Everyone has a favorite piece of gear: Hat, jacket, whip, boots, shirt, etc. But have you noticed that while not everyone strives for a perfectly screen accurate outfit, nor does everyone freak out if they don't complete the outfit, its not an outfit that needs improving. It's not like a lot of Indy fans put the outfit together and then strive to better it. They only strive to improve on making it look more like what we see on screen (yes, yes, I know there a few exceptions to this, but in general, no). No one gets the perfectly screen accurate hat and then has an alternate made and then says, "yeah, but here's what Indy's hat should have looked like." They may wear a non-Indy hat more often day to day, but that's not my point. No one gets a screen accurate jacket, but then has a custom jacket made that alters the details and says, "this is how I wear my Indy outfit, with this improved jacket. No one says, "here's a different holster, the one he should have used." No one says, "this (other) whip would have been better suited to his style." No says, "these other boots would make this outfit look better."
Close enough gear is great, and lord knows I have a lot of it, and sure I occasionally wear it in place of my regular gear even when I am wearing the whole outfit (I was forced to at this past QM since my Aldens were malfunctioning, and luckily I brought a pair of CE boots to fill in. No one really noticed the substitution except me). But my point is that nothing Indy wears needs improving. There is no part of it that your average Indy fan doesn't like. Deborah (Nadoolman) Landis built an outfit that is so perfectly adventurous, manly, earthy, cool, and (for the most part) functional, that no one seeks to mess with it. Sure a different hat, jacket or whip, may suit us better when we aren't wearing the entire ensemble, but the entire ensemble always looks amazing just as it is on screen.
Let's face it, if Indy wore an ugly jacket, or an ugly hat, most of us would not be here, day in and day out constantly seeking to perfect our outfits, because Indy's outfit is perfect, even perfectly "imperfect", if you will.
So here's my next question, as much as we know the credit goes to GL, SS, and HF, as well as Lawrence Kasdan for creating a fanastic film and an amazing character, would we like Indy as much if his outfit wasn't so amazing? I mean, if his outfit wasn't the kind of outfit we all wish we could wear whenever we go adventuring, would we even like these movies as much? (I know the answer is yes, but you have to admit, whenever there is a scene in which Indy isn't wearing his adventuring outfit, it never seems quite right. I always feel like the movie hasn't quite started yet, or we're in like an "in-between" section of the real action.).
(this is probably my favorite all time non-screen grab of Indy).
Food for thought . . .
Daren Henry W
](./images/smilies/Indy_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
!!! Especialy perfectly "imperfect".
.)
