WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for The Mummy

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The latest DC Extended Universe entry, Wonder Woman, is a triumph for female characters in movies, while this weekend's big release, The Mummy, undermines any attempt at progress with its final twist. There are a few similarities between Wonder Woman and The Mummy. Even though their source material is vastly different - one comes from the pages of comics, the other is inspired by a 1932 horror movie - both films are positioned as summer blockbusters, and action/adventure films in which their lead characters discover the heroes within themselves. In a larger sense, however, both movies hit theaters with a great deal of pressure on them to succeed for the sake of their respective cinematic universes.

In the case of Wonder Wonder, Patty Jenkins' DCEU installment arrived on the heels of back-to-back films that received largely negative critical reviews and mixed reactions among moviegoers (those films being Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad). As such, many hoped Wonder Woman would be the first DCEU entry that was generally well received by critics and moviegoers alike - which, considering reviews of Wonder Woman and the film's massive box office, it was. Meanwhile, The Mummy is tasked with being the official launchpad for Universal Studio's Dark Universe - the shared cinematic world of classic movie monsters that the studio has been planning for years. The Dark Universe was initially thought to kick off with Dracula Untold in 2014, but that film's negative reception and poor box office made it a non-starter - though Alex Kurtzman's update on the classic monster isn't faring much better in terms of reviews for The Mummy.

Of course, there are also a great deal of differences between Wonder Woman and The Mummy, particularly in the way the films portray and treat their female characters. This won't be a discussion of whether Wonder Woman or The Mummy are themselves feminist films, since labeling any one piece of art as feminist is a tricky business, but an in-depth look at the treatment of the films' characters (and readers can draw their own conclusions from there). Additionally, though this close of a look at The Mummy's female characters may not have arisen if it had debuted earlier in the summer movie schedule, in light of the discussion around women in Hollywood thanks to the success of Wonder Woman, a closer look at how female characters are portrayed in a typical summer blockbuster is warranted.

Much has been said about Wonder Woman's strong female hero - which is to say, Gal Gadot's Diana Prince is a well-written, three-dimensional superhero with a notable journey from a naive warrior to the more educated protector of mankind. The film's depiction of Themyscira and the race of all-women Amazonian warriors has been praised for depicting the strength of women. Further, Wonder Woman confronts sexism both within the world in which the film is set and Hollywood as a whole. Even Wonder Woman's, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), flips the script on the damsel in distress trope by giving him his own character arc that is tied directly to Diana's.

To be clear, however, Wonder Woman is an outlier in Hollywood. Data scientist Amber Thomas found that women only spoke 27 percent of the words in the top 10 grossing films of 2016, which included superhero tentpoles like Captain America: Civil War, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad. Behind the camera, 2016 also saw a two percent decline in the number of female filmmakers, with only 7 percent of directors in 2016 being women, according to San Diego State's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film as reported by THR. Women fared better when it came to being screenwriters, comprising 13 percent. In the case of Wonder Woman, the film is credited to Allan Heinberg with contributions from three other male writers.

The Mummy, however, falls more in line with the statistics laid out above since it was directed by Kurtzman from a script by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman. Contributing to the story of The Mummy were Kurtzman, Jon Spaihts, and Jenny Lumet. As for the cast, Annabelle Wallis' Jenny Halsey and Sofia Boutella's Princess Ahmanet are the only two main female characters. Although there isn't an in-depth breakdown of the cast and dialogue, The Mummy's lead roles are predominantly men, and Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll has a great deal of dialogue, even telling the story of Princess Ahmanet in a lengthy voiceover. But, it's how the characters of Jenny and Ahmanet are treated within the story where The Mummy truly fails.

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The Mummy Jake Johnson Annabelle Wallis Tom Cruise stand in a crypt

To understand where The Mummy goes wrong, let's recap the climactic battle between Tom Cruise's Nick Morton - the hero who's meant to be roguishly charming and is depicted as conflicted over how to be a good man - and Princess Ahmanet. In an effort to prevent Ahmanet from completing the ritual that would give human form to the Egyptian god of death, Set, Nick and Jenny try to get their hands on the ceremonial dagger and destroy it. However, Ahmanet captures and kills Jenny, motivating Nick to complete the ritual himself and accept Set so that he can defeat Ahmanet and bring Jenny back to life.

The Mummy employs a number of tropes and archetypical characters over the course of the film, and especially in this climactic fight. Princess Ahmanet alone personifies the Dark Action Girl and Sex is Evil tropes, the latter of which is a common theme throughout The Mummy since there is a sexual element to the ritual Ahmanet must perform in order to summon Set. Despite her at times creepy appearance, Ahmanet also represents an exceptionally sexualized villain, but one that didn't necessarily choose to wield sex as a weapon of manipulation or power - those are simply the circumstances into which the character was written, which takes away her agency.

Further, the character of Jenny is a classic case of the Women in Refrigerators trope, wherein her death motivates Nick to become part-god by finishing the ritual that allows Set to possess him. Plus, The Mummy also employs the Virgin-Whore Complex between its two female characters, often contrasting Ahmanet's overt sexuality in her attempts to lure Nick to evil and Jenny's portrayal as an idealized romantic interest who chooses to see the good in Nick. Obviously, Jenny isn't a literal virgin - since her character is introduced as a former sexual partner of Nick's, which in and of itself is troubling since it's portrayed through sexist and dated humor at the expense of Jenny - but she represents a male hero's ideal love interest with modern sensibilities: an independent and experienced woman whose faith in the hero is unwavering.

Still, perhaps the worst treatment of its female characters is The Mummy's final twist and how it sets up future Dark Universe movies. Prior to the film's release, Universal's Dark Universe positioned Boutella's Mummy as the modern update of the classic monster that would be integral to the shared universe going forward. Instead, the movie's ending usurps Ahmanet of that title and positions Cruise's Nick Morton as the Dark Universe's Mummy. Ironically, it's exactly what happens to Ahmanet's character in her backstory.

Because of this backstory, before The Mummy hit theaters Boutella said, "Ahmanet is the definition of a feminist: strong, powerful and opinionated." That's all well and good, but The Mummy proceeds to depict its male hero taking Ahmanet's power - and, on a bigger scale, Cruise taking Boutella's role in the Dark Universe - from her by battling and defeating her, then proceeding to suck the lifeforce out of her. This particular scene also features Cruise's hero physically beating Boutella's character, then sucking the life force out of Ahmanet until the once-powerful Mummy is curled up in the fetal position - an image that infantilizes the female antagonist.

Certainly, The Mummy can be credited with trying something new by gender-swapping the villain from a typically male antagonist in previous versions of the property. However, whatever progress Kurtzman and the film's writers hoped to achieve by casting Boutella as Ahmanet is undermined by the character's portrayal and her death at the hands of Cruise's hero. Jenny, meanwhile, is too much the stock female love interest of an action blockbuster to be considered a three-dimensional character. In the wake of the discussions surrounding the female characters in Wonder Woman, it's difficult not to compare the two films in terms of what they set out to achieve and what they succeeded in.

Perhaps Universal's biggest disservice to The Mummy was setting its release date one week after what is arguably the most inspirational female-led action movie in the history of cinema. The contrast between Wonder Woman's portrayal of female characters - which, it should be noted, is not entirely perfect nor does the movie represent every kind of woman - and The Mummy's handling of Ahmanet and Jenny shines an even brighter light on the latter film's failings. If Wonder Woman is a sign of progress in Hollywood, as many are lauding it to be, then The Mummy is a reminder that there is still plenty of work to be done and changes to be made before that progress can be truly achieved.

Next: Why Women-Only Wonder Woman Screenings Sold Out

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