Egyptomania Goes To The Movies

"Egyptomania," the West's obsession with the strange and magnificent world of Ancient Egypt, has for centuries been reflected in architecture, literature and the performing arts. But the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, by a sensation-hungry world newly united by mass media, created a wave of fascination unlike anything before. They called it "Tutmania" and its influence was felt everywhere from fashion to home decor to popular music--and notably in the new medium of film. This study traces the origins of 20th century cinema's obsession with Ancient Egypt through previous eras and relates its recurring themes and ideas to the historical reality of the land of the Pharaohs.

"Egyptomania," the West's obsession with the strange and magnificent world of Ancient Egypt, has for centuries been reflected in architecture, literature and the performing arts. But the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, by a sensation-hungry world newly united by mass media, created a wave of fascination unlike anything before. They called it "Tutmania" and its influence was felt everywhere from fashion to home decor to popular music--and notably in the new medium of film. This study traces the origins of 20th century cinema's obsession with Ancient Egypt through previous eras and relates its recurring themes and ideas to the historical reality of the land of the Pharaohs.

Matthew Coniam, author of 'The Annotated Marx Brothers' and 'Egyptomania Goes To The Movies' would dearly love to dedicate his energies to the higher things in life. But alas, cinephilia infected him at a young age and, as yet, there is no cure. In this collection of essays on movies and moviemakers culled from several years' worth of blog posts, magazine articles and book chapters, he shares some of the symptoms in the hope of spreading it further.

The land of pyramids and sphinxes, pharaohs and goddesses, Egypt has been a source of awe and fascination from the time of the ancient Greeks to the twenty-first century. In Egyptomania, Ronald H. Fritze takes us on a historical journey to unearth the Egypt of the past, a place inhabited by strange gods, powerful magic, spell-binding hieroglyphs, and the uncanny, mummified remains of ancient people. Walking among monumental obelisks and through the dark corridors of long-sealed tombs, he reveals a long-standing fascination with an Egypt of incredible wonder and mystery. As Fritze shows, Egypt has exerted a powerful force on our imagination. Medieval Christians considered it a holy land with many connections to biblical lore, while medieval Muslims were intrigued by its towering monuments, esoteric sciences, and hidden treasures. People of the Renaissance sought Hermes Trismegistus as the ancient originator of astrology, alchemy, and magic, and those of the Baroque pondered the ciphers of the hieroglyphs. Even the ever-practical Napoleon was enchanted by it, setting out in a costly campaign to walk in the footsteps of Alexander the Great through its valleys, by then considered the cradle of Western civilization. And of course the modern era is one still susceptible to the lure of undiscovered tombs and the curses of pharaohs cast on covetous archeologists. Raising ancient Egyptian art and architecture into the light of succeeding history, Fritze offers a portrait of an ancient place and culture that has remained alive through millennia, influencing everything from religion to philosophy to literature to science to popular culture.

Released in 1932, The Mummy moved Universal horror into a land of deserts, pyramids, and long-lost tombs. This book examines the roots of The Mummy. It shows how the film shares many motifs with the work of writers such as H. Rider Haggard and discusses how The Mummy drew upon a contemporary vogue for all things ancient Egyptian.

Ancient Egypt has always been a source of fascination to writers, artists and architects in the West. This book is the first study to address representations of Ancient Egypt in the modern imagination, breaking down conventional disciplinary boundaries between fields such as History, Classics, Art History, Fashion, Film, Archaeology, Egyptology, and Literature to further a nuanced understanding of ancient Egypt in cultures stretching from the eighteenth century to the present day, emphasising how some of the various meanings of ancient Egypt to modern people have traversed time and media. Divided into three themes, the chapters scrutinise different aspects of the use of ancient Egypt in a variety of media, looking in particular at the ways in which Egyptology as a discipline has influenced representations of Egypt, ancient Egypt's associations with death and mysticism, as well as connections between ancient Egypt and gendered power. The diversity of this study aims to emphasise both the multiplicity and the patterning of popular responses to ancient Egypt, as well as the longevity of this phenomenon and its relevance today.

The world has always been fascinated with ancient Egypt. When the Romans conquered Egypt, it was really Egypt that conquered the Romans. Cleopatra captivated both Caesar and Marc Antony and soon Roman ladies were worshipping Isis and wearing vials of Nile water around their necks. What is it about ancient Egypt that breeds such obsession and imitation? Egyptomania explores the burning fascination with all things Egyptian and the events that fanned the flames--from ancient times, to Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, to the Discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb by Howard Carter in the 1920s. For forty years, Bob Brier, one of the world's foremost Egyptologists, has been amassing one of the largest collections of Egyptian memorabilia and seeking to understand the pull of ancient Egypt on our world today. In this original and groundbreaking book, with twenty-four pages of color photos from the author's collection, he explores our three-thousand-year-old fixation with recovering Egyptian culture and its meaning. He traces our enthrallment with the mummies that seem to have cheated death and the pyramids that seem as if they will last forever. Drawing on his personal collection — from Napoleon's twenty-volume Egypt encyclopedia to Howard Carter's letters written from the Valley of the Kings as he was excavating — this is an inventive and mesmerizing tour of how an ancient civilization endures in ours today.

Abbott and Costello were the most popular comedians of the 1940s, with burlesque-inspired routines that enthralled audiences on both radio and television. Oddly, their films have not received the same level of attention from critics and writers as those of other comedy teams. This book is a scene-by-scene, film-by-film guide to their movies, making a compelling case for their inclusion at the very top of comic artists. Featuring new research and some surprising revelations, the book introduces newcomers to the delights of this uproarious team and provides confirmed fans with the ultimate companion to their work. Also included is a foreword by John Landis, the celebrated director and Abbott and Costello devotee.