Prospectus

I am going to research both “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” and find correlations between the myths proposed in the movies and actual Egyptian myths. I have studied a bit of Egyptian mythology in the past and find it very interesting, but really know very little about it. For example, I know there was someone called Imhotep in Egyptian mythology, but obviously he didn’t come back from the dead. But he must have been important somehow or his name wouldn’t have survived the ages.

I expect to be finding out the validity, and then the truth behind places and themes such as- the supposed existence of a pair of books said to be used in ressurection, the city of Hamunaptra, a place called Ahm Shere, and several of the other locations in both movies, and if a person really did “sell their soul” to Anubis, and if so if there’s any known legend of a Scorpion King. If there is an actual Scorpion King legend, I will include the film “The Scorpion King” in my final paper as well.

I also plan to look into the real Egyptian Book of the Dead, it’s actual contents, and why they chose to use it in the film versus making up a new name of their own. Of course, I’m also going to research the actual process of creating a mummy, because I feel it’s needed to fully comprehend the movies, but unless it becomes obvious that it needs discussing, I’m going to try to stick with the less well known aspects of Egyptian culture and legend, because just about everybody who has any knowledge of Egypt at all knows at least the basics of how mummies are created. I feel that it has been done before and while it is at the center of what I am researching, I would rather focus on less well known things.