1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:08,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lambin. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:20,080 Speaker 2: focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. 5 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 2: In this episode, I like to discuss one of the 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 2: classic monster icons of twentieth century horror cinema, the Undead Mummy. 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 2: You've all encountered some variation on this monster before, if 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 2: not in the original six part Universal Pictures Mummy franchised, 9 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 2: then perhaps in nineteen eighty seven's The Monster Squad or 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 2: nineteen nineties Tales from the Dark Side, the movie which 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 2: has a very memorable adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 12 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 2: Lot two forty nine, which I'll touch on again in 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 2: a bit. For my own part, I fondly remember reading 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 2: a pair of kids books from the late eighties and 15 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: nineties when I was a child, by Alita E. Young, 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 2: Terror in the Tomb of Death and Returned to the 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 2: Tomb of Death, both of which featured undead mummies and 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 2: ancient Egyptian curses. Now, to properly understand mummy horror fiction 19 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 2: in general, we have to recognize its place within the 20 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 2: larger world of Egyptomania. The term Egyptomania is more often 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 2: used to refer specifically to nineteenth century European fascination with 22 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 2: all things Egypt in the wake of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, 23 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,479 Speaker 2: but it can also generally be leveled at different points 24 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 2: in time when various cultures have pursued an interest in 25 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 2: ancient Egyptian civilization and culture. In the excellent book Egyptomania, 26 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 2: author Ronald H. Fritz discusses various forms of Egyptomania over 27 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 2: the ages, from the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans to 28 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: Europeans and afrocentrist movements. He also devotes a chapter to 29 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 2: Hollywood movies and literature. He writes that Egyptian themed fiction 30 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 2: in its current forms emerged during the nineteenth century, again 31 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 2: after Napoleon's campaign in Egypt inspired a new surge in 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 2: European Egyptomania, surplanting Egypt's smaller place in the European culture 33 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 2: of the time period, where it was mostly relegated to 34 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 2: its role in Shakespearean theater, freemasonry, and sporadic fictional treatments. 35 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 2: Fritz writes that Egyptian themed fiction basically falls into a 36 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 2: number of subgenres. There's historical fiction, biblical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, 37 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 2: occult fiction, and yes, there is the mummy fiction. But 38 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 2: where does the idea of undead mummified ancient Egyptians come 39 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 2: from in all of this? Well, the nineteen thirty two 40 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 2: universal horror movie The Mummy might seem like a good 41 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 2: place to start, after all, it kicked off a rather 42 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 2: influential franchise, but Fritz shares that early versions of the 43 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 2: script didn't feature an undead mummy at all. This settlement 44 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 2: was only added later in subsequent rewrites. Unlike Dracula and Frankenstein, 45 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 2: the Mummy frame was not rooted in a particular work 46 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 2: of literature, Though there are clear literary forbears, nineteen thirty 47 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 2: two is The Mummy wasn't even the first mummy motion picture. 48 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 2: Consider instead that the likes of nineteen eleven's The Mummy, 49 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 2: in which a scientist revives an Egyptian mummy with electricity 50 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 2: and then falls in love with her sadly lost, is 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 2: just one of a flurry of silent mummy movies from 52 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 2: the nineteen tens. As for literary sources, Sir Arthur Conan 53 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 2: Doyle's short stories The Ring of Thoth eighteen ninety and 54 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 2: Lot Number two forty nine eighteen ninety two are important 55 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 2: to note, as is Brahm Stoker's The Jewel of the 56 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 2: Seven Stars from nineteen oh three. Fritz singles out The 57 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 2: Mummy or a Tale of the twenty second Century by 58 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 2: Jane C. Loudon from eighteen twenty seven as the earliest 59 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 2: long work concerning a reanimated mummy. Other early examples of 60 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 2: reanimated mummy story include Theophile Gottner's The Mummy's Foot and 61 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 2: Edgar Allen Poe's eighteen forty five story Some Words with 62 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 2: a Mummy. These stories, according to Fritz, arise in general 63 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 2: again out of nineteenth century Egyptomania, but also out of 64 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 2: European and American fascination with mummies and mummy unwrapping parties. 65 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 2: In particular. He also writes that we can't underestimate Victorian 66 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 2: colonial guilt and misgivings about the desecration of Egyptian tombs 67 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 2: and artifacts as a strong motivation for summoning so many 68 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 2: tales in which over eager American and European archaeologists on 69 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 2: Earth ancient tombs ancient curses and invoked the wrath of 70 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 2: the untead. In fact, he points out that initially mummy 71 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 2: stories cast archaeologists firmly in the role of villains, but 72 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 2: then the needle moved in the opposite direction quote after 73 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 2: the discovery of Tutenkammen's tomb nineteen twenty two. Thanks to 74 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 2: the film industry, archaeologists were portrayed as heroic, scholarly adventures, 75 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 2: while angry mummies were not avengers but the revived, corporeal 76 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 2: forms of a mindless ancient evil. This shift is in 77 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 2: effect an affirmation or vindication of imperialism and colonialism. On 78 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 2: top of all of this, there's, of course the influence 79 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 2: of pre existing tales of cursed objects and the unsettled dead, 80 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 2: which would have found new life in Egyptomania fuel creations. 81 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 2: These various elements all would seem to have contributed to 82 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 2: the undead mummy's place in our horror fiction. Tune in 83 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 2: for additional episodes of The Monster Fact or The Artifact 84 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 2: each week. As always, you can email us at contact 85 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 2: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 86 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 87 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: more podcasts from My Heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 88 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.