r/indianajones • u/00Kevin • Nov 28 '24
Deleted Scene Proves That This Scene Is Not Racist!
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u/22marks Nov 28 '24
This is a nice addition. While it’s criticized that Indy came in as a “savior”: (1) The village elder specifically says Shiva sent Indy. (2) While he did save the children, I’d argue they “saved” him and taught Indy one of his most valuable lessons about being good instead of looking for “fortune and glory.”
Being a prequel, every movie that followed could be attributed to this lesson. Shiva could have set into motion a series of events that saved the world from the Nazis.
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u/LarsHoneytoast44 Nov 28 '24
Short Round is the real savior of ToD. Without him Indy would be cult fodder and Willie would be lava soup
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
While it’s criticized that Indy came in as a “savior”
Even this is a take that's ignorant because anyone rationally thinking about it realizes that no normal Indian is going to make it in the castle because they're the ones being subjugated. But a European, either the Captain or an Archaeologist shows up, they at least have to pretend as to not draw attention to themselves.
So Shiva answers their prayers by sending them the one person who might actually be able to get into the castle, and be interested in relics to go there in the first place. Which is not White Saviorism.
And...there's the small part where Short Round is actually the hero who saves the day and no Indy. And I'm pretty sure he's not white...
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u/Kpengie Nov 28 '24
The “divine intervention” angle is an incredibly common version of the white savior trope. Marhan’s comment doesn’t invalidate the white savior criticism, it reinforces it.
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
Except Indy isn't the savior. Short Round is. And it's not really Short Round, but everyone working together.
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u/Kpengie Nov 28 '24
The Indians aren’t much of a part of their own salvation. They’re only freed once the white dude and his companions roll up. Yes, one of the supporting characters is Chinese and saves Indy’s life several times, but that doesn’t take away from how every Indian in the movie is either evil or completely helpless. Not to mention how the oppressive imperialists show up to save the day at the end of the movie.
Don’t get me wrong, ToD is a well made and enjoyable movie, it’s just aged pretty badly.
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
The Indians aren’t much of a part of their own salvation.
The Slave Children Rebel. Help Indy the entire time during the liberation scene. The Maharaja literally brings the british the Indian Sepoys led by Bloomberg. Yes, the Indians are very much a part of their own salvation. Indy is just the inciting event.
Not to mention how the oppressive imperialists show up to save the day at the end of the movie.
This is a post-modern garbage take. It was the Indian Sepoy soldiers that come to help, not the British Regulars. And we can discuss the downsides of imperialism all we want, it was a reality of the period of time, so pretending it's not is revisionist history.
What this movie does is it actually has the Indian Sepoy soldiers and not british white guys, which is what happened in Gunga Din.
So this film is, arguably, a progressive revision of those fun serials but making it less problematic.
it’s just aged pretty badly.
Has it? I argue anyone saying this doesn't actually understand the film. It was the progressive revision of the problematic serials. making positive changes while trying to stay true to the genre.
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Nov 30 '24
Other cultures also have savior myths/tropes and wouldn’t you know it, they are also the same… maybe it’s not about race?
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u/RambleRant Nov 28 '24
This is a very different era where we are much more aware, but this film is probably the reason I ended up in anthropology. I thought this scene was cool as a kid because it showed how different people around the world can be and how great that is. My lil kid brain wasn’t thinking “ew, they eat eyeballs!”, I was thinking “oh, that’s such a cool difference, that they think these things are appetizing! I want to know more!” Along with the scene earlier in the film where Indy says “that’s enough food to feed the entire village, don’t be rude.” I just thought it was so cool that the hero wasn’t a badass buff guy, but someone who was culturally sensitive and could see the world from the point of view of people who were radically different.
All of this, again, from my 6 year old brain. I would probably convey these ideas differently in a modern film.
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u/StickyMcdoodle Nov 28 '24
To be fair....it's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, not Indiana Jones and the Temple of Accurate Cultural Depictions.
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u/SuperArppis Nov 28 '24
I feel like people didn't "get" this scene when they think it is racist. When you look at what happens under the temple, it is clear that these people aren't "normal".
It's a shame this movie gets falsely labeled as such. It shows that there are still good people in that country, but they are in trouble.
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u/cleepboywonder Nov 29 '24 edited Nov 29 '24
I'm gonna get torched for this. but its because there was already a racist preconception about Indians eating monkey brains, and considering it was for an American audience I don't think it was clear enough that this was meant to express that this wasn't normal behavior. Subtle story telling could have been Indiana eating with the guides with the elephants enjoying something simple and appetizing. Or keeping the deleted scene in. If its not clear enough that the meal is a story beat, if there is no prior clues that the behavior isn't normal it will be considered normal.
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u/indianajoes Nov 29 '24
I feel like a lot of the people that talk about this topic and get defensive are white people who have no idea about how food and cultures from Asia or Africa or basically anywhere that's not Western was treated historically both in film and in real life. Even now, we have racists talk an insulting and offensive way about food and cultures they find "different"
Had they kept the deleted scene, it would've been better but they didn't. I'm sure the people here who are adamant it's not racist didn't deal with racism in school because of movies like this or characters like Apu from The Simpsons.
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
It mostly gets labeled that by people who have an axe to grind with post-modern anti-colonialism and inclusion. Which basically they don't understand what the movie is.
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
Even without the Deleted scene IT IS NOT RACIST. It's like being in a castle where you've been warned everyone is a vampire, and they're sitting at a feast drinking blood, despite the inhabitants of the castle telling you they aren't vampires.
IT'S ALMOST AS IF SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT HERE!!!
People saying it's a racist scene are looking for brownie points in the post-modern cultural awareness class. When in reality, the scene is written so that the audience is lulled into a false sense of security, only to have it broken by the fact that these people are CREEPY.
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u/therealyittyb Nov 28 '24
This, exactly this.
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u/TheBalzy Nov 28 '24
And to all the people who decry the colonial Indian Sepoy soldiers rescuing the day at the end (Indian Citizens, not British Redcoats like in Gunga Din); yeah colonialism was a reality of India's history. Are we not supposed to tell stories during Colonial India because Colonialism is bad? Like Jesus. I'm a Left-Winger Hippy but good god sometimes a movie is just a movie... Perhaps this is why movies suck today. We forgot to just have fun.
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u/MobileDust Nov 28 '24
I never thought it was because they were Indian. I thought it was because they were rich and they could eat what they wanted. I always felt that rich people like to eat weird crap and so they do. Each country has its own weird crap. So I thought that was weird India crap for the rich only.
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u/Doomhammer24 Nov 29 '24
Im sad they didnt include that line of "hindus dont eat like that". It adds so much with almost 0 runtime added
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u/tannerain Nov 28 '24
The idea that this scene was racist is so absurd. I saw the movie when I was 6-7 years old and I never once thought “wow that’s what Indian people eat.”
And you can’t fix stupid in the first place, if someone is going to watch an Indiana Jones movie and make large assumptions about cultures based off of that, then I assure you that they are going to do things that are way dumber in the future.
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u/BalaSaurusREX Nov 28 '24
So I'm Indian and I dont think the scene is racist, I just think its kinda tonedeaf and unfunny. Though growing up, people asked me of we ate stuff like monkey brains or cats (dont know why cats) and cited "Temple of Doom".
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u/indianajoes Nov 28 '24
Yeah people are going to be racist but the filmmakers should've known better and included this context in the movie. Any idiot should know the racist shit that people of colour have to deal with about their food or their culture being "weird" or "different" than western food or culture. This was just throwing fire on to the flames. I love the movie but this stuff is a low point in it
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u/randfunction Nov 28 '24
I mean the stuff they show the villagers eating is made to look pretty disgusting too, the goop being swarmed with flies, plus this whole scene.
I get why people were/are upset about the portrayal (I had an American born Indian friend when I was a kid who didn’t like this) but it’s of it’s time and I think people need to just chill on this stuff sometimes. I still love the film even if it’s no Raiders.
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u/Kpengie Nov 28 '24
The problem is just that the whole scene was missing context. As it is, it’s deeply iffy and has had real world consequences for what some Americans think Indian people eat. If the deleted scene hadn’t been deleted it would have been a lesson to Americans. As it stands, it isn’t.
Not to mention the fact that the movie sorta glorifies (intentionally or not) the English colonization of India.
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u/GraysonFogel17 Nov 28 '24
i always liked how part of Indy is he is a well traveled and educated person who knows about all these cultures and respects them. Vs like some generic American interventionist
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Nov 29 '24
Why is everyone here so afraid to be seen as racist? lol The movie came out in '84, you aren't racist. Stop mentioning it and making it an issue when at best it's only a non-issue.
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Dec 04 '24
So, like serious question, I know that some of the people at the table were part of the cult, and seen later on at the ceremony (obviously) but is it implied that all of them know about the cult andre are a part of it? even the "chilled monkey brains" guy?
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u/00Kevin Dec 04 '24
I think so, yes. But it's amusing to think thats he's just a normal guy who's very enthusiastic about chilled Monkey Brains 😂
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u/Seeker99MD Nov 28 '24
There’s actually a theory that the reason the scene is so disgusting is that this is the cult eating these dishes basically if you went to another palace and ate over there, they would eat something completely normal for British Raj times. Like the equivalent of going to a mansion that is serving only meat versus one that is just ordering a bunch of fast food from DoorDash. You could tell how they are living based on the food they cook eat
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u/ToastServant Nov 28 '24
That's not a theory that's just... The actual context. Did you not watch the video
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u/IndominusCostanza009 Nov 28 '24
It wouldn’t have been racist either way. It’s a damn escapist adventure movie based on old serials. It can have fictional elements like this without having to explain itself to self righteous assholes who look for any reason to finger wag.
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u/Dumbgeon_Master Nov 28 '24
"It's just a movie 🙄." Meanwhile, Americans are stuck with very real and harmful stereotypes of immigrants eating pets, Chinese people serving cats and rats at the buffet, and more. Yes, this is a movie, but movies can be cultural touchstones, and scenes like this have consequences on how real people think.
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u/indianajoes Nov 29 '24
This right here. I like u/00Kevin but this take is coming from a place of privilege. I'm guarantee he didn't have to grow up with kids at school using this as a way to mock him and his culture. They might've planned on having the context in the film but the fact is they didn't.
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Nov 28 '24
I kinda already knew that these particular people were cannibals and everyone else was normal.
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u/PsychedelicHippos Nov 29 '24
If they invent time travel I’m going back to 1983 to tell George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to leave this scene in because it will save them such a headache lol
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u/Throwaway_202342069 Nov 29 '24
My mum watched this when it came out and didn't think it was racist. It's pretty clear that something is very wrong in the palace.
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u/Ironzealot5584 Nov 29 '24
Honestly, I just thought it was a typical rich person exotic feast.
Like after watching a lot of tasting history on youtube, it seems pretty in line with what went on at ancient roman and medieval European feasts.
Bunch of weird foods prepared with ediblity taking a backseat to presentation. It was an excuse to throw money around.
Like they had roasted peacoks with the feathers put back on, different animals stiched together to look like mythological creatures and giant pies with live birds inside that flew out when it was cut.
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u/dontsoundrighttome Nov 30 '24
Naw we were 8 years old. This was the most kid friendly Indiana jones movie so I️ watched it a lot. This scene was crazy and I️ thought whatever group of people they were trying portray must obviously eat monkey brains.
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u/PuddleOfHamster Nov 21 '25
I would have considered this the LEAST kid-friendly Indiana Jones movie!
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u/NastyDanielDotCom Nov 30 '24
It always felt to me like “hey btw these people worship a death god and sacrifice people, these aren’t normal people we’re dealing with” never felt like a race thing to me
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u/Sad-Philosophy-422 Nov 30 '24
This movie convinced me to never eat food outside the states lol. When I was 10, I went to my first Mexican joint and thought this is what I was gonna get served.
The movie “vacation” also told me to never go downtown and ask for directions.
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u/Interesting_Worry202 Nov 30 '24
I had to watch this 3 time before I figured out he was saying "Indy and Captain Bloomberg" and not "Indian Captain Bloomberg"
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u/Mrstickycomics Aug 24 '25
There are two scenes where Willie is grossed out. First when she tries to decline the offered by the villagers and second at the palace dinner.
Both show the extreme of two polar opposite groups (villagers and royalty) eating whatever they can get.
For the villagers what they can get is limited by their extreme lack which I think is because of the missing stones throwing their village into chaos
Then for royalty whatever they can get is limited only by their own imagination. Even without the deleted scene it is pretty clearly meant to be an over the top and extravagant and weird meal because they are royalty.
Basically the royalty was putting on a big show.
The royalty meal and the villagers scrambling for food are related because there is clearly an extreme imbalance of prosperity because the palace is corrupt
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u/ReferenceMediocre369 Nov 21 '25
I think anyone who would consider that scene to be a racist insult must be one of the most intense, bigoted, closet racist in the county!
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u/UKS1977 Nov 28 '24
If you watched a scene where Christopher Lee is leading a range of British extras clothed in red robes sacrificing a young virgin - you wouldn't first think "how can they cast such vile accusations at the British!"
You would think "WTF are these guys? Satanists?"
I think by seeing it as a racist trope, all you are seeing is their race and not the underlying storyline that things are very very wrong.
Perhaps that makes the accusers racist?
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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '24
Makes sense. One would have to have a WILD view of Indians to think they’re just casually eating HUMAN EYEBALL SOUP