Fascinating article. Thanks, Brian.
I see two areas in the movie that would seriously worry the Egyptian government. First, the issue of human creation WILL inflame Islamic fundamentalists. It will tick off Christian fundamentalists as well . . . but they don't have a history of rioting in the streets, and tend to vote by simply not attending the movies. Remember the mass demonstrations both in Iran and in England over the publication of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses? Christian fundamentalists would assume--as they do already--that Hollywood simply reflects the fact that Satan is ruler of this world, and that they are called upon to be in the world but not of it. Outside of some picketing--and I don't really see that happening the way it did with the release of the movie Dogma--there wouldn't be much public reaction. Shiite communities have been known to express their anger and their feelings of being directly attacked by the release of such productions in a more outspoken way, shall we say.
Second, the movie is about an underground resistance movement tackling the status quo--unveiling what is REALLY going on in the world and overturning the established order. A number of Islamic countries are nervous about that sort of thing quite apart from religious considerations--revolutionaries portrayed as heroes. Unless the heroic revolutionaries are already in power (Khaddafi, or pre-Iraq War II Saddam, for instance) the tendency is to portray such as troublemakers who get their just deserts. This is especially the case in Saudi Arabia but, then, the House of Saud tends to ban ALL western media imports, feeling they might contaminate their cultural purity.
There is a wonderful area for discussion in this. Is censorship ever a good thing? Even if what is censored sparks riots and hundreds of deaths? I thoroughly enjoyed Dogma, but many Christian groups found it offensive. On the other hand, I have supported movements, not to censor, but to make people aware, that Hollywood continues to unfairly stereotype and stigmatize witches in this country (USA). In the public mind, especially in the fundamentalist Christian mindset, witches are evil caricatures of women--old hags--who worship Satan, sacrifice babies, and perform black magic. Disney had a movie out a few years ago--forget the title, but it was about three witches killed at Salem in 1690 who came back to torment some modern-day kids--that is a case in point.
This has been changing somewhat of late, but only somewhat. For my part, I utterly reject calls to censure such movies, but would personally appreciate seeing the idea of witches handled with more realism and less stereotyping.
A final note about Egypt, in particular. I am a student of cryptoarcheology--that lunatic-fringe element that likes to speculate on archeological mysteries that touch on such officially forbidden topics as Atlantis or ancient astronauts. Note that I didn't say "believe." Von Daaniken writes absolute crap. But there ARE mysteries and I DO enjoy speculating about them. I've employed several such theories in some of my SF writing.
One recent set of wonderments arose over the age of the Sphinx at Giza. There is evidence that suggests the Sphinx was carved from native bedrock considerably longer ago than the reign of Chephren, the historically traditional date of around 2200 BCE. Some estimates go back 10,000 to 12,000 years, to a period when archeology insists there was no culture in the region capable of creating such a monument. As of this date, a number of archeologists have been ejected from Egypt or threatened with ejection for "daring" to speculate that the Sphinx could be so much older. Dr. Hawass, the head of Egypt's antiquities directorate, is on record as saying that the Sphinx is "the heart and soul of Egypt," and that assigning it to a pre-Egyptian culture is unthinkable. There is tremendous national pride wrapped up in the "official" version of history, and the authorities will not permit evidence that even hints at an alternate version.
Gee, how's THAT for paranoid thinking? Sounds like typical lunatic-fringe crap, doesn't it? :
In all of this, of course, I mean absolutely no disrespect to followers of Islam or of any other religion. I'm all for national and cultural pride and enthusiastically support religious freedom and choice, but I get nervous when science and historical fact are dictated by religious sentiment or conviction, or by public or cultural opinion.
