Fictional m<\/span>onsters have often been used to examine the \u201cother\u201d within ourselves. But the various incarnations of The Mummy<\/i> \u2014 in 1932, 1999, and now 2017 \u2014 have touched on America\u2019s interactions with foreign, exotic \u201cothers.\u201d In a nutshell, each version follows the same narrative: stupid English-speaking people unearth an ancient mummy that brings bad tidings and must be destroyed. Our \u201cnew world of gods and monsters\u201d often leaves us wondering if the real monster is us.<\/span><\/p>\n Producer Carl Laemmle\u2019s 1932 film is the granddaddy of them all. Directed by Karl Freund, the film follows a group of blah Westerners after they uncover the corpse of Imhotep (Boris Karloff), an Egyptian priest punished for falling in love with a vestal virgin of Isis. Under the name Ardeth Bey, Imhotep returns to wreak havoc in the 20th century. It\u2019s from this film that the 1999 remake takes a majority of its plot, and which the 2017 edition all but kills off. <\/span><\/p>\n The Mummy\u2019s<\/i> tale of reincarnated love and exotic attraction owes its life to the film that preceded it, Universal\u2019s 1931 version of Dracula<\/i>. In fact, The Mummy<\/i> is almost a beat-for-beat remake of the Lugosi feature, complete with opening credits accompanied by Swan Lake<\/i>. The vampire\u2019s black cloak and bloodsucking is replaced with a similar blank slate of a monster whose immortality, exotic paganism, and desire for a woman is perceived as evil and must be destroyed \u2014 this in spite of advanced characterization that seeks to humanize Ardeth Bey as a man whose actions are compelled by love. Unlike the remakes, the worst thing Bey does in the film\u2019s scant 73 minutes is lust after the half-Egyptian Helen (Zita Johann), the reincarnation of his beloved. Also mirroring the Dracula<\/i> story, Helen is susceptible to foreign influences due to her Egyptian parentage, is seduced by Bey, and must be saved by a white male (with the added implication of his being a Christian) who truly loves not just her but her soul.<\/span><\/p>\n Released 10 years after the discovery of King Tut\u2019s tomb by Howard Carter, 1932\u2019s The Mummy<\/i> simultaneously revels in the untold treasures waiting to be explored and the presumed mysterious and mystical world the English and Americans knew little about. Archeologists Sir Joseph Whemple and Dr. Muller, characters who open the film\u2019s first half, emphasize they are not grave robbers \u2014 claims that followed Carter and his benefactor Lord Carnarvon upon finding Tut \u2014 but are interested purely in an exploratory capacity. <\/span><\/p>\n By the time of the film\u2019s release, America was in the third year of the Great Depression. England was in the midst of theirs as well, known as The Great Slump. The advent of cars and planes \u2014 Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh were popular during this time \u2014 told people they weren\u2019t necessarily limited by geography, but to experience it cost money and could be dangerous. As Dorothy Gale would say seven years later, \u201cThere\u2019s no place like home\u201d \u2014 you might meet an angry mummy! <\/span><\/p>\n The Mummy<\/i> also illustrates the U.S.\u2019s rise of isolationism in the wake of World War I and the lead-up to World War II. Ardeth Bey represents all that is exotic and mysterious but also frightening. This explains why Muller and Whemple discuss their \u201cexploratory\u201d nature in finding the tomb: they\u2019re declaring that, unlike some Americans who want to intervene in foreign affairs for profit, their motives are pure. <\/span><\/p>\n Sixty-seven years passed before Universal attempted another mummy, this after cannibalizing the original for sequels and comedic spin-offs. Stephen Sommers\u2019 1999 incarnation tells the same general story, with the addition of new characters who bring it in line with \u201890s sensibilities toward the Middle East and women. All three iterations of the story shy away from taking place within Egypt itself; the \u201832 and \u201899 editions don\u2019t even explicitly state where they\u2019re set. The \u201899 version is centered around the fictional city of Hamunaptra, the \u201cCity of the Dead,\u201d in 1926 \u2014 4 years after Carter found Tut\u2019s tomb. To avoid messy discussions about American involvement in the Middle East, the film\u2019s hero, Rick O\u2019Connell (Brendan Fraser) is introduced as an opportunistic mercenary with little moral compass fighting alongside the French Foreign Legion in an unspecified skirmish possibly associated with the Rif War<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n Rick isn\u2019t interested in treasure, colonialism, or curses. He\u2019s dragged along by the half-Egyptian Evelyn (Rachel Weisz in the Helen role), effectively proving that nothing good can be found in the country outside of \u201csand and blood.\u201d O\u2019Connell\u2019s motivations are more altruistic than those of his American compatriots, Henderson, Daniels, and Burns, who venture to Hamunaptra for treasure. Sucked of their life force by Imhotep, they act as symbols of what the \u201832 film was talking about \u2014 interacting with the exotic foreign, whether for prestige or wealth, doesn\u2019t end well.<\/span><\/p>\n By 1999, American\u2019s interactions with the Middle East were diverse and complicated. President Clinton had just engaged in a bombing of Iraq the year prior; the Egyptian Islamic Jihad bombed several U.S. embassies and brought to power Osama Bin-Laden and al-Qaeda; and Saudi princes were being trotted out as glamorous figures of untold wealth and intrigue. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s this latter comparison that factors into how the \u201899 film plays on the sexual compulsion of its monstrous figure. Ardeth Bey in \u201832 retains a crusty, weathered, clay-like visage, and audiences, who knew of Karloff in Frankenstein<\/i>, aren\u2019t quick to see him as a sex object. In contrast, Arnold Vosloo\u2019s shirtless Imhotep is presented as erotic and enticing. The film opens with his forbidden relationship with Anck Su Namun, acting as both romantic catalyst and illustrating the character\u2019s seductive qualities. Unlike the creepy, vampiric Ardeth Bey, Imhotep has a face that\u2019s meant to compel the audience, blinding them to his deviousness, drawing America back to the allure of foreign others.<\/span><\/p>\n And thus we arrive at the 2017 installation. Creating a completely new story unassociated with Ardeth Bey or Imhotep, Alex Kurtzman\u2019s Mummy<\/i>\u2019s main claim to fame is a female monster called Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). Ahmanet is meant to be pharaoh until the birth of a little brother usurps her power. Hmm, a female leader\u2019s whose shoo-in status is undermined by the birth of a privileged little boy? Nope, can\u2019t see how that\u2019s political at all. <\/span><\/p>\n Other than the ill-timed storyline, Ahmanet\u2019s power strictly lies in seducing a man and embodying him with the power of Set to make him a \u201cliving god.\u201d Where Imhotep in \u201899 was the literal embodiment of God bringing about the plagues of Egypt, Ahmanet \u2014 supposedly so mad about losing her power to a man \u2014 is more than willing to give it away in the hope of turning one into a god. Without spoiling the end, the mummy in this incarnation is nothing more than a catalyst for white male exceptionalism. Where the previous usages of this were invoked to shy away from involvement in foreign skirmishes, this breed of exceptionalism actively seeks to find more. <\/span><\/p>\n This is because the 2017 Mummy<\/i> feels strictly American. Where the previous two films saw British leads co-exist alongside Americans, Tom Cruise\u2019s Nick Morton is profoundly the lead, carrying on any future installments. Morton doesn\u2019t want to be labeled a looter and calls himself a \u201cliberator,\u201d rhetoric often heard when bringing democracy to foreign nations. Morton is a modern-day cowboy, using a gun and his fists to get the plot moving. He\u2019s also highly invested in his sexual prowess, with a running gag about his one-night stand with the film\u2019s \u201cgirl,\u201d Jenny (Annabelle Wallis). <\/span><\/p>\n Karloff and Vosloo\u2019s sexuality was tied to their foreignness and body, respectively; Nick Morton is the all-American boy. Shown as capable, athletic, and indestructible, he\u2019s the living embodiment of the American male who can save us all from those pesky foreign invaders who seek to do us harm. Nope, can\u2019t think where that\u2019s political in the least! Where Ardeth Bey and Imhotep were allowed to be both vicious and lovesick, Ahmanet is a vengeful hellbitch, an ancient Egyptian Alex Forrest<\/span><\/a> looking for a bunny to boil. <\/span><\/p>\n The Mummy<\/i> as a franchise hasn\u2019t seen the massive resurgence in comparison to Dracula and Frankenstein because of our wobbly relationship with its central locale. In 2017, The Mummy<\/i> ends up showing the mean-spirited, \u201cAmerica f*** yeah\u201d attitude that\u2019s just growing tired.<\/span><\/p>\n
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