Enhance the Narrative
The Cardiff Giant
An example of “enhancing the narrative” through archaeological finds in real life would be the story of the “Cardiff Giant” found in Cardiff, New York in October of 1869. On the 16th, workmen hired by William Newell to dig a well found an interesting artifact. It was not only a man, but a “petrified” stone man of giant proportions. It had the same measurements as Goliath is described as having in the Bible. After thoroughly digging until the entire man was excavated, Newell decided to put him on display to the public. The Cardiff Giant was advertised as the actual “Goliath” spoken of in religious texts. Of course, a small fee of fifty cents was charged. People from all over the country gathered to see this magnificent discovery and sermons began to feature it. Newell was offered incredible amounts of money for this finding, but he declined every proposal. Not only was he benefiting from this modest enterprise, the entire town's commerce was profiting due to the increase in tourists.
It is estimated that 32,000 people paid their fifty cents to see this remarkable man. The town was making a sizable profit and definitely placing their name more predominantly on the map. Unfortunately for Newell, everything began to unravel a mere month after it had begun. Reports began streaming in that the “giant man” might have been a fake. The Ithaca Daily Journal wrote about how Newell boasted to his relatives about his success with the fraudulent discovery. Geologists, sculptors and anthropologists alike began examining and hailing the “man” as a statue.
In December of 1989, Newell’s cousin, George Hull, confessed that the artifact was indeed a fake. The Cardiff Giant’s secret was out and the public quickly lost interest. In short, Hull had arranged to have this statue of a large man created. After a few modifications to give the figure a more ancient appearance, he buried it in the exact spot it was found just slightly over a year later—with Newell’s cooperation.
The main motivation for this fraud was, of course, money. By all accounts, Newell made $18,000 in just a few weeks. By today’s standards, that would certainly be much more. What cost $18,000 in 1869 would cost $305,912 in 2012. The comparison here is between movies and television shows making wild claims to enhance their narrative just as Newell enhanced the “narrative” in this small town. By lying about the origin of the statue, Newell and the businesses of Cardiff profited greatly (Feder, 1996). People flocked to see the fraudulent discovery just as they flock to see “archaeological” movies such as Indiana Jones today. Both have made money by passing off something completely untrue as being accurate.
It is estimated that 32,000 people paid their fifty cents to see this remarkable man. The town was making a sizable profit and definitely placing their name more predominantly on the map. Unfortunately for Newell, everything began to unravel a mere month after it had begun. Reports began streaming in that the “giant man” might have been a fake. The Ithaca Daily Journal wrote about how Newell boasted to his relatives about his success with the fraudulent discovery. Geologists, sculptors and anthropologists alike began examining and hailing the “man” as a statue.
In December of 1989, Newell’s cousin, George Hull, confessed that the artifact was indeed a fake. The Cardiff Giant’s secret was out and the public quickly lost interest. In short, Hull had arranged to have this statue of a large man created. After a few modifications to give the figure a more ancient appearance, he buried it in the exact spot it was found just slightly over a year later—with Newell’s cooperation.
The main motivation for this fraud was, of course, money. By all accounts, Newell made $18,000 in just a few weeks. By today’s standards, that would certainly be much more. What cost $18,000 in 1869 would cost $305,912 in 2012. The comparison here is between movies and television shows making wild claims to enhance their narrative just as Newell enhanced the “narrative” in this small town. By lying about the origin of the statue, Newell and the businesses of Cardiff profited greatly (Feder, 1996). People flocked to see the fraudulent discovery just as they flock to see “archaeological” movies such as Indiana Jones today. Both have made money by passing off something completely untrue as being accurate.
Movies and TV
Every movie aficionado has walked out of a theater confusedly asking themselves what they just saw. It is common in movies and television to exaggerate or completely fictionalize events for narrative effect—much like the example of the Cardiff Giant. This leads to massive profits for the movie theaters and television stations, and often, critical acclaim.
There are multiple instances of the source of artifacts being dramatized to create popular television and movies. From Daniel Jackson of the Stargate franchise (who can’t seem to stop touching artifacts with his bare hands) to the blockbuster National Treasure (where treasure is passed on from Ancient Egypt to the Knights Templar, eventually coming to rest with the American Freemasons), to the hit television show Bones (whose plots often revolve around bodies and objects of unknown origin), many narratives have been enhanced by these outlandish claims.
There are multiple instances of the source of artifacts being dramatized to create popular television and movies. From Daniel Jackson of the Stargate franchise (who can’t seem to stop touching artifacts with his bare hands) to the blockbuster National Treasure (where treasure is passed on from Ancient Egypt to the Knights Templar, eventually coming to rest with the American Freemasons), to the hit television show Bones (whose plots often revolve around bodies and objects of unknown origin), many narratives have been enhanced by these outlandish claims.
Indiana Jones
The most obvious example of this is with the Indiana Jones franchise. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie begins in 1936 with Indiana Jones attempting to steal an artifact from a booby-trapped South American cave. He enters the Peruvian jungle with the intention of taking the Golden Idol of Fertility from the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors. Jones breaks into the cave, confiscates the idol, flees the booby traps he sets off, escapes from the cave, confronts his competition, is shot at by the natives, and escapes…all in less than seven minutes. Obviously, there are several things wrong with this sequence in the film. The outrageous claim about the origin of the Golden Idol diverts attention from a completely ridiculous plot. It could never happen (Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Even if the viewer ignores the flying arrows and the rolling stone that chases Jones, there’s still a fundamental flaw. Archaeologists don’t actually do that! They don’t try to steal artifacts. They study and catalog them instead. Developing a chronology about the discovery is never mentioned—but it’s one of the things that archaeologists are primarily concerned with. Calling him an archaeologist is ludicrous. He is truly just a glorified treasure hunter, much like Nicholas Cage’s character in National Treasure.
Additionally, by making an absurd claim about the origin of the artifact, the audience is distracted from the fact that Indiana Jones has singlehandedly destroyed a priceless archaeological site. Were he an actual archaeologist, he would be mortified. The site he so carelessly destroyed would be worth far more to an archaeologist than one single object. An entire booby-trapped cave is more useful in determining a timeline and studying a culture than an artifact made of gold. That’s what this sequence was truly about. Moviegoers are fascinated with gold. It, in conjunction with the wild claim about the origin of the artifact, distracts viewers from the many inaccuracies in the film. A real archaeologist would not be stealing the artifact or sneaking around at all. He would be carefully cataloging and carbon dating every item discovered with a team of his peers. This is an example of a movie misrepresenting the profession itself. As such, Indiana Jones has been labeled one of the “Famous Fictional Archaeologists Who Suck at Their Job” by cracked.com (McKinney).
Even if the viewer ignores the flying arrows and the rolling stone that chases Jones, there’s still a fundamental flaw. Archaeologists don’t actually do that! They don’t try to steal artifacts. They study and catalog them instead. Developing a chronology about the discovery is never mentioned—but it’s one of the things that archaeologists are primarily concerned with. Calling him an archaeologist is ludicrous. He is truly just a glorified treasure hunter, much like Nicholas Cage’s character in National Treasure.
Additionally, by making an absurd claim about the origin of the artifact, the audience is distracted from the fact that Indiana Jones has singlehandedly destroyed a priceless archaeological site. Were he an actual archaeologist, he would be mortified. The site he so carelessly destroyed would be worth far more to an archaeologist than one single object. An entire booby-trapped cave is more useful in determining a timeline and studying a culture than an artifact made of gold. That’s what this sequence was truly about. Moviegoers are fascinated with gold. It, in conjunction with the wild claim about the origin of the artifact, distracts viewers from the many inaccuracies in the film. A real archaeologist would not be stealing the artifact or sneaking around at all. He would be carefully cataloging and carbon dating every item discovered with a team of his peers. This is an example of a movie misrepresenting the profession itself. As such, Indiana Jones has been labeled one of the “Famous Fictional Archaeologists Who Suck at Their Job” by cracked.com (McKinney).
The X-Files
Another example that comes to mind is, of course, The X-Files. From the pilot episode, strange claims are made about where certain discoveries come from. However, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have differing opinions on the subject. Mulder, the believer, can always manage to attribute odd happenings and findings to aliens. Scully, the skeptic, tries to rationalize them to natural processes of the earth and the sciences. One episode in particular stands out as being particularly preposterous. This hilarious episode written and directed by Duchovny is called “Hollywood A.D.”
The episode begins in a spooky graveyard immersed in fog. “Mulder” (Gary Shandling) and “Scully” (Tea Leoni) fight a cigarette-smoking henchman and his unrealistic-looking zombies who are armed with sniper rifles. They are struggling over custody of the “Lazarus Bowl,” supposedly a bowl that Jesus was near when he raised Lazarus from the dead. The bowl was being constructed when Jesus spoke and it captured and preserved his words in time. The cigarette-smoking man states that the bowl can still raise the dead 2,000 years later, as evidenced by his zombies. Hilarity ensues and, moments later, the camera cuts to a movie theater where patrons are laughing at the corny jokes “Mulder” is making. The real Mulder and Scully watch, completely mortified.
Flashback to 18 months earlier: Mulder and Scully are being trailed by a screenwriter wanting to observe some of their unconventional “flavor” for his movie. An investigation of a church bombing ensues, a man claims to be Jesus Christ, and production of the movie starts. During the case, Mulder and Scully uncover an important archaeological artifact. They find what might be fragments of the real life “Lazarus Bowl” in the church’s crypt. This discovery would represent one of the most important discoveries in history. Mulder promptly takes the bowl to a sound specialist.
The sound expert determines that the bowl is vibrating at every frequency simultaneously and begins to translate the sounds. The specialist determines that the words are divided into parts. The second part appears to be one man commanding another to rise from the dead. Ultimately, the bowl is a forgery. After they are removed from the case because of an embarrassing unjustified arrest, a medical screw-up, and a case of mistaken identity, the agents travel to Hollywood to aid in the production of the film based on them.
Flashforward to 18 months later: Mulder and Scully continue to watch the movie that has portrayed their lives, their work, and the truth so completely incorrectly. The agents walk out of the theater, talk for a while and finally walk away holding hands (“Hollywood A.D”).
While this episode is meant to be an obvious parody, as evidenced by Duchovny’s wife playing the amalgamation based on Scully (not to mention his witty comment about the impossibility of Leoni having a crush on him), it’s self-reflexive in nature. It is a prime example of how cinema can distort just about anything. Agents Mulder and Scully have their lives and work entirely fictionalized by movie producers. This may be the way that archaeologists feel about their work being portrayed in movies and television as well. The screenwriter in the episode discusses the way studio executives do very little research in their quest to make a great story. He comments, “I like the way you guys work—no warrants, no permission, no research. You're like studio executives with guns” (“Hollywood A.D.”). But this episode does more than make fun of the show and its sometimes ridiculous plotlines, it also unintentionally distorts archaeology as well.
When the “Lazarus Bowl” is discovered, Mulder and Scully don’t bother taking it to an archaeologist. They involve a sound specialist instead. If this happened in real life, an archaeologist would be called to the scene before anything else occurred. From there, a team would excavate the whole site and take the artifact to be carbon-dated. Furthermore, the agents and the specialist touch the bowl fragments with their bare hands, not even bothering to put gloves on. An archaeologist would have cringed at that breach of very basic protocol. It effectively would have destroyed important evidence on the bowl had it not been a forgery. If the agents remotely suspected that it wasn’t a forgery (as they did), they should have handled the bowl with the utmost care until they could consult an archaeologist.
The movie based on the adventures of Mulder and Scully goes a step farther. Going into Indiana Jones territory, “Mulder” handles the bowl without gloves and threatens to break it if he doesn’t get what he wants. The movie intentionally makes fun of the FBI as an investigative agency and discredits Mulder and Scully’s profession. Through its self-reflexive humor, the show accidentally disregards the profession of archaeologists (through omitting their contribution entirely).
Yes, this episode is significant because there isn’t an archaeologist in it. The show tries so hard to enhance the narrative by creating an absurd artifact with fantastical origins. However, it unintentionally dismisses archaeology altogether. The movie isn’t much better. It still doesn’t include an archaeologist either and treads into a ridiculously silly state. Again, the unusual origin of the artifact distracts audiences from the fact that “Mulder” handles the pottery with bare hands and threatens to break an artifact that would be priceless to an archaeologist. Needless to say, though humorous, the portrayal of archaeology in the show needs improvement.
The episode begins in a spooky graveyard immersed in fog. “Mulder” (Gary Shandling) and “Scully” (Tea Leoni) fight a cigarette-smoking henchman and his unrealistic-looking zombies who are armed with sniper rifles. They are struggling over custody of the “Lazarus Bowl,” supposedly a bowl that Jesus was near when he raised Lazarus from the dead. The bowl was being constructed when Jesus spoke and it captured and preserved his words in time. The cigarette-smoking man states that the bowl can still raise the dead 2,000 years later, as evidenced by his zombies. Hilarity ensues and, moments later, the camera cuts to a movie theater where patrons are laughing at the corny jokes “Mulder” is making. The real Mulder and Scully watch, completely mortified.
Flashback to 18 months earlier: Mulder and Scully are being trailed by a screenwriter wanting to observe some of their unconventional “flavor” for his movie. An investigation of a church bombing ensues, a man claims to be Jesus Christ, and production of the movie starts. During the case, Mulder and Scully uncover an important archaeological artifact. They find what might be fragments of the real life “Lazarus Bowl” in the church’s crypt. This discovery would represent one of the most important discoveries in history. Mulder promptly takes the bowl to a sound specialist.
The sound expert determines that the bowl is vibrating at every frequency simultaneously and begins to translate the sounds. The specialist determines that the words are divided into parts. The second part appears to be one man commanding another to rise from the dead. Ultimately, the bowl is a forgery. After they are removed from the case because of an embarrassing unjustified arrest, a medical screw-up, and a case of mistaken identity, the agents travel to Hollywood to aid in the production of the film based on them.
Flashforward to 18 months later: Mulder and Scully continue to watch the movie that has portrayed their lives, their work, and the truth so completely incorrectly. The agents walk out of the theater, talk for a while and finally walk away holding hands (“Hollywood A.D”).
While this episode is meant to be an obvious parody, as evidenced by Duchovny’s wife playing the amalgamation based on Scully (not to mention his witty comment about the impossibility of Leoni having a crush on him), it’s self-reflexive in nature. It is a prime example of how cinema can distort just about anything. Agents Mulder and Scully have their lives and work entirely fictionalized by movie producers. This may be the way that archaeologists feel about their work being portrayed in movies and television as well. The screenwriter in the episode discusses the way studio executives do very little research in their quest to make a great story. He comments, “I like the way you guys work—no warrants, no permission, no research. You're like studio executives with guns” (“Hollywood A.D.”). But this episode does more than make fun of the show and its sometimes ridiculous plotlines, it also unintentionally distorts archaeology as well.
When the “Lazarus Bowl” is discovered, Mulder and Scully don’t bother taking it to an archaeologist. They involve a sound specialist instead. If this happened in real life, an archaeologist would be called to the scene before anything else occurred. From there, a team would excavate the whole site and take the artifact to be carbon-dated. Furthermore, the agents and the specialist touch the bowl fragments with their bare hands, not even bothering to put gloves on. An archaeologist would have cringed at that breach of very basic protocol. It effectively would have destroyed important evidence on the bowl had it not been a forgery. If the agents remotely suspected that it wasn’t a forgery (as they did), they should have handled the bowl with the utmost care until they could consult an archaeologist.
The movie based on the adventures of Mulder and Scully goes a step farther. Going into Indiana Jones territory, “Mulder” handles the bowl without gloves and threatens to break it if he doesn’t get what he wants. The movie intentionally makes fun of the FBI as an investigative agency and discredits Mulder and Scully’s profession. Through its self-reflexive humor, the show accidentally disregards the profession of archaeologists (through omitting their contribution entirely).
Yes, this episode is significant because there isn’t an archaeologist in it. The show tries so hard to enhance the narrative by creating an absurd artifact with fantastical origins. However, it unintentionally dismisses archaeology altogether. The movie isn’t much better. It still doesn’t include an archaeologist either and treads into a ridiculously silly state. Again, the unusual origin of the artifact distracts audiences from the fact that “Mulder” handles the pottery with bare hands and threatens to break an artifact that would be priceless to an archaeologist. Needless to say, though humorous, the portrayal of archaeology in the show needs improvement.