Stereotypes of the Middle East in The Mummy (1999) Essay

This essay delves into the portrayal of the Middle East in the 1999 film 'The Mummy,' examining how the movie depicts the region's culture, beliefs, and societal structures. It analyzes the film's narrative, characters, and settings to uncover both positive and negative stereotypes presented about the Middle East and its inhabitants. The essay explores themes of ancient Egyptian culture, religious practices, and the fear of supernatural forces, as portrayed through the story of Imhotep and the city of Hamunaptra. It discusses how the film stereotypes different groups, including Americans, Egyptians, and the Medjai, focusing on their motivations and behaviors within the context of the story. The essay concludes by reflecting on the film's impact on audience perceptions and its contribution to the broader understanding of the Middle East, even though the movie is a work of fiction.

Running head: PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
The portrayal of a certain geographical area through the movies and other media related
to literature might relate to the actual attributes of the concerned area. The literary pieces of work
as well as the depiction of the same in the various movies helps the concerned audience to have
some glimpses of the concerned area that is focused on in the concerned movie or the concerned
literary piece of work. The movies further help the concerned audience to develop an insight on
the concerned area or the time period that has been portrayed or referred to in the concerned
movie (Halpern 2015). The following essay deals with the depiction of the middle east in the
famous movie titled The Mummy. The essay opens with the portrayal of the Middle East and the
inhabitants of the concerned area through the famous movie that has been chosen for the
concerned assignment. The essay further proceeds to analyze the factors pertaining to the various
positive as well as the negative stereotypes that are portrayed within the concerned movie. The
essay attempts an analysis of the concerned movie on the lines of the stereotyping that is
depicted in the concerned movie. The essay nears the end with the various conditions that might
be put across to the concerned audience on the various matters that are related to the conditions
prevalent in the Middle East as portrayed by the concerned movie, in discussion, The Mummy
that was released in the year 1999.
The concerned movie in discussion, The Mummy, is one of the famous movies of the
action fantasy genre. The movie was written as well as directed by the Stephen Sommers. The
movie is often considered to be a very loose remake of a movie of the same title that was
released in the year 1932 (Youtube.com 2018). The basic outline of the story states that the
protagonist of the story, an adventurer has been accompanying an archaeologist and her brother
to the city of Hamunaptra in Egypt, also known as the city of the dead. During their visit to the
city they come across some other people who have been heading in the same direction in order to

2PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
raid the pyramids in search of the huge amounts of wealth that were buried with the dead during
the rule of the Pharaohs in the land of Egypt. The group of people whom the trio met on their
way had recovered certain items from the concerned pyramid. The archaeologist had mistakenly
read a book that was recovered by the concerned members of the other team that had been
working at the concerned sector (El Hamamsy and Soliman 2013). The reading of the concerned
book had led to the awakening of Imhotep, a high priest who had been operational during the
reign of the Pharaoh Seti I. This had led to the conditions that had brought misery upon the
general people of the concerned city wherein the tomb had been located.
The concerned priest, Imhotep, was claimed to have been buried alive as a punishment
for some grave sin that he had committed by getting involved in a love affair with the mistress of
the then pharaoh, Pharaoh Seti I. The pharaoh had come to know of the concerned illicit affair
which led to the assassination of the Pharaoh at the hands of the mistress and the priest. The
priest flees the area while the mistress kills herself with the expectation that the priest would
resurrect her from the dead. The priest and his team attempt to resurrect to the mistress of the
pharaoh but are interrupted by the Medjai, the bodyguards of the late pharaoh. (Smith, Choueiti,
and Pieper 2014) The team of Imhotep was mummified alive while much worse punishment
awaited the high priest. Imhotep was sentenced to Hom Dai, the worst of the curses in Egypt and
was buried alive with the scrab beetles, infamous for their habit of feeding on the raw flesh. The
priest is then sealed away into a sarcophagus and buried at the feet of the statue of Anubis that
was present in the city of Hamunaptra. The area was strictly surveyed and maintained by the
Medjai, the bodyguards of the concerned pharaoh in order to prevent the resurrection of the
priest and thereby saving the country from the dangerous plagues that the resurrection of the
priest might bring along.

3PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
The background story of the movie portrays the various cultures that were present within
the society of the Middle Eastern countries. The movie portrayed the various characters who
were presented in the concerned story in the light of the various practices and the cultures that
were abided by in the countries of the Middle East. The concerned movie also portrays the
citizens of the area to be afraid of the consequences of defying the rules that have been followed
within the country since the ancient times (Schroeder 2016). The movie also puts forth the
various practices that were followed in the ancient times in order to maintain the hierarchy in the
various practices and the well-maintenance of the strata of the social hierarchy that was present
in the then society.
The movie deals with the stereotyping of the various number of people belonging to the
various societies as portrayed within the concerned movie. The various societies that have been
portrayed within the movie are the American society, the Medjai, the current Egyptian society.
The movie tends to portray the fact that there has always been a number of the people residing in
the concerned societies who are in a constant search for the wealth that might have been
accumulated by the ancient kings and pharaohs. The movie tends to stereotype them to be the
ones who concentrate only on the wealth that they might acquire at the end of the day and do not
even find it necessary to look into the other aspects that might be related to the act (Rastegar
2015). The movie portrays the inhabitants of the Middle East to be people who tend to fear the
Divine and other supernatural powers. The Middle East people are known to have great respect
and fear for the matters that have been followed in the concerned area since times immemorial.
The concerned movie depicts the conditions of the belief in the superstitions and the other facts
that have been practiced by the various members of the society. The movie depicts the fact that
the Westerners are not the ones who abide by the various instructions that were extended by the

4PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
members of the Medjai in order to prevent the various mishaps that might have followed the
resurrection of the high priest, Imhotep. The movie puts forth the fact that the Western
excavators and archaeologists had continued with the excavation and had laid their hands on the
sarcophagus of the high priest as well as the various organs of the mistress of the concerned
deceased pharaoh of the country. The various members of the excavation group are seen to be
continuing with the excavation job thereby leading to the worst-case scenario that was
apprehended by the Medjai. The priest got resurrected and as was predicted by the Medjai and
thus led to the unleashing of the consequences of almost a thousand plagues within the city. The
middle east people are described to be God abiding people and known to be abiding by the laws
of nature that are implemented within the concerned country (Avraham 2016). The people of the
country are portrayed to maintain the hierarchy within the society and still believe in the matters
that pertain to the various laws and practices that have been put across by the ancient members of
the concerned society.
The movie also puts forth certain superstitions that are till date followed by the people
residing in Egypt. One of the scenes in the movie depicts the fear of the cats by the devil. The
movie tends to project the resurrected priest to be an evil force. One particular scene in the movie
demonstrates that the priest while undergoing the resurrection process enters a room wherein the
archaeologist responsible for its resurrection, Evelyn, had been sleeping. The mummy had
entered in the form of sand which tends to put forth the fact that the people of the Middle East
believed that the spirits and the other supernatural powers could assume the shape of the various
other elements that are present within the various parts of the world (Sazzad 2017). The movie
also stereotyped the people of the Middle East to be afraid of the cats and consider them to be
divine beings who were responsible for the protection of the people who are virtuous. The scene

5PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
within the movie had depicted the fact that the evil spirits within the concerned country were
known to be afraid of the cats that are actually considered to be the members of the divine
category. The speedy retreat of the concerned evil spirit tends to be a mark of the fact that the
Middle Eastern society believes in the triumph of the good over the evil.
The concerned movie helps the concerned audience to learn more about the practices that
are prevalent in the middle east in the matters that deal with the supernatural and the presence of
the same in the everyday lives of the concerned residents of the area. The movie further portrays
the fact that the people of the Middle East tend to abide by the laws that are set by the concerned
members of the community since the ancient times. The movie further assists the audience on the
matters that deal with the information on the beliefs and the rituals that were practiced by the
concerned members of the society in the ancient ages (Ucko and Champion 2016). The other
members of the audience are also enlightened by the information on the various matters that deal
with the practices and the processes that were followed by the concerned members of the society
and the various supernatural matters that deal with the resurrection and the reversal of the death
in the ancient times. The movie, though a fiction, is capable of throwing light on the various
conditions and the practices that might have existed in the earlier times. The movie also presents
great visuals on the interiors of the various pyramids and the other sacred areas within the
concerned tombs that contain the sarcophagi and the other remains of the pharaohs of the then
time period. The other factors that are depicted within the concerned movie might deal with the
pictorial representation of the various mythical characters that were found to be existent within
the concerned societal barriers. The movie during its concluding parts reveals Anubis who was
known to be the God of Embalming and the Dead (Jones et al 2014). The movie portrays the fact
that the concerned people living in the Middle East tended to rely on the fact that the good and

6PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
the virtuous always triumph over the evil and vicious. The movie finally ends with the self-
sacrifice of Imhotep to the River of Fire, the death of the concerned member of the excavation
group who had expressed the greatest amount of greed for the wealth that were discovered while
excavating the tomb.
Thus, in conclusion to the above discussion, it might be pointed out that the movie in
discussion, The Mummy, depicts the various factors that might have been effective in the
portrayal of the various matters that might help the audience to gather more information about
the then society in Middle East and the various beliefs as well as disbeliefs that were present
within the minds of the people who have been residing in the concerned area in the ancient times.
The movie might also be said to reveal the various conditions that deal with the matters that
pertain to the practices and the cultures that were followed within the Middle Eastern society as
well as demarcates the cultural practices of the Middle Eastern society from the one that is
abided by the western cultures. Thus, it might safely be concluded that the concerned movie
throws a certain amount of light on the practices and the norms that are followed within the
concerned society in discussion, the Middle Eastern society.

7PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
References
Avraham, Eli. "Destination marketing and image repair during tourism crises: The case of
Egypt." Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 28 (2016): 41-48.
El Hamamsy, Walid, and Mounira Soliman, eds. Popular culture in the Middle East and North
Africa: A postcolonial outlook. Routledge, 2013.
Halpern, Manfred. Politics of Social Change: In the Middle East and North Africa. Princeton
University Press, 2015.
Jones, Jana, et al. "Evidence for prehistoric origins of Egyptian mummification in late Neolithic
burials." PLoS One9.8 (2014): e103608.
Rastegar, Kamran. Surviving Images: Cinema, War, and Cultural Memory in the Middle East.
Oxford University Press, 2015.
Sazzad, Rehnuma. Edward Said's Concept of Exile: Identity and Cultural Migration in the
Middle East. IB Tauris, 2017.
Schroeder, Caroline T. "Ancient Egyptian Religion on the Silver Screen: Modern Anxieties
about Race, Ethnicity, and Religion." Journal of Religion & Film 7.2 (2016): 1.
Smith, Stacy, Marc Choueiti, and Katherine Pieper. "Race/ethnicity in 600 popular films:
Examining on screen portrayals and behind the camera diversity." Media, Diversity, & Social
Change Initiative (2014): 202007-2013.
Ucko, Peter J., and Timothy Champion. The Wisdom of Egypt: changing visions through the
ages. Routledge, 2016.

8PORTRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THE MUMMY (1999)
Youtube.com. "The Mummy (1999) - Trailer." YouTube. N.p., 2018. Web. 14 May 2018.