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Work/Life: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Dysfunctional Work Obsession

• So this time it’s a Crystal Skull.  When it started it was Lost Ark.  When is Indiana Jones going to own up to his work obsession?  Hint: probably about the same time as Spielberg and Lucas own up to theirs, which won’t be anytime soon given their penchant for doing anything—including reviving a long-dead franchise—just to give themselves something to do.  If one thinks about this too long, one ends up in an endless vortex of quest-obsessed people, from the fictional character who is trying to fill the emptiness inside him by obtaining still more storied artifacts, to the filmmakers who are inside their own story about men who seem hard-wired to make sure their own artifacts (their movies) continue to insure them immortality.   Please, people, just calm down and take a personal day, will you? 
• One look at Indiana Jones’ background and you can see he’s a work/life balance head case.  He clearly alienated his ex Marion by putting his adventure-seeking above their relationship, and he devalues the one area in which he could make a difference—his teaching career—by channeling all of his mania for history into his job, thereby only fueling his desire to hit the road and start another adventure as soon as he can.  This not only deprives his students of a quality education, it holds Indy back emotionally.  Okay, so he marries Marion at the end of the latest story, and even starts a family with the son he never knew he had, but given his history, it's a shaky foundation.  
• Why?  Well, of course, on the surface, we all want Indiana’s life.  Outrunning boulders, punching out fascists, crawling under moving trucks…it’s a lot more attractive than putting together an effective Power Point, isn’t it?   But since we don’t spend our time running around dusty locales with a bullwhip, we funnel that sense of adventure into our work just enough to keep us as blind as Indy is to what we really need.  Here’s what the movies don’t show us after the fade to black: Indy has completed his hunt for another precious artifact, and now everything else seems dull.  He spends months in a depression because going on a nice date (human connection) or taking a peaceful walk in the park (essential down time) just isn’t cutting it.  After all, what joy can be found in snuggling or daydreaming when a while ago you successfully fell out of a helicopter into some raging rapids in an inflatable raft?  
• The weirdest part is that all the Indiana Jones movies are set fifty or sixty years ago.  So even if they continue to make sequels, his character will have been long dead even before we get to the “greed is good” period of the 1980’s.  Poor Indy.  He probably would have gotten a free pass for his dysfunctional behavior if he’d only made it that far.