„Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released in 1981. The material was developed by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, but director Steven Spielberg implemented the idea, which said goodbye to New Hollywood and marked a return to Hollywood's studio system. The blockbuster does not thrive on the new, but on a remix of the old familiar: Thus in "Indiana Jones," which is laid out as an American answer to the British James Bond, set pieces from the genres of adventure and detective films, film noir, the comedy and the western are cobbled together to create a film for the entire family. Indy (Harrison Ford) must find the Ark of the Covenant, where the Ten Commandments were kept, because it can make a state invincible. Remarkably, God himself intervenes in the action. It is not the hero, but a higher power that ultimately directs the destiny. This deus ex machina brings about a remythologization that amounts to a peculiar, anti-modern understanding of the state.

More on this by Wolfgang M. Schmitt in the new Film Analysis!“