Raiders of the Copyrighted Images

A few nights ago, Chi Alpha put a twist on the traditional movie night. Rather than watching a single feature-length movie all the way through, we were told to bring in our favorite movie clips, which we would watch and then analyze.

When I first heard the idea, a number of Star Wars clips instantly jumped to mind. But, alas, I wasn't able to show a single one, because I stand firm in my decision not to own the DVDs until the original non-greedo-shoots-first-dewbacks-and-boba-fett-in-every-other-shot-stupid-hayden-freaking-christiansen-at-the-end-of-jedi trilogy is released. (By the way, it looks as though George has missed the boat again.)

So, forgoing the likes of Lawrence, Fiddler, and Lord of the Rings -- we watch enough of that as it is -- I decided to show a clip from Raiders of the Lost Ark, my second favorite flick (the entire original trilogy counts as number one).

At first I was going to show this clip, for the simple reason that I think it's the most underrated scene in the movie. I mean, I could barely keep from drowning in the deep end of the Big Kahuna wave machine at Noah's Ark. And here Indy is, after everything he's been through already, diving into an ocean (oh, all right, big sea) and swimming after a Nazi Submarine.


What if the submarine submerged right before he got there? What if he did manage to reach the submarine, just to see some flunky Nazi sailor pop out of the hatch and Luger him right in the head? And if, by some miracle, he made it there in one piece, what was he going to do once he got inside a submarine filled with Nazi crewmen? Pull up his collar and throw on a pair of Groucho glasses?

But you see, those aren't the types of questions Indy asks. Indy asks questions like, "Where is the ark now?" and "I'm going to get the ark back!"

And that's why Indy is my hero -- he acts before he has a chance to think.

I live by the same code, man. That's why instead of going to class today, I discovered ways to pirate copyrighted images from my favorite DVD (also, my toe hurts).

But back to the movie night, when it came time to show the scene, I couldn't do it, because I couldn't justify it as my "favorite" clip -- just an underrated one.

Therefore, my next post (in true Colonel fashion) will reveal the scene I actually showed along with all applicable lessons, such as the danger of hubris and the indisputable value of Insta-Cliff.