In the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the story lines held some truth behind them, but was mostly formed on multiple cultures. The semi-truth can be shown in the plots of the Hovitos, the Ark of Covenant and the Nazis. To begin with, the Chachapoyan territory is where Indy went for the golden idol and the Indian tribe was based off of the Quechua tribe, the Hovitos, was shown very accurate to the original in their appearance. Indygear.com, states, “The real native inhabitants of the Peruvian Andes are indeed the Quechua, and as I learned during an expedition to Peru, they still speak the language of the ancient Incas today. The Quechuas' traditional ponchos and caps look exactly as they appear in Raiders of the Lost Ark, with bright red wool and geometric patterns being common. Many of these garments are woven from alpaca wool. You can buy such clothing in the markets of Cuzco, the Incas' ancient capital city in Peru's Sacred Valley.” The Golden Idol of Fertility was fictional based upon Omecihuatl or the Tlazolteotl, the Aztec Goddess of creation. Secondly, Ra is an Egyptian god, not a staff and headpiece. It was said that the Nazis found the lost city of Tanis buried in a sandstorm in the 1930s, but really Tanis was the capital of Ancient Egypt from 1078 B.C to 712 B.C that was left in the dust when the royal capital moved to Memphis which,was found by a Frenchman in 1939.The Ark of Covenant was supposedly hidden in Tanis, but in reality,wasn’t hidden in Tanis. Its location is unknown, with only rumors of residing in Aksum, Ethiopia. The movie made the Ark lay within an ancient chest. However, no one knows what the Ark looks like or what it does. Legend has it that it holds fragments of the Ten Commandments,and if in one’s possession,they would be invincible-the movie had it that they would have an invincible army. Played out in the film, the Nazis looked for and found the Ark, there is no proof that the Nazis found the Ark or the Holy Grail. Infoplease.com, says, “Nazi archeologists did try to reinterpret history to emphasize Germanic historical connections with ancient religions in order to build a strong national identity. For instance, the establishment of the Olympic Torch race between Athens and Berlin in 1936 was based on the idea of connecting Nazi German with the gods and rituals of Ancient Greece. No evidence has been found that the Nazis ever located any lost artifacts like the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail.” Lastly, the capuchin monkey found in Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark was not accurate. Capuchin monkeys are indigenous to Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru and are found in groups-not in a dry place with a human as his only companion. Egypt was poor at this time so how did the man import a monkey-which, probably would be expensive since it’s exotic and transportation was less modern. Even though some storylines weren’t very accurate, they were still enjoyable to watch due to its loosely tied connections with history, individuals already know how history goes, but when you give it a twist it’s worthwhile.
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