So around my last winter break, I decided to watch The Mummy for the first time. No, I'm not talking about the 2017 reboot with Tom Cruise... I'm not about to watch that box office horror for one second unless I can be convinced otherwise. I'm talking about the 1999 original with Brendan Fraser in all it's late 90's/early 2000's glory. Netflix had the entire trilogy on their platform so I thought, why the heck not?
Little did I know that this small movie choice would turn into a heated debate between me and one of my friends back home. You see, dear readers, when I started this movie I realized that it has a lot in common with another trilogy that I absolutely love: The Indiana Jones Trilogy. So, naturally, I posted about it and it lead to my friend saying that The Mummy was ten times better then Indiana Jones. I disagreed and fought for awhile, but we came to a pretty solid conclusion by the end of our debate: The Mummy is a better movie because it is a character driven plot.
The Mummy: The Characters Happen to the Plot
The plot of the movie is kick started by Evelyn (Evie) finding a map to an ancient Egyptian burial place, Hamunaptra, that may have treasure. She then gets the help of Brendan Fraser's character, Rick, to help her find the place, since he has already been there before, but has not found said treasure. It's a classic adventure movie formula, but far more focused on the characters and how they happen to the plot.
You see, the characters happen to the events around them and not the other way around. For example, Rick would not have gone back to Hamunaptra if not for Evie asking for his help. Evie, or anyone else for that matter, would not be going to Hamunaptra if she had not found a map to an ancient treasure, proving it's existence. Both of these characters make the plot move forward and the movie would not exist without their direct involvement as the catalysts. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of the Indiana Jones Trilogy...
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Plot Happens to the Characters
For this specific study, we'll only be looking at the first film of the trilogy, since it follows a bit of the same formula as The Mummy. Indiana Jones is given an assignment to find the lost ark of the covenant from Biblical times. In order to do this, he must meet up with his old flame, Marian, who has a crucial piece to finding the "buried treasure"... sound a little familiar? Indiana Jones may have come first, but it handles it's plot a bit differently. The plot happens to Marian and Indiana and they hardly ever have any effect on the events around them.
Indiana is only asked to be on this assignment because he is an archaeologist and he used to study under Marian's father. This makes him the best man for the job, but he could have easily not been chosen to do it. Likewise, Marian's main purpose as a character is to fall into traps and fight back with Indiana for comic relief. They both find themselves trapped or in situations they have no control over because the plot is simply unfolding around them. Theoretically, Indiana and Marian don't have to be around for these events to happen, because they would have happened anyway. In the movie, everyone is looking for the Ark, even the Nazis, so really, these characters are around to make this an enjoyable and less historically accurate adventure film.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, I love both of these films and they are great adventure movies that I highly recommend. They execute their plots very differently, but still get to a satisfying conclusion. So what do you guys think? Do you think The Mummy or Raiders of the Lost Ark is better? Let me know in the comments below and I'll talk to you guys again real soon!
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