Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Pyramids Built by Aliens

Doesn't everyone deserve a bit of mindless summer action? Sure! After a long day at work last week, I decided to take in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with my two best friends in the whole world. We had a great time. The movie was certainly entertaining. I have to say the great thing about hanging out with guys that have known you virtually your entire life is that you can be yourself. I didn't have to just cheer at explosions and drool at women running in slow motion. I could actually tell them that in the midst of a $200,000,000 special effects orgy, I was having a cerebral experience. I couldn't just enjoy mindless summer action without questioning the premise. I wager most of our readers would probably feel similarly.

What is the vaulted premise of the anxiously awaited Transformers sequel? The movie picks up 2 years after the end of the first film. The heroic Transformers known as the Autobots have been working with Nest, a secret military unit charged with finding and rooting out the remaining Decepticons. The Decepticons have been without their leader since Megatron's "death", however they are being directed by Megatron's mentor, The Fallen, who is one of the original Transformers. We soon learn that the Transformers have actually been on Earth since the beginnings of humanity. The war which raged between the opposing camps of Transformers was precipitated by finding the largest source of energon, the energy source which powers the large robots. During the final battle, The Fallen was defeated by the original 7 Autobot "Prime" models, and the source the Earthly energon is hidden. In the time of the sequel, The Fallen has been restored and is hiding on an asteroid in Earth's orbit. As he guides the Decepticons to finding and restoring Megatron he refuses to return to Earth because only a "Prime can kill" him. He believes that Megatron can kill Optimus Prime allowing his return. Together with Megatron, The Fallen believes that he can find the missing key to a machine which will harvest the energon from the core of the Earth. The energon will allow the Decepticons to rebuild their home planet, Cybertron, but will destroy the Earth. The movie's final battle takes place on a fictional Egyptian Giza Plateau, as the energon harvesting machine is hidden within the core of Khufu's Great Pyramid. I bet you were wondering why I was reviewing Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen on The Udjat, right!

The plot of the film centers around a familiar concept; the advanced civilization of the Ancient Egyptians was actually established by aliens. However, only time this argument is actually voiced is when the quirky Agent Simmons, played by John Turturro, glances at the pyramids during the final action scene and says, " Yeah those were built by aliens, yeah". Did you notice the design of the face of The Fallen? His face is essentially the Decepticon logo wearing a version of the nemes cloth headdress of Ancient Egypt (see pictures of The Fallen and the mask of Tutankhamun at top). Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is line with a number of other popular depictions, including the entire Stargate franchise, Battlestar Galactica, and Earth: Final Conflict.

Why should we care that these popular depictions posit that aliens were the progenitors of Ancient Egypt? Actually this argument is the most recent volley in the series of insulting arguments against the genius of ancient Africans. To understand this, one must follow the arguments against an African genesis to Ancient Egypt. Initially, Western scholars attempted to argue that Ancient Egyptians were of European origin. This curious argument doesn't really have any factual basis. These unknown Europeans didn't create an advanced civilization in their homeland. Where are Europe's pyramids? They didn't even leave behind a lineage which could be found in contemporary Africa via modern-day genetic studies.

We've actually seen a number of other fallacious arguments concerning the origins of the Ancient Egyptians. They were migrants from the water-logged nation of Atlantis, and even ancestors of the region's current Arabian inhabitants. No matter how different, all of these arguments are based on one racist bias: the world's most downtrodden could not be kin with the engineers of modern civilization. Certainly, Africans couldn't have built an advanced civilization in their own homeland. Now that these arguments have been thoroughly defused, the proponents of a non-African genesis to Ancient Egypt are now attempting to directly influence the populace with the alien genesis argument. After all, is the average person familiar with the work Cheikh Anta Diop, the illustrations of the Book of Gates, or the petroglyphs in the Eastern Egyptian dessert? These popular depictions are quite effective! Especially when these insults are nestled in the midst of a mindless summer action flick. Clearly we need to be vigilant at all times. Our ancestors are being maligned! Shem em Hetep (Go Forth in Peace)!

British Ancient Egyptians? The Absurdities Continue in Night at the Museum 2

It seems that nearly every week material is revealed which further proves the African origins of Ancient Egypt. Arguments which posit an external origin have been thoroughly unraveled—in scholarly forums. Unfortunately the masses don't usually participate in these sorts of discussions. Depictions in popular media are much more powerful. They continue to infect the average person with stronger and stronger bits of misinformation. Let's just hope the people haven't become overly resistant to the truth.


Ben Stiller is back with the sequel to the extremely successful, Night at the Museum. Stiller returns as Larry Daley a Museum of Natural History night watchman who was amazed to see the museum exhibits come to life. In the sequel Stiller must help free his museum friends as they are shipped to the Smithsonian in order to be placed in storage. As he infiltrates the Smithsonian, he finds that Kahmunrah, the jealous brother of the Egyptian Pharaoh in the first film, plans to use an ancient tablet to make it possible to continue to be animated in the real world.


In another absurd twist, Kahmunrah is played by Hank Azaria (best known as the voice of Homer Simpson), a white actor. Azaria uses a British accent in his portrayal. "We knew he would have an English accent because he's the brother of Ahkmenrah from the first movie," states Azaria in The Plymouth Herald. "Kind of bold and aristocratic is how we started, sort of laid back and bored ... at the last minute I went 'what about Karloff, he was a mummy', and did it as a joke really." To hear Azaria’s accent for yourself, watch the movie trailer included beneath this post.


So let's get this straight. Not only are the Ancient Egyptians white, but they are British—even though England doesn't even come into existence for another 1,000 years. While this is clearly impossible, there is a subtle symbol at play here. In popular media in the United States, intelligent characters are often depicted with British accents (see Professor Xavier in the X-men, Mister Belvedere, Abe Sapien in Hellboy, C-3PO from Star Wars, Dr. Frasier Crane, Stewie from Family Guy, etc.). In many ways the British dialect in popular depiction is a respectful acknowledgement by European Americans of their origins.


At this point some of you might be thinking, "So what if the European creators of this movie are paying homage to their homeland? What's the big deal?" I also believe another nefarious subliminal message is operating in the Night at the Museum films: Ancient Egyptian civilization is so advanced it could not possibly be African—even though the country is clearly located on the continent of Africa (also see accents used in the film The Lion King). After a lifetime of these sorts of seemingly innocuous messages, is it hard to understand why African children believe in their inherent inferiority? It is not surprising that many young African American students rebuke their peers who are striving for academic excellence for "acting white". So many of the seemingly subtle messages around us actually seek to destroy us.

In the final analysis, Night at the Museum 2 isn't just entertainment ... it is propaganda. It is critically important for us to unveil and defeat these messages. After all, the minds of our children are at stake. Shem em Hetep (Go forth in Peace)!