The movie "The Mummy" was created, it seems, almost purely based on stereotypes sacrificing both historical accuracy and entertainment value. Set in ancient and 1920's Egypt, two time period that, no doubt, bring many vivid images to mind. However, the majority of those images are skewed in someway, and, unfortunately, in this film. Throughout the film the most basic historical facts on architecture, costume, characters, and technological innovations .
were either skewed in some way or completely ignored. In addition many blatantly obvious points on the role of men and women and class structure and were overlooked. .
Of all the characters in the film only Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun have a place in history, the rest are completely fictional. This, however, does not mean the Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun of the film are as they are perceived in history. His portrayal in the movie was somewhat more than unflattering, as he was shown, in essence, to be an high priest that fell in love with one of the pharaoh Seti I wives, Anck-Su-Namun, then returns as an evil half-dead creature. All, save that Imhotep being a high priest, is made up. Imhotep lived during the reigns of Khasekhem and Djoser around 2980 BCE, almost 2000 years before the time period the film placed him. Also he was more than just a priest, he was an architect, vizier to the pharaohs, sculptor, and even a renowned physician, who seemed to be generally thought of as very caring. Anck-Su-Namun, too, lived in a different time, but only by a 100. She was the daughter of Nefertiti and was married to Tutankhamun and Ay, very different from her life in the film.
The portrayal of the role of women in the film is very interesting as there are only two women in the film, one in the 1920's and one in ancient Egypt. Anck-Su-Namun, as seen in the film, had no power what so ever. This was not true as she was a member of the royal family and wife of a pharaoh, so she would have had enough clout to at least delay the pharaoh's guards from pursuing Imhotep.
