General Plot
The Mummy movie franchise encompasses the movies The Mummy(1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
The Mummy (1999)
The story revolves around Rick O Connell an adventurer, and treasure hunter, and Evelyn Carnahan, a librarian and an aspiring Egyptologist along with her brother Johnathan Carnahan who finds out the location of a mythical Egyptian city called Hamunaptra. After reaching the town they accidentally end up waking the mummy of Imhotep, a cursed high priest from King Seti’s period. As Imhotep unleashes plagues upon Egypt as he is keen on resurrecting his ancient lover, the group must stop him before he becomes immortal.
The Mummy Returns (2001)
Seven years after the defeat of Imhotep, Rick and his wife, Evelyn, along with their son, Alex, move to London. While exploring the ancient ruins with their son, Alex comes across the bracelet of Anubis, locked onto his wrist which shows him the visions that lead to Ahm Shere. Meanwhile, Evelyn gets kidnapped by a cult which is deadset on waking Imhotep again. The story goes on exploring multiple timelines, exploring the ancient past of the scorpion King =, Imhotep, and O’Connell’s present-day life.
The Mummy
The entire Mummy franchise takes place in Egypt which drives and serves as an for the whole plot driving factor. This review analyzes the series through the dual lens of historical romanticism and cinematic fabrication. Where it explores how the films construct spaces that resurrect those historical landmarks making us indulge fully in the movie, they recreate the mythical version of history which serves as a narrative drama more than a historical truth.
Architecture as a Narrative Medium
The entire story starts with a mythical city called Hamunaptra “The city of the Dead”.Its heightened towers, obelisk-like structures, huge arches, distorting tombs, and golden chambers reflect Egyptian architecture they have used mythical facts to design a Hamunaptra to drive the story with distorting hallways, secret tunnels, booby traps, etc. These structures add additional elements that make us believe in “the curse of the past ” in the modern world. However, these structures add depth to the story and the characters’ decisions and give the feelings of suspense, mystery, and danger.
Orientalism and Exoticism
In The Mummy though the movie shows the architecture of Egypt in a fantastical, exotic setting. These views are shown through the eyes of Western filmmakers. This way of approach is called Orientalism, a concept developed by Edward Said. The temples, tombs, and structures are shown as cursed, dangerous, and full of secrets and seem more like haunted houses with distorted hallways and difficult to navigate. And those booby traps set up by the pharaohs that the story implies can only be tamed or unlocked by Western heroes. Egypt is shown as if they are stuck in the past along with the mummies, pharaohs, and sandstorms. Making it into a dangerous fantasy for Western people, which contributes to cinematic orientalism.
Set Design vs Real Monuments
The film shows a number of Egyptian monuments more of them were recreated to match the grandeur and beauty of Egypt.Structures like Karnak, Ahm Shere, and Luxor are more invested in cinematic fabrication CGI was used to exaggerate these sets especially while exploring the mythical city of Hamunaptra where the sets are often vertically exaggerated and filled with impossible passages, towering structures, etc.CGI often resurrects ruins where the space becomes a spectacle in itself.
Spatial Choreography and Atmosphere
In this movie, architecture acts as a major device that directs the entire story. It is carefully designed to influence the pacing, emotion, and mood of the whole movie. Building suspense through space with long corridors, narrow tunnels, and poorly lit staircases. Hidden doors and traps pave the way for sudden plot shifts. This unpredictability of the architecture mirrors the characters in the story. Furthermore, architecture that thrives as the background always breaks apart or falls at climatic moments, these spaces shape the story’s rhythms where architecture becomes a character in its own right evoking emotions, symbolizing ancient power, and adding suspense.
In the entire Mummy franchise, architecture functions more than as a backdrop; it acts as an entity that induces fear, myth, and spectacle in these spaces which are memory storages that surface upon which Western fantasies are projected. While films are supposed to evoke curiosity about ancient civilizations, they similarly distort historical realities. Redesigning the original architecture to serve a cinematic thrill rather than showing the cultural truth. In doing this these films make us question whether they deepen our appreciation for ancient heritage or merely reduce it to dust at the weight of cinematic thrill.
References:
Rickipedia: The Mummy Wiki. (n.d.). The Mummy (franchise). [online] Available at: https://mummy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mummy_(franchise).
Greiner, T.H. (2022). An Egyptological Review of ‘The Mummy’ (1999). [online] Nile Scribes. Available at: https://nilescribes.org/2022/01/08/egyptological-review-of-1999-mummy/.
Szafran, M. (2017). Representation and Reality in ‘The Mummy’ (1999). [online] Egypt at the Manchester Museum. Available at: https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/representation-and-reality-in-the-mummy-1999/.
