The Curse of Postcolonial (Mis)representation in Universal’s The Mummy Franchise
Title: The Curse of Postcolonial (Mis)representation in Universal’s The Mummy Franchise
Creator: Mitchell Sturhann
Category: Time
Creator Commentary:
From the birth of the American film market, American studios have had a complicated history with their cinematic portrayal of non-white cultures. While many film scholars have examined this topic in great detail, Universal’s The Mummy Franchise provides a unique opportunity to analyze American cinematic portrayal of a single country — Egypt — not just in the context of one film, but in several films spanning the course of almost 90 years. By comparing and contrasting the examples set by the 1931 and 2018 Mummy films, we can see that while film studios may have taken steps to address overt symptoms of racism and derogatory stereotyping, the underlying institutions and inherent prejudice against non-white representation remains intact, albeit changed in form.
Submission:
Creator Bio:
Mitchell is a senior Screenwriting major who loves to read, write, or watch anything from either the screen or written page. He is showrunner for a web series and is one of the founding members and writers of Chapman Sketch Comedy. He plays trumpet with the Chapman Wind Ensemble and Big Band and is an avid listener of movie soundtracks. He has a penchant for old Toho Godzilla movies and has been positively identified as a Slytherin.