THE MUMMY (1999)
I'm going to be honest with you: The first draft of this was a pretty standard rundown talking about Stephen Sommer's THE MUMMY and how audiences could infer the political climate of 1925. It would have made for an A-paper in college and a decent read for anyone with a passing interest in history. The thing is, if I'm going to write about movies it has to come from the heart. While I enjoyed learning about the Rif War for this piece, it was not what THE MUMMY (1999) means to me.
Long before I started writing for Neon Splatter, I privately daydreamed about a blog called “I Dig Movies”. I already had notes for multiple pieces when I pitched it as a recurring feature to Rob. THE MUMMY trilogy was one of those that I had kind of pre-written. Originally, it went in a different direction and focused on the “here's the real history” behind this and that of different myths and artifacts shown on screen.
But there are far more qualified people than me to teach you about the fantastic world of Egyptology, and YouTube is filled with many creators sorting truth from fiction in movies. I am trying to carve out my own space. I am more than factoids and radio trivia. When I write something, it is because I feel it first. I needed to figure out how I feel and why I wanted to say it, and you know what? In the process of trying to figure out what I wanted to say, I watched the first movie four times in one week.
I didn't get tired of it. It never stopped being magical, goofy, or wholesome. I laugh every time Brendan Fraser screams back at the mummy after being backed against the wall. Sometimes that's all you can do in life is scream in the face of its nonsense. THE MUMMY is a great movie, and still one of the best at capturing the spirit of pulp adventure comics and films from yesteryear. While the CGI is of its time (i.e., limited), the actors are compelling, the story is well trodden territory but still solid, and I really appreciate the insinuation of horrific instead of showing what would have been far more gruesome in reality.
Fraser is one of the most likable actors of our lifetime, and he embodies the idealized adventurer beautifully. Rachel Weisz shamelessly steals the film with her incredible earnestness and warmth. If the whimsical innocent desire for adventure could be bottled into a magic potion, she is the well from which we would pull it.
Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay is a tour de force of Harlequin romance novel hero sexiness, and John Hannah is a pro at being an entitled, but well-meaning, bumbler of bumbles.
If you're reading this, you probably like this movie, too. Maybe you even love it like I do.
As I wrote previously, it is one of the most entertaining movies of the genre. But I hope they don't keep making them just like this.
Hear me out.
The more I watched this movie trilogy and thought about others similar to this, (yes, I'm referring to the INDIANA JONES franchise which was my gateway drug into world history), the more I ache to see the narrative open up and include the native and indigenous cultures they are featuring. The entry point doesn't always have to be through the white outsider. Even when it's the trope of dumb white guy accidentally opens up ancient evil box of mystery and then fixes it, it still stereotypes the native cultures as mystical in a romantic but primitive way.
I can forgive these older movies, because they do represent eras steeped in imperialism. The offensive power structures of these worlds where white people control the field of archaeology are sadly realistic.
The comics and classic films that the modern adventure movies pay homage to also have a reverent place in my heart. They are all stepping stones to get us to where we are now.
And where we are is a super-globalized world where different voices across different cultures have more accessibility than ever to share their narrative of the adventure fantasy. We have an opportunity to break the white power structure represented in these older films, by making future ones where native people and culture aren't positioned as a prop or magic entity.
As a person from an indigenous culture, I understand that it can get complicated to find the balance in presenting both the shamanistic and modern values coexisting alongside each other. I assure you it can be done. Many people live that out every day without realizing it. Isn't that most religions? Whether it is Egyptians and mummies, Asians and ancestral ghosts, or Mayans and human sacrifice, this is only one glimpse into these cultures that has unfortunately become their identities in the world of adventure and fantasy.
Expand the view. Open up the narrative. I'm not asking to take out the white people. We all exist together in this space. What I'm begging for is that we take the time to add native people and show their cultures in the adventure genre beyond these negative stereotypes in which Hollywood has relegated them. There are plenty of indigenous people who are also archaeologists and explorers who don't fall into the ancient magic category. We just never see them in film.
There is plenty of magic and whimsical adventure to be had without imperialism being the reason we access it. It is time to keep moving the goal post forward. MUMMY ‘99 is so good. It has incredible heart.
But, you can't make that movie again and have it be as good. What you CAN do is take the best parts of what made that movie awesome, and next time make something that includes the whole story. Or at the very least tries.
The third installment, TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, set in China with the Terra Cotta Army, is fun for me because of the lore and cast, but still sits wrong in my soul. It's because I love these films so much that I know I want more of them. It's because of movies like THE MUMMY that people are introduced to marvelous and wondrous cultures and history all over the world. I'm grateful for it. I sincerely love them.
Let's just ask that we start introducing them correctly now that we know better.
