The Theme of Good vs. Evil in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Anonymous 9th Grade

When Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was in development, only one movie studio dared to touch it. That movie studio was Paramount, who released the film after a lengthy pre-production process. Still, Warner Brothers was quite foolishly worried that the film would flop.

Needless to say, the rest is history. Raiders became a massive box office success that would inspire three direct film sequels, a T.V. show, and countless other video games, books, and other media. After seeing the success of Raiders, Paramount quickly greenlit a sequel, later called Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), which is once again directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas.

But Temple of Doom is a markedly different film in tone and theme than its predecessor. Some in the film industry speculate this is because of the dark things occurring in both Spielberg and Lucas’ lives (both were going through rather contentious divorces with their long-time spouses). While Raiders is a more jovial, light-hearted film, Temple of Doom is much different and darker. Still, much like all four Indiana Jones films, Temple of Doom sets up a dichotomy of good vs. evil to give depth to the film. Other films in the series follow a...