RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981): Indiana Jones Was Not a Pedophile & She Knew What She Was Doing

Kevin Kayhart posted on the Daily Mail (9 June 2021): "Raiders Of The Lost Ark's Karen Allen defends her underage character Marion's relationship with Indiana Jones: 'I don't think of him as a pedophile'"

In the post, Kayhart wrote:

Karen Allen, star of the classic film Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), has come out in defense of the age gap between her character Marion Ravenwood and love interest Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford.      

Over the last few years, the reunion scene, where the age difference is insinuated, has come under scrutiny enough for Allen to go public and declare Indy is 'not a pedophile.'  

In the scene, Marion punches Indy and says, 'I've learned to hate you in the last 10 years.' After explaining how he never meant to hurt her, she responds, 'I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it,' for which Indy shoots back: 'You knew what you were doing.'  

During an interview with Uproxx, Allen weighed-in on the scrutiny and revealed the age she thought her character was during their initial relationship.

'I think I say I was 16. I don't know. That's always what I imagined is she was 16, he was 26. And he was her father's student. And it's left very mysterious,' Allen, 69, said before sharing a couple of potential scenarios about their past.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Well, of course Indiana Jones could not have been a pedophile, because at 16, Marion would have been post-pubertal; thus, Jones would correctly be referred to as a(n) ephebophile\nympholept, which is much less ominous. And based on the New York Times Notable Book, The Red Queen, and the (incorrectly titled) documentary Are All Men Pedophiles? (2013), all men are nympholepts. 

We're shocked that there hasn't been particular attention paid to Jone's clapback, "You knew what you were doing." Thereby, to the dismay of middle-aged feminists and teen boys, Jones opined that at 16, Marion was old enough to consent to an age-gap relationship and that he didn't groom or victimize Marion. (We're assuming that Jones observed the local age-of-consent laws.)

However, based on the transcripts of the story conferences between George Lucas, Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan, Marion was an even younger nymphet:

Lucas: He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven. 

Kasdan: And he was forty-two. 

Lucas: He's thirty-five, and knew her ten years ago when he was twenty-five and she was only twelve. 

Lucas: It would be amusing to make her slightly young at the time. [Slightly?] 

Spielberg: And promiscuous. She came on to him.

Lucas: Fifteen is right on the edge [...] it is interesting. Once she's sixteen or seventeen it's not interesting anymore. But if she was fifteen and he was twenty-five and they actually had an affair the last time they met. And she was madly in love with and he. 

Spielberg: She has pictures of him.

Initially, Lucas and Kasdan suggested that Marion be 11 and Jones be 42. Then Lucas suggested that Marion be 12 and Jones be 35. And Spielberg added that Marion should be a nubile nymphet - both promiscuous and a seductress. Interestingly, Lucas opined that a 16 or 17-year-old nymphet is not as alluring as one 15 and younger. And Lucas suggested that Marion be 15 "right on the edge" and have a (sexual) affair with Jones while being "madly in love". 

Jurassic Park (1993)

Lastly, Kayhart's piece reminded me of a scene from Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993). In the scene, when a Vegasaurus happened upon Dr. Grant, Tim and Lex (Ariana Richards), Tim said, "It looks like it has a cold." However, since there are no visible signs of a cold, it's not apparent from the film how Tim was able to make that diagnosis. 

Thus, my question is, did Spielberg spew the rich viscous fluid from the phallic Vegasaurus upon Ariana Richards' 14-year-old face as a sexual innuendo, as an attempt at comedy, or both?