Readings for week of 9/14 (notes)

"Metaphors We Dig By", Warren R. DeBoer
- archaeologist drawings depict stereotypes
- male-dominated
- covered in hair
- glasses
- hats, boots, "jungle suits"
- hairy-chested vs. hairy-chinned
- these stereotypes have been around for a long time, popular media didn't create them out of the blue
- tools
- digging
- alcohol
- looking for: bones, pots, artifacts, fossils
- archaeology (studying artifacts, not necessarily human remains) is not synonymous with anthropology, though the 2 are related
- exotic lands: Egypt, Near East, Africa
- journey back in time
- discovery
- lost civilizations
- "oedipal & castration anxieties" (?) <-- don't know if I agree - a sexual idiom


"Popular Culture and Archaeology", Cornelius Holtorf
- academic interest in portrayal of archaeology has increased
- four main themes:

1. A: Archaeologist as Adventurer
* hairy-chested
* scientific discovery is the adventure
* exotic locations
* simple living in the field
* discoveries, treasure
* successful return home
* Indiana Jones fits under this theme
* colonial and imperial undertones (that's a problem) - "Legends of Hidden Temple" involves bribery
* a real-life epitome: Heinrich Schliermann (1822-1890): thought he was poking around in Troy
* "Schliemann Effect"
* author who pushed the theme: Kurt Marek (1915-1972), a.k.a. CW Ceram
* other real people who influenced this theme: Heinrich Schliemann, Arthur Evans, Howard Carter, Leonard Woolley
* new literary genre: fact-based archaeological novel
* Lara Croft (the one female exception to the usually male-dominated genre)
* (I wonder if Pixar researched any of these popular stereotypes when writing Up...)
* DYK: Heinrich Schliemann fabricated his autobiography
* gender issues

2. D: Archaeologist as Detective
* professional detectives of the past
* handsome young assistant
* Sherlock Holmes-type figure
* there are indeed parallels between archaeology, forensic science, and criminology
* reconstructions of the past
* many TV documentaries adopt detective-style narratives
* subcategory of this theme: Antiquarian Scholar (elderly): examples: father in Tarzan, Mortimer Wheeler on British TV, Indiana Jones's father
* detective/scholar + the adventurer (D + A) = classic team
* popular culture sometimes makes fun of how boring archaeologists are (examples found within Indiana Jones's class lecture and Star Trek episodes with the Archaeology Council)
* detective/scholars are considered benevolent & harmless
* their undying dedication is more sad than funny (look at how Indy's dad never paid attention to him)
* these archaeologists are often the "bad guys" too (Lara's competitors, for example); OBSESSED BEYOND SANITY, BWAHAHA!

3. R: Archaeologist Making Revelations
* for headlines, the stronger/more sensational the claim, the more worthwhile it is
* parodies of the above tendency
* R theme works well with both A and D
* secrets to be unlocked
* large issues involved: archaeologists might be able to find "the mechanisms that govern the rise and fall of civilizations"; that's pretty useful information
* can therefore develop successful strategies of survival
* potential savior
* this archaeology involves super-natural powers / true miracles
* large existential questions
* outer space!
* extraterrestrial origins
* past takes revenge
* archaeologists are tampering with forces they do not understand
* in actuality: archaeologists are reluctant to support speculation that has no scientific basis

4. C: Archaeologist Taking Care of Ancient Sites
* Heritage Police
* take care of scarce and nonrenewable resources
* for the benefit of society and humankind
* ethical principles
* more popular for close-to-home archaeology (local media, like newspapers, uses it more)
* a race against demolition/construction
* C and D themes are compatible, but DON'T mix them up
* C theme archaeologist wears suit/tie or protective clothing, while D theme archaeologist is a detective with a notebook & magnifying glass
* these archaeologists can be "bad guys" too because what's the point of all this attention to ancient remains, anyway?

Other Themes
* Cardcaptor Sakura's dad :3

- the above are 4 dimensions of "archaeo-appeal"
- archaeologists are NOT usually portrayed in relation to their actual ability to find out what happened (the means, not the ends)
- actual results of archaeological work aren't really important


"No more heroes any more: the dangerous world of the pop culture archaeologist", Miles Russell
- stock male and female characters in TV fiction (docu-soap genre uses a lot of these):

1. driven by a single goal, considered mad, unleash curse
2. driven by pure greed, unleash a monster
3. in it for the purist reasons (the "great discovery"), unleash something unpleasant
4. comical/boring/academic, unleash something bad

- "adventurer" vs. "mild eccentric" (hairy-chest vs. hairy-chin)
- tight-trousered popular hero vs. tweed-wearing Oxbridge type
- again, Heinrich Schliemann (he had hairy-chest AND hairy-chin, was single-minded & passionate about what he was working on)
- other real guys who shape the stereotype: Giovanni Belzoni, Howard Carter, Leonard Woolley
- author who employed it: Agatha Christie ("Murder in Mesopotamia" in 1936)
- other "adventurers": Jean Louis Burckhardt (1784-1817): lost cities/castles of North Africa & Arabia, John Seely (1788-1824): cave temples of Ellora, Karl Mauch (1837-1874): "Biblical" cities (outlandish, but explosive effect), Hiram Bingham (1878-1956)
- evidence of the literal truth of the bible
- unfortunately, increased legitimacy of Judeo-Christian colonial rule in Africa
- Nutty Professor: dull and totally dysfunctional guy
- conflict between academic & action hero (just can't seem to pull off both, even in Indiana Jones)
- but both extremes must work together in order to survive
- Howard Carter and his discovery of King Tut's tomb -> archaeologist as doom-bringer
- 21 fatalities attributed to the curse of King Tut
- also, pop culture archaeologist is often portrayed as "bad guy"
- tampering with forces they don't understand
- another misconception: archaeologists are only after artifacts (gold, jewels)
- National Lottery Syndrome
- minor discoveries (like those about commoners) don't attract popular media's attention
- thus, archaeology often does not live up to the high expectations of non-archaeologists
- by the way, Lara Croft is CRAZY (often is obsessed with one artifact over all other things, including lives)
- clothing of stereotypical archaeologist: pith helmet & khaki shorts -> imply adventure/exploration/excitement
- many pockets, retired military outfits, Middle-Eastern scarf, Soviet hat, clumpy boots, (piercings?)
- steel-rimmed spectacles
- funny how most pop culture archaeologists don't carry bags for their finds
- off lack of technology in these pop culture settings
- no cameras, planning frames, context sheets (even though that's what real archaeologists carry)
- weapons, yes!
- alcohol
- rifles, pistols, dynamite, magnifying glasses, shovel
- "geophys" (slang for "geophysical"; I guess archaeology is cool enough to have its own slang these days; at least interest is getting higher, but at what cost?)
- at least 98% of the population do not regularly encounter archaeologists, so it is more difficult to put these stereotypes at rest (vs. say, those describing a doctor or psychologist)


"The Celluloid Archaeologist - an X-rated expose", Steven Membury
- resolute character who challenges evil
- romances, exotic locations, terrifying encounters
- we find in these movies...racism, sexism, gangsters, flesh trade
- Egypt craze
- "The Lure of Egypt" (1921 film)
- drink and drug-crazed archaeologist
- marital problems ("Made for Love" in 1926, an archaeologist's wife feels alienated by her husband's preoccupation with his work...also, there's a curse)
- archaeologist's work (lack of interest in their wife) forces their spouse to pursue other guys outside the marriage (i.e. get into all kinds of shenanigans)
- "Borrowed Husbands" in 1923 is another example (and also has a curse involved!)
- Howard Carter: the archaeologist who excavated King Tut's tomb in 1922 -> Egypt craze
- his boss (Lord Carnarvon) died; public media blamed King Tut's curse (which was actually made up by some writer)
- prompted a lot of mummy movies!
* "The Mummy" (1932), directed by Karl Freud and starring Boris Karloff [has a similar storyline to the 2000 remake]
- the professor and the young assistant
- Oxbridge graduate and lover of obscure facts
- supernatural powers
- allure of the professor's daughter
- symbiotic relationship between the academic and the adventurer; brains behind the brawn
* "The Mummy's Hand" (1940), not directed by the same guy, is the next film installment
* "Mummy's Tomb" (1942), the mummy follows the old explorers back to their home town!
- both of these contain scenes lifted entirely from "Frankenstein"
- spliced flashbacks
- most of the mummy movies feature archaeologists who are messing with things better left untouched (mummies & their artifacts too)
- the ignorant Celluloid Archaeologist unleashes supernatural forces in the course of his quest for knowledge
- other Celluloid Archaeologist themes: preoccupation with treasure, contribution to taming the wild west, romantic endings, the belief that native people are unable to understand their own past as well as western academics
- Australia and its aboriginal cultures (prime example of archaeologists taking things without regarding the locals)
- archaeologist finding a lost tribe of ape people
- what role do women play? romantic one
- female Celluloid Archaeologist is marginal character with few lines
- archaeologists solely for purpose of explaining why/how they ended up in exotic location
- "honey trap" for the male adventurers
- exceptions: "Jurassic Park" (1993) and "Friends" (1993) (?)
- less so: 2000 remake of "The Mummy"
- back to the males; Indiana Jones mirrors real-life early 19th cen. collector Giovanni Belzoni
- during that period, commonplace for agents from different countries to fight over acquisition of artifacts (financial gain)
- a golden age in archaeology
- young adventurer and old professor
- recall: Schliemann Effect


"Romancing the Stones: Archaeology in Popular Cinema", Mark A. Hall
- "Archaeology is the search for fact, not (philosophic) truth" - Indy's dad
- popular film got its stereotypes from older forms of popular culture: narrative fictions in magazines/newspapers/cheap books
- these films overlook factual accuracy in favor of making the past familiar
- art vs. archaeology (as a science)
- favoring the imagined vs. favoring empirical truth
- "even the most authentic of films can have their authenticity vitiated by the political context in which they are made"
- distortion for the sake of narrative drama
- "cultural appropriation": the adoption of an element of one culture by another (usually in a negative way) [the dominant culture is the one that adopts]
- film portrayals of Egypt usually depict cultural appropriation & controlling non-European culture
- "Egyptomania" phenomenon
- horror possibilities of Egyptian archaeology -> mummy story
- archaeological wisdom as a foil for supernatural elements
- depiction of archaeology as colonial imposition
- colonial agenda creates a fake, imaginary past for these places
- legend and superstition
- view that only Europeans / Americans can truly understand Egyptian past
- western cultural imperialism, "unthinking Eurocentrism" (I've been culturally biased this whole time and didn't know it!)
- Egyptian archaeology fares better in scifi than in horror (yay for "Fifth Element" (1997)!)
- films often set in 1920s or 30s
- representation of the Oriental "Other"
- key mechanisms of colonial power: (1) map, (2) museum, (3) census
- Agatha Christie (remember her?) wrote several 20th century narratives set in Egypt
- natural progress of civilization from East to West
- Eurocentrism
- quest for treasure is central theme of cultural appropriation
- all 3 Indiana Jones films reflect western cultural imperialism
- are museums dead places where treasures are merely horded?
- again, the "bad guy" is usually an individual/group that desires the archaeological object to boost its own power
- this happened in real life too: during WWII, German archaeologists falsified/destroyed archaeological evidence / collected Jewish skulls in an attempt to support Germanic racial superiority
- film-makers thought Eurocentric treasure hunting as necessary to make their films successful
- other films support fight against social/economic exploitation of indigenous peoples
- in "The Golden Salamander" (1951), the West is shown as the natural inheritor of Mediterranean civilization
- "Al Mummia" (1969), on the other hand, shows rejection of treasure hunting
- protection and understanding of a nation's cultural heritage requires the consent/involvement of its own people
- "Rush Hour" (1998) stuck closer to this idea
- association of the collecting of archaeology with the "bad guy" (usually privileged aristocracy); this view is based on collectors during the Renaissance
- European cinema is less concerned with Hollywood-style genres
- rescue archaeology (struggle between archaeology and development)
- some of these films recognize archaeology's potential to be positive
- sometimes local communities hate archaeology because a find would cause unwanted visitors
- other communities (U.K.) are proud of archaeological finds and recognize tourism as economic stimuli
- is the saving of a couple houses really enough to make up for destroying a community/its culture?
- "A Month in the Country" (1988): homosexual archaeologist involved
- archaeologist as metaphor for anti-social strangeness
- again, all of the films (American & European) suggest male-dominated archaeological profession
- social change (gender roles) is reflected in many, though
- women as correctives to male archaeological obsession
- female archaeologists that are determined/independent/intelligent
- American Indian culture has been exploited for shock-horror potential too
- scientists meddling with what they do not understand / are not meant to know (sound familiar?)
- in "The Exorcist" (1973), a Catholic priest-archaeologist O_o
- faith vs. science (difficult/impossible to reconcile)
- science might be regarded as highly rational, but in actuality its history is not!
- DYK: progress of science came from acting against reason
- archaeology as handmaiden of history
- many films stress distinction of past morals vs. present ones
- distinguishing features of past vs. machines/gadgets/sameness of present
- archaeology isn't the only profession for which there are stereotypes in popular cinema
- BUT: 98% of British population had no regular contact with real archaeologist (hence, no basis of rejection of the stereotype)
- real archaeologists either reject cinema stereotypes or ignore them
- in a way, existence of these stereotypes infers a feeling of exclusion of the general public from the profession (we non-archaeologists feel left out!)
- portrayal of archaeologists/curators as holders of privileged knowledge
- unlike in popular cinema, real archaeologists frown upon unethical treatment of indigenous rights and black market antique trade


"Unwrapping the Mummy: Hollywood Fantasies, Egyptian Realities", Stuart Smith
- Ancient Egypt: a cinematic genre in itself
- Hollywood Egyptomania goes all the way back to Napoleon Bonaparte's fascination with past glories (1798 military expedition to Egypt)
- wealthy collectors just had to have something from Egypt (if they wanted to be cool)
- mummy unwrapping parties: all the rage in affluent 19th cen. society
- Egypt-themed films fall into 3 basic genres:

1. biblical/costume epics
* "The Ten Commandments" (1923, 1956); even though it had a cast of academic advisors (Egyptologists too), it contains inaccuracies
* most Egyptians wore white linen, not gold stuff!
* "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) had only a little historical accuracy to it

2. Cleopatra
* Egypt as an exotic/sensual backdrop
* "Stargate" draws on films centered on life of Cleopatra
* (joke's on them: she was more Hellenistic than Egyptian)
* image of exotic East comes from antiquity, i.e. Roman view of Cleopatra and Mediterranean civilizations in general
* how the Roman's characterized Orientalism
* resulted in a Western view of the Easter Other

3. mummies
* contains elements of other 2 genres
* archaeologist as adventurer
* propaganda surrounding Tut's tomb (and supposed curse)
* most draw inspiration from tales emphasizing mysterious/horrific (Orientalist stories)
* influential author: Arthur Conan Doyle: fascinated by the occult, put this fascination in context of Egyptology
* many of these stories and the films they inspired use Kharis and Imhotep as main characters
* DYK: a lot of mummy movies came out before discovery of Tut's tomb
* DYK: idea of mobile mummies used in some ancient Egyptian stories too (so this is a concept that has been around for a long time)
* "The Story of Setna Khaemwas and the Mummies" papyrus
* plot of "The Mummy" (Freund's) shares similarities with some real events in New Kingdom Egypt (like tales of an actual sacred book of spells)
* 4th revival of the original mummy movie ("Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" in 1972) by Hammer Studios draw on author Bram Stoker's novel "Jewel of the Seven Stars" (1903)
* Stoker was good about including a lot of correct historical/archaeological details
* "The Awakening" (1980): the most archaeologically accurate mummy movie

- quest for spectacular finds resulted in focusing on tombs of the elite, not of commoners
- a lot of real Egyptian spells were meant to revive the dead...but in the afterlife ;-)
- also, archaeological finds (real ones this time) imply that Egyptians did, in fact, believe that the dead could intervene in the current life (positively & negatively)
- in that papyrus, a spirit plagues Setna Khaemwas with horrific-erotic dreams
- a number of Egyptian tombs did, in fact, have curses placed on them (but not Tut's)
- Egyptians spent more energy on thinking about the afterlife rather than engaging in philosophical/scientific study (disappointing for early scholars)
- heart was left inside the mummified body (the 2000 remake makes the mistake of leaving it out)
- Egyptian priests invented the notion of back-up systems :3
- "Ushabti": mummy-shaped figurines that could be awakened with a spell to do the work of the deceased (so they could just sit back and enjoy the after-life); a lot of them (~400 for one person)
- some practices/items that Egyptologists typically regard as standard burial components were actually just for the elite
- film & Egyptology BOTH tend to emphasize elite culture (neglect the ordinary Egyptians)
- mummy genre still fascinates the public today
- for 2000 remake of "The Mummy", Universal Studios did make attempt for realism (tried to re-create spoken Egyptian, kept archaeological suggestions in mind)
- even to Hellenistic people, Egypt was mysterious/magic/sensual, so don't dismiss the cinematic view of Egypt right off the bat [other people had it too]
- films haven't created mummy myths; rather, they reflect pre-established notions that have survived over time