The ancient Egyptian mummies have been extensively portrayed throughout history, since the early inceptions of photography and cinema, and remain popular in visual culture. Certain ways of...Show moreThe ancient Egyptian mummies have been extensively portrayed throughout history, since the early inceptions of photography and cinema, and remain popular in visual culture. Certain ways of portraying them have been repeatedly followed like traditions, which resulted in establishing stereotypes. In this thesis, I investigate how some of these recurring portrayals dehumanise the ancient Egyptians. For this purpose, I have compiled an archive of photographs and films, and analysed their stereotypical portrayal patterns. In doing so, I have identified two traditions; the portrayal of mummies in non-fictional photographs as artefacts (artefication), and their portrayal in fictional films as monsters (monstrification). In two visual essays accompanying this thesis, I demonstrate how these traditions systematically deny the portrayed mummies essentially and uniquely human qualities, resulting in their dehumanisation. Further, I discuss their spectacularisation — inherent in their artefication and monstrification— and the mode of spectatorship evoked by the mummified body as a spectacle. The thesis thus aims to offer a critique on dehumanising portrayals of the ancient Egyptians, shedding light on the repercussions of the encounter with such images.Show less
