Chris Strompolos, of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation called me today, concerned about some things in my post about interviewing him and seeing the film. I posted a comment to the post summarizing his concerns while we were talking on the phone and will mark up the post as soon as I post this entry.
While he and his partners were pleased by the Stranger piece, he was concerned about my perceptions of “economic advantages,” which he – and his partners – strongly dispute. It’s clear that Chris and his partners felt the pinch of divorce. It’s commonly noted that divorced families experience diminished economic prospects, and though I won’t make a linking citation, mothers with custody suffer that economic burden moreso than do, unsurprisingly, fathers without custody.
In my defense, I must note the economic advantages I was thinking of were more along the lines of advantages that may pertain to members of an economic class, as opposed to the specific economic pinch that Chris and his friends were experiencing.
So on this point, it’s a matter of opinion, and I do not mean to deprecate the particular economic hardships the kids experienced.
However, Chris pointed out to me that my critical eyes straight-up failed in the matter of a particular part of my viewing of the film.
I said (in part):
“The only other appearance of a person of obviously African descent comes at the end of The Adaptation. The crate apparently containing the Ark of the Covenant is wheeled into a vast warehouse. In the theatrical film, the worker who wheels the ark to its, um, current resting place, is not clearly racially identifiable, as he’s seen in longshot. In The Adaptation, the worker is clearly black, and while his warehouse is impressively huge…”
Except, you know, of course… THAT HE’S NOT.
The worker is played by none other than Chris Strompolos, which more or less deflates a fine bit of critical speculation I had going. So for my next trick, I’ll be deflating my bad self on that post.
A big “thank you” to Chris for calling me on this (both literally and figuratively)!
Now, enjoy the spectacle as I eat some crow, kinda. I mean, I’m not unhappy to be factually corrected. But alas for my tower of theory!
And finally, as I told Chris on the phone, mea culpa. My mistake, and happy to set the record straight.