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Sofia Boutella in The Mummy (2017)

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Nick’s sacrifice (The Mummy 2017)

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Sofia Boutella as Ahmanet in The Mummy (2017)

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The Mummy (2017) dir.: Alex Kurtzman

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𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘁𝘀 - 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗛𝟮𝟮𝟳𝟯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝗺𝗺𝘆

     During ANTH2273, the question of Who Owns the Past has not only been our course title but a lingering question. We have looked at a plethora of important figures, events, and read a large amount of research trying to answer this question. Ultimately, there is not one single person who owns the past, the history of our world, our country, even our city, is not made up exclusively by one person, but by thousands of figures and events, and if we think about it, we will even be part of what makes up the past in the future years. 

     In the movie The Mummy (2017), the back story is set in ancient Egypt, where mummification was somewhat rare and saved for the wealthy or those with a honorary title, however, Ahmanet was mummified alive, which suddenly tells us that something was off, as this was rare. First, we know that Ahmanet was wealthy and had a honorary title, or was supposed to, since she was deemed to be the next Princess until her father had a son who would take the throne when the time came. Second, we look at how she was mummified alive, which means there is a huge red flag, she must have done something terribly wrong. Lastly, when Ahmanet was discovered by Jenny, Nick, and Vail, she had watchers around her, when they would normally be facing the other way to protect those coming near the tombs, which Jenny to realize it was a prison rather than a normal burial, along with the chains that were holding the tomb down. With all of this information, we are able to conclude that Ahmanet is a huge part of the past, especially within her highly known family. Though Ahmanet does not own the past, because not one person can make up or own a past, she played a significant role, and her family and country wanted to hide that, making it an even bigger deal, especially in present day.

     Ahmanet’s tomb was sent from Cairo, Egypt to underground in Iraq, where she was buried to never have her story out there and never have her evil unearthed, further proving her power, however, she was able to be discovered some 5000 years down the road, and archaeologist Jenny wanted to be able to learn her past with an expert rather than go down the road that the movie further went into when Ahmanet’s power was released. I found that Jenny’s role during the finding of Ahmanet and transportation of her was crucial to what we learned in class, showing us that anthropology, specifically archaeology in this case, is ethically ambiguous and though there were major setbacks to the discovery with the air strike and Nick shooting the chains to bring the tomb up, she still wanted to bring in the expert and she made sure that the tomb was treated with the utmost care, along with the way she was beyond respectful to it while reading the hieroglyphics in the plane. It shows that no matter the circumstances, treating the antiquities with respect for professional and cultural reasons is important, and sometimes there is points where everything is not up to par being as ethical as it should be, but an anthropologists job is to do their due diligence to take care of what comes into their hands and make sure it is not destroyed or anything along those lines. I really like how the film portrayed ethics in Jenny’s case, how no field work can be perfect (though it is not like this other than movies, still a great example), but all that matters is being as ethical as possible to preserve and protect the past so history is able to be told.

    The movie also shows us how real looting can be, and it can be those who you least expect doing the looting, like the US Army in the movie for example. It was mentioned how Vail and Nick sold items they looted on the black market, which we touched on in our third discussion post in terms of the collectors buying the items being as guilty as looters themselves. The influence of local and international legislation was not visible, seeing as the sergeants were never reported for looting even though their higher up and the archaeologist on site knew about it. Iraq sees a massive amount of looting with their artifacts and try to get them back, so if not reported it is a huge loss to the preservation of the past, let alone how big of a crime it is and no US officials seemed to do anything but brush it off in the film.

     With the looting, local communities were incorporated when there was an airstrike, presumed to be because they did not want their antiquities taken away, even though an archaeologist was there. To me, this shows another part of ethics where it is important to apply concern for welfare because I believe the country may have been mad under the circumstances of Ahmanet’s tomb being taken rather than doing field work there or leaving it be since it was seen as an evil force, if they even knew about it being one. With that being said, I think that the country thought that it was looters taking their antiquities. When it comes to this topic, I find myself quoting an article I found while writing one of the discussion posts for the course, which was written by Agapiou et al., (2017) where they state that looting causes irreversible damage, disturbs landscape, heritage, has social impacts, and is a major threat for cultural heritage. The Iraqi soldiers in the movie wanted to protect their land, and this tells us that there should have been more communication between the parties taking the artifacts and the country in which the artifacts are in. 

     I have explained further in the notes to the characters from Ahmanet what parts of the course and what sources I believe match up with this movie best. Overall, I am glad I chose this movie because it allowed me to see another form that looting can take and it suited our lectures on looting very well.

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Chris Vail. The Mummy, 2017.

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𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙑𝙖𝙞𝙡...

     Just like Colonel Greenway said, you are one of two dumb people looking for antiques to sell on the black market. Not only this, but you were supposed to be a respectable member of the army, but rather, you and my chosen were the ones to steal a map and find me, trying to make a pretty penny. What you did not expect was the effect I would have on you. When the camel spider bit you, it was me choosing to unleash my possession inside of you, since you were so unethical during your work. Vail, did you learn your lesson about being unethical after all of your team lost the trust and respect that they had for you after you stabbed them? It may not seem obvious, but it symbolized something; you lost their trust in a horrific manner by becoming evil like me, however, it was part of a bigger picture showing you how those who loot artifacts for profit have no respect for history or for the archaeologists whose jobs are to do exactly that. Was the rush of stealing a map and the adrenaline that followed worth it? Was it worth having my powers unleashed?

     Vail, did you know that your country frequents stealing artifacts? The United States, in works with Homeland Security Investigations, has returned over 5,000 artifacts to Iraq? (ICE, 2021) This is where you took me from, and instead of being lucky and getting to return me, you got possessed on top of all of the damage you did to the site of and around my prison. How is that for a lesson taught? Looting is a crime, along with selling stolen artifacts, and the punishment shall only get worse for those working for the army. When you, Jenny and Nick were taking my tomb out of the ground where you knew you should not have been, an air strike was called. Did it ever cross your mind that violence is an attempt to prosecute looting, including fire fights? (Barker, 2018). While trying to take my tomb out of the ground, you likely caused irreversible damage, including the massive hole around in the ground; as Agapiou states, this damage is far from ethical and disturbed landscapes, heritage and clearly had social impacts seeing as it caused an air strike. It shows that you did not care about history, but rather to have extra money in your pocket as a privileged soldier. In hindsight, you were lucky Jenny was there so there was not more damage done. 

References

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (2021). US returns stolen artifacts to Iraq in repatriation ceremony. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/us-returns-stolen-ancient-artifacts-iraq-repatriation-ceremony

Barker, A. (2018). Looting, the Antiquities Trade, and Competing Valuations of the Past. Annual review of anthropology, 47(1). https://www-annualreviews-org.library.smu.ca/doi/pdf/10.1146%2Fannurev-anthro-102116-041320

Agapiou, A. et al. (2017). Optical Remote Sensing Potentials for Looting Detection. Geosciences 7(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7040098

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Jennifer Halsey. The Mummy, 2017.

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𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙅𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙚𝙮...

     Jennifer, Jenny, the one my chosen longed for. Nonetheless, a talented woman. Nick stole your map to find me, however, you were able to find me anyways during the airstrike, and you stopped at nothing to bring me back. See, there are not many people in this world who could look at something and knew the power it held, but you took one look at the watchers surrounding my tomb and the chains holding me and knew this was a once in a lifetime event for an archaeologist like you. You knew it was a prison for me, and you wanted to call in a specialist from where my country, more specifically Cairo to investigate my tomb and everything surrounding it, however, Nick selfishly shot the chains and you were rightfully mad, but you still made sure my tomb was taken care of while getting it up and loaded into the plane. That makes you a good archaeologist, Jenny. You realized something was wrong when you saw the watchers surrounding me in what would normally be a dune but instead was a prison, but your assumptions were confirmed when thousands of crows screamed as I was being pulled out of the ground. Upon arriving on the plane, you read the hieroglyphics and learned my story. You learned that I was mummified alive for my sins, how much of a monster I was, I amazed you; but you did not expect me to come back to life or make Sergeant Vail a monster, did you? When I said evil never rests, I meant it, which is why I had to put an end to you, even though Nick brought you back to life and defeated me. I did all of these things to you and those around you, and you still treated me ethically. You could have given me to the looters surrounding you, profited off the sale of me, but you are a good archaeologist. 

     Did you know that worldwide studies show that archaeologists have encounters with looters on and off site and do not report it? (Blythe, 2018). I will give you the benefit of the doubt for not knowing that Nick and Vail were up to something before Nick stole your map, but when you found out and met them at the site in which the map had marked, you did not report them. On the contrast, you were as ethical as you could have been during the quick excavation of my tomb during the air strike, and I appreciate that you, as a good anthropologist, wanted to wait until a specialist from my country was able to step in and help you. When you had to move quickly, you still made sure everything was done as ethically and respectfully as possible. My tomb and ‘prison’ would have been considered culturally material, thus explaining so much going on and how it was conflict to move my tomb since it was the collection of human remains (Bower, 2021). I was of sacred significance and given the conditions, you were able to respectfully care for me until I released my powers. The way you handled everything was in order with a caring, experienced archaeologist, and if it was not for that, I would have been sold on the black market to a collector who does not respect artifacts, and the damage could have been much worse. In the end, you were able to call in experts and be able to defeat me, along with learn my story. 

     A few last words to Jenny -- take into consideration the work of Lambek (2012); “Ethics in the sense of simply doing what is good or right is not characteristic of fieldwork any more than it is of every day life; we don’t do right as consistently or completely as we’d like to think and we usually don’t do wrong as profoundly as our critics (or conscience) suggest”. While reading this quote, we can realize that we will never truly know if what we are doing is completely ethical, and maybe it never will be in everyone’s eyes if anthropology is ethically ambiguous. However, as an anthropologist and further an archaeologist, you have the responsibility to be as ethical and respectful as possible when dealing with things, especially remains, and that you did. I was best in your hands rather than a random collector. 

References

Bowman Balestrieri, B. (2018). Field Archaeologists as Eyewitnesses to Site Looting. Arts (Basel), 7(3). https://mdpi-res.com/arts/arts-07-00048/article_deploy/arts-07-00048.pdf

Bower, M.  (2021) Lecture 1 of Who Owns The Past.

Lambek, M. (2012). Ethics out of the Ordinary. The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology. doi: 10.4135/9781446201077.n45

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Nick and Ahmanet. The Mummy, 2017.

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𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒐𝒏, 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏...

     You were the one who released me that day. You see, when I was alive, I owned the past. I rid of anyone who did me wrong, and I was seen as the monster. Why was I the monster? My first chosen did me wrong, but, all I wanted was my father, Menehptre’s, love and nothing more, but he did not reciprocate. He promised me to be the queen, and he ruthlessly had a son to replace me. I had to rid of them both, it was not fair, but they did the same to me.

     I was reborn as a monster in that life, and when they killed me, I vowed to have a mortal man be a demon in the next world to take venegance upon humanity. You, my chosen, were supposed to be that man. I even saved you from your horrific plane crash, all for nothing; really, all for you to abandon me for Jenny. All of this after you had taken me from my final resting place willfully and unethically.

     Nick, what kind of Army Sergeant is shooting chains that hold a tomb down, looting, and stealing in Mosul, Iraq, especially during an air strike as you did to me? Surely, this is not ethical and will not ensure proper preservation for my body, let alone my tomb, which told the story in my life in hieroglyphics; thus, making it even more unethical to loot archaeological objects in a foreign country to sell on the black market... Profit over preservation is all that matters to the selfish. You looting in Iraq is awfully similar to the US Army looting in Germany and seeing it justifiable both legally and morally since Germans had been doing the same for years, and even dubbed ‘looting’ as liberating (Givens, 2014). Was this your motivation, since you had to fight in Iraq, you deserved what the country had to offer? This seems to be a trend with the United States army. Don’t you think, Nick?

     I was taken far away from my country of Egypt to be imprisoned underground, you knew this by the watchers surrounding me and the chains purposefully holding me down. I was chained down to never have my story told or be brought back up, my name erased for no one to ever hear of again. But, my chosen, you allowed myself and my dark powers to rise again; though you did so unethically in a community that had me hidden, you allowed me to not only prove that I owned the past, but to be able to come back and tell the story of it, then to own the present. You see, had I not owned the past completely, they would not have entombed me so far away or tried so hard to get rid of me. I wanted to be the ruler, and I stopped at nothing to be; that past could never be buried forever, I was too powerful, no matter how hard they tried to hide me. If you had cared rather than being a selfish looter to sell to collectors, you would have known that the mummy curse has been rumoured for upwards of 80 years (Luckhurst, 2010) before you excavated me. 

     My chosen, I stopped at nothing, I owned the past, I owned the present, I took over the city, making you all go to the burial chambers, I made you and Sergeant Veil monsters. You brought Jenny back to life with the powers I gave you, like you were not the one to dishonorably take me from my underground grave. You were lucky that I was not like the unlucky mummy who ended the lives of those who bothered them after reaching their resting place (Luckhurst, 2010), especially after I was mummified alive. Evil never rests, and neither will I until you choose me, even though you chose to betray me. I will be your queen, my chosen, you would not be having all of these daydreams of us and you would not have taken me or found the stone from my dagger if this were not the case. I wanted to make you an eternal living God. Now, the curse will never be broken. 

References

Givens, S. (2014). Liberating the Germans: The US Army and Looting in Germany during the Second World War. War in History, 21(1). https://journals-sagepub-com.library.smu.ca/doi/pdf/10.1177/0968344513504521

Luckhurst, R. (2010). The mummy’s curse: A study in rumour. The Critical Quarterly, 52(3).