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What is a MacGuffin?

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Director: James Mangold

It is nostalgia that drew us, who were lucky enough to be blown away by the very first offering of the Indiana Jones franchise, i.e., before it was a trilogy and is now in its fifth instalment. Intriguingly, the same actor appears in all five films over 42 years. 

It is not fun seeing an 80-year-old man swashbuckling and manoeuvring his way through the busy streets, dodging baddies and bullets. As we know the story's outcome, where the crooks will lose, and the truth will prevail, there is nothing more to look forward to.

The idea of a Time Machine dating back to the time of Archimedes is refreshing, though. The backstory behind the 'Dial of Destiny' is more fascinating than how Indy and his side kicks, as always, outwink his nemesis. This time around, part of an ancient find piqued the interest of remnant Nazis, now, in 1969, is in NASA. While the whole of the USA is rejoicing in the return of its first trio of astronauts from the Moon, Indy has to don his signature hat and whip to hunt part of an ancient Greek dial, fabled to have existed since Archimedes. 

The Dial is found to have been found in ship wreckage off the shores of a Mediterranean island named Antikythera in the early 1900s, hence its name, Antikythera Dial. It is said to be the world's first hand-held analogue computer. It is a device to calculate solar position and predict solar eclipses. 

Harping on the mystery surrounding its time of invention, which, by all accounts, was way ahead of its time, the moviemakers decided to bend the facts a bit. Even though most studies date the Dial as being invented around 100-150 BCE, newer research dates it at maybe 200-250 BCE, coinciding with Archimedes (of the Eureka and the nude run from the bathtub fame!). The scriptwriters also tweaked the power of the Dial to enable time travel. The ex-Nazis wanted to go back to WW2 to alter the outcome of the war. Archimedes had allegedly wanted help from the future to fight the Romans. It said Archimedes died during the Roman Siege of Syracuse in 212 BC.


P.S. Another new word learnt -MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is an object, idea, person, or goal that the characters are either in pursuit of or which serves as motivation for their actions. In this film, the Antikythera Dial is the MacGuffin.

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Location: Syracuse, NY, USA

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