aerezia replied to your post: Heyyyyy now that I’m feeling better and more awake…
How much do you love The Mummy and why?
As much as Ardeth Bey enjoys flying on Winston’s plane.
But why? Hmmmm, let me think…
…I don’t really know? I actually didn’t watch it until after I saw The Mummy Returns, because I’m a squeamish sort who doesn’t do well with anything in the realm of “horror,” and the previews made my adolescent self think it would be too scary for me.
But some of my friends were going to see The Mummy Returns so I went along, because I have no spine. And had a great time.
They said I had to see the first movie, but I kept putting it off until a friend got a DVD player for her birthday soon after, and one of her DVDs was the first Mummy movie. So we watched it.
And I fell in love. Why? I dunno. Being in the right place at the right time, a love of old-fashioned adventures, the mix of wit and snark and swashbuckling. And my bizarre sudden crush on Jonathan (and as a result, John Hannah).
This friend also introduced me to the world of online fanfiction when she showed me that she wrote Mummy fanfiction, and my brain went “zomg I can read more things about my favorite characters?!?!?!”
It also became an “in joke” with my friends, a shared source of fun references (remember, this was before tumblr). Like greeting each other from far away by shouting about horses and rivers. It was a teeny zeitgeist of this circle of friends.
So there went a summer of my life, watching this movie repeatedly, crafting my own Mummy fanfiction (my first true foray), and I actually tape-recorded the movie onto an audio cassette so I could listen to it while I was driving or in my room (because I did not have a tv in my room). Yes, I put a tape recorder next to the TV while the VHS tape was playing just so I could have more Mummy in my life.
I still remember where I had to flip the tape. “He’s still… juicy.”
So I’ve adored this movie since high school. It has all the elements I want in a film – adventure, romance, humor, sweeping visuals, an awesome heroine who I still secretly want to be – all wrapped up in a satisfying package.
It’s been nearly twenty years (well, less than that, since my introduction was in 2001), but I adore this film, it will forever have a spot on my “top 10″ list, and naysayers can fight me.
tldr: got dragged into it by friends, but stayed willingly.
The Obsessive Dilettante 