Poll of the Day > Why would you have Hitler autograph a book you were about to burn?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Wouldn't you want him to autograph something you'd keep? So you could show your friends you have Hitler's autograph?
This is about Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for you uncultured sods out there.

I wasn't there, but I don't think they burned all books universally - otherwise people couldn't have, like, ledgers.

As shocking as it may seem, some people view Hitler as a hero.

BUMPED2002 posted...

As shocking as it may seem, some people view Hitler as a hero.

Thanks for clearly not reading my post

I wouldn't even want Hitler's autograph. I don't remember the part about Hitler signing a book in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade probably because it's been years since I've seen the movie. Could it just be part of a cover up plan?

The books he was signing and the books the mob was burning were different.

to send a fucking message

From what I recall, the books he signed got a pass. The point of that scene was to show how, in a tense moment, the journey got to continue because Hitler signed the book, preserving it, despite not truly understanding what the book contained.

Zareth posted...

Why would you have Hitler autograph a book you were about to burn?

Technically speaking, if you watch the scene, you're conflating two different things (which is understandable, because of how it was shot).

First, the people burning the books. Symbolic to show how the Nazis hate dissenting thought, and giving Elsa a chance to look upset, showing how she values knowledge over ideology (making her more sympathetic in spite of her treachery). Hence why she acts offended when Indy steals the diary back from her and says he doesn't want to see it get burned.

Second, Indy gets stuck in the crowd of autograph seekers, all of whom have autograph books or note pads. None of which would be on the list of books to be burned, so all of those people would be keeping the autographs.

You have to remember that book burning is almost never indiscriminate (unless you're talking about stuff like the House of Wisdom/Siege of Baghdad incident). People are burning books that have been specifically proscribed by the ruling group for ideological reasons. It's not like people were going to grab every single book within a hundred mile radius and burn it, they were only burning books from the pile (which were specifically books that had been outlawed).



fishy071 posted...

I don't remember the part about Hitler signing a book in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade probably because it's been years since I've seen the movie.

https://youtu.be/o4lq3SOB8sw?t=82



Entity13 posted...

From what I recall, the books he signed got a pass. The point of that scene was to show how, in a tense moment, the journey got to continue because Hitler signed the book, preserving it, despite not truly understanding what the book contained.

It's just a one-off joke. Indy steals the diary back. He gets trapped in the crowd of autograph-seekers, who push him towards Hitler. Suddenly, he's face to face with him.

In that moment you see the panic on his face. He knows he's caught. Hitler's going to recognize him as the guy who has screwed the Nazis over multiple times. Or he's going to recognize the diary. Or maybe he'll just recognize that the guy in the Nazi uniform with the high-ranking medals doesn't look like any of his actual officers. Indy's fucked and he knows it.

And then Hitler just signs the diary without even reading it (he probably couldn't even if he wanted to - supposedly Hitler couldn't speak/read English).

So Indy goes from this moment of pretty much shitting his pants to suddenly being almost elated because he realizes he's going to get away with it.

I think trying to read any more into it than that is completely missing the point. It was just meant to be a dramatic moment that gets subverted into almost comedy. Hitler essentially loses because he's a dipshit. You're not supposed to assume that Hitler somehow "preserved" the book from being burned because it was never going to be burned in the first place.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I think trying to read any more into it than that is completely missing the point. It was just meant to be a dramatic moment that gets subverted into almost comedy. Hitler essentially loses because he's a dips***. You're not supposed to assume that Hitler somehow "preserved" the book from being burned because it was never going to be burned in the first place.

Keep in mind I last saw the movie in the late 90s, with my old man when he was still alive, so my memory of the scene I'd seen twice or thrice up to that point is limited.

Entity13 posted...

Keep in mind I last saw the movie in the late 90s, with my old man when he was still alive, so my memory of the scene I'd seen twice or thrice up to that point is limited.

Fair point, I forgive you.







:P

ParanoidObsessive posted...

You have to remember that book burning is almost never indiscriminate (unless you're talking about stuff like the House of Wisdom/Siege of Baghdad incident)

HOW SOON WE FORGET ALEXANDRIA

which i just discovered probably actually didn't get burned down all at once

agesboy posted...

HOW SOON WE FORGET ALEXANDRIA

which i just discovered probably actually didn't get burned down all at once

Well, I did say stuff like the House of Wisdom, so I was including the possibility of other occurrences.

But the problem with Alexandria is that, even if it did happen (as you note there are questions about exactly what happened when), it was usually as a consequence of getting accidentally set on fire during unrelated invasions, not deliberate destruction of texts. That really only (supposedly) happened once (via the Muslims)... though most sources today suggest that was mostly made up BS at the time and never actually happened.

It's similar to how the Library of Constantinople was supposedly destroyed during the Fourth Crusade (though again, accidentally, by rampaging invaders who didn't care about knowledge and who were mostly just burning random stuff and looting). But then it turns out there was no evidence that the library even existed by that point, and there was no evidence that anything actually happened to it if it did, and the story was mostly sensationalist propaganda (who says it's only modern news that makes shit up for clickbait?).

Whereas the House of Wisdom was a pretty clearly documented case of the Mongols destroying a major library and throwing all the books into the river, because the Mongols gave precisely zero fucks (which is probably why they were also the ones who invented biological terrorism - by catapulting plague-riddled bodies over city walls to kill off people who annoyed them).

Zareth posted...

Thanks for clearly not reading my post

He never learned how to read because his books were burned

Indy didn't intend for that to happen though.

Just a great scene, Indy's accidentally delivered the book to Hitler himself and he just signs it thinking Indy wanted an autograph.

OtakuD50 posted...

The books he was signing and the books the mob was burning were different.

this

BUMPED2002 posted...

As shocking as it may seem, some people view Hitler as a hero.

Same kind of people who would take issue with a gay Superman.