Indiana Jones finally made his way into the inner cave where the Holy Grail was said to be kept. To his dismay he discovered not one cup but thousands. Which one was the true Holy Grail?
Right behind him rushed in the baddy, the evil Nazi leader kitted out with maniacal laugh and monocle and all. This 'evil leader' surveys the scene and pounces upon by far the most prestigious and expensive cup in the room. He drinks from it and dies horribly. Indie then has to choose. He also looks around the room. This time, though, he picks up a simple wooden cup. 'That's the cup of a carpenter', he says and he drinks from it to no ill effect. As Indiana Jones races back to save his father from dying by the means of the healing properties of the Holy Grail, the last knight guarding the cup says, 'He chose wisely.'
Choice or options?
He chose wisely. A more contemporary remake of the scene might play rather differently. Instead of a massive, life-defining, choice, more recent movies tend to avoid such existential dilemmas. We have action, of course, and tension and dramatic clashes between ideas and ideologies and personalities, but we do not tend to feel that life comes down to a choice. If we have to think like that we want to think there are choices not a choice. Life to us does not seem to be about choosing which road you go down, the one less travelled or not, but about a plethora of options, all of which are legitimate and none of which we may choose.
