theater in 1981. It was a profoundly alienating experience, and motivated me in a perverse way. (I quoted from it in both the AF pilot and the LTV short War.) During the opening sequence, when Indy steals an idol belonging to a native tribe who chase him through the jungle, the coaxing of viewer sympathy was so out of whack, the heavy hand of the director was so obvious, it affected my film watching from then on.

I only caught glimpses of parts 2 and 3 when they happened to be playing on TV in the background. I remember reading that Spielberg himself has apologized for 2, and I believe as penance for the pervasive racism in it, he made The Color Purple.

Hmmm, I had assumed that the people chasing after him were merely a local tribe from the area that his rival archaeologist had paid to hunt him down. There was the whole scene when Indiana came out and the rival was there giving them instructions in their language, which Indiana couldn't speak, but I can see your interpretation of it.

I don't know, I think I've become a little jaded to the constant drive for sensitivity towards presenting positive images of other cultures and races. Not that PC doesn't have it's place, or it's uses, but it really seems like one of those impossible fights against immorality. It's like we're searching for this perceptual perfection to impress into the masses of our society. But of course the enemy is invisible, and incalculable, and everchanging, so it ultimately feels like were in 1984's never-ending war, the one that's taking place just outside the city walls. The one that occupies a good portion of our society's time and concern as their own lives are left to fester and reek of poogas.
I don't know, I probably am just jaded. Maybe Utopia's right around the corner.

I wonder if the fact that Indy was fighting the Nazis was supposed to offset his other injustices...

http://video1.washingtontimes.com/zadzooks/2007/07/lara_croft_meets_peter_chung_1.html

(Appropriate venue for coverage of this particular project, considering who owns the Washington Times.)

Thanks for the link Peter, very interesting! Also, good luck with your current projects, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts, as usual.

HI PERTER!!! :)

While digging around for press on the Tomb Raider shorts, I came across this, which I hadn't seen before. This was from Cannes during the Animatrix release. Michael Arias went on to direct the Tekkon Kinkreet movie soon afterwards.

http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&lang=en&year=2003&fest=cannes_logs2003&page=play&partner=&medi_id=20299