Literature Review #2






Citation: 

  Glynn, Basil. The Mummy on Screen: Orientalism and Monstrosity in Horror Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2019.

Summary: In this book, Glynn talks about the portrayal of the mummy and egyptian culture and practices  in western media. She also talks about the evolution of the Egyptian culture and portrayal of "magical" practices.

Author: Basil Glynn is a lecturer in films and television. He is knowledgable since he studies media and films as his job. 

Key Terms: Portrayal, Egyptians, Mummy

Quotes:

Mummy films acknowledge little difference between the ancient and the modern, with only scant attention given to the Muslim country that Egypt has been since AD 639.(25) 

Although monsters evidently rise and fall in popularity, to be resurrected anew, the death of the Mummy genre is one that appears to have been actively sought by a number of critics, being pronounced dead on the screen on a number of occasions.(29)

In the midst of this ‘Mummy craze’ Mummies were unwrapped in Britain virtually everywhere including ‘medical and military museums, operating theatres, artists’ studios, provincial playhouses, pharmacies and drawing rooms’(37)

Value: This Book will help me explore my research question since it provides information about the portrayal of the mummy and Egyptian culture and practices in the media. This will help me examine why these portrayals and interpretations led to the occult being associated with Egypt in the western mind.

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerFebruary 24, 2021 at 11:49 PM

    This looks good, and I just sent you other material with links to some trailers. I saw the Tom Cruise film and thought it was tolerable. It seems to carry forward all of the standard conventions of these films.

    I will suggest additional readings when we meet. Here's another interesting looking one:


    Hammer, Olav. “Divining the Distant Past: Altered Consciousness, the Paranormal and Archaeology.” Altered Consciousness in the Twentieth Century, 1st ed., Routledge, 2019, pp. 113–29, doi:10.4324/9780429061196-6.
    https://bit.ly/2ZP1Au8
    It is chapter 5 of the book

    ReplyDelete

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