What Could The “Dial” Of Destiny Be?
Image Source: CultureSlate
Whatever your opinion on the new Indiana Jones trailer, good (Nazi fighting!), bad (that facial comp), or indifferent (do we really need another one?), one thing that certainly lit up the comments sections was the title. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Continuing the series trend of the magical McGuffin being lifted from history/mythology/Mesoamerican-space-people, how will Director James Mangold turn the “Dial” from mundane to mystical?
That is a good joke, and I will not hear otherwise.
One possible narrative path the creative team could have taken is around the febrile global atmosphere of the cold war and the space race. We know a lot of German scientists and engineers were snapped up in Operation: Paperclip. So, perhaps Mads Mikkelsen’s Jürgen Voller was one of them? He could continue his nefarious work to create a device that will win the space race for his employers – but will achieve his own nefarious goals as well. Lots of lovely analogue dials and retro-futuristic technology in this era of gadgets and gizmos
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Source Image: ComicBook.com
Going down a more mythological route, the trailer gives us a glimpse of a strange circular Dias-like device being discovered. Given its style and the surrounding shots of Grecian architecture, this could be the “Antikythera Mechanism.” In the real world, this device is generally considered the world’s first analogue computer and was used to predict celestial movement and track time. That is not bad, considering Google wouldn’t exist for a few millennia yet. We know that the film has sequences set in the late ’40s as well as the 60’s, so perhaps this device (or part of the same set) could be used to travel through time or manipulate time – a cool trick that the superpowers of the time would certainly want to get their hands on.
Another device popularised by the Ancient Greeks, though predates this to Babylonian and Ancient Indian cultures, is the “Rota Fortuna” or Wheel of Fortune. This capricious disk has been prevalent in most cultures and even evolved to the modern day featuring in multiple books, films, games, and even one, particularly famous TV show. The opportunity for some tyrants and power-hungry madmen hunting for a way to control their destiny or even change their history gives the latest film high stakes, temptation, and the opportunity for some amazing hubristic demises of our villains. Think of Indy reaching for the Holy Grail and being brought back to safety by his Dad.
Source Image: Lucasfilm
Whatever the case, the calibre of on-screen and behind-the-scenes talent is immense for Dial. All involved seem to have learned the right lessons from Kingdom, so here’s hoping Harrison Ford gets the swansong he deserves on June 30th.
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Source(s): britannica.com, medium.com
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