Evelyn in The Mummy (1999) is My Ideal Modern Woman
There are certain movies that I can watch over and over again. They’re like old friends with whom time is never wasted. They make me laugh, cry, or just feel warm and fuzzy with nostalgia.
The Mummy (1999) is one of those movies. If you haven’t seen it, here is the gist: Evelyn Carnahan, played by Rachel Weisz, is a librarian/aspiring archaeologist working in 1920s Cairo and is obsessed with ancient Egypt. Rick O’Connell, played by Brendan Frasier, is the American she saves from the noose in order to lead her to the fabled city of Hamunaptra where they accidentally wake up the cursed Imhotep, played by Arnold Vosloo, a.k.a. The Mummy. Rick and Evelyn (or Evie, as her flaky brother Jonathan likes to call her), then spend the movie trying to put Imhotep back in his grave so he doesn’t destroy the world.
The classic plotline is full of action, adventure and a healthy sprinkling of comic relief and romance. What I really love about this movie though is the heroine — Evelyn. Here are just a few of the reasons she’s an ideal female hero and I want us to be best friends.
She’s not overly sexualized.
Female heroes in action movies usually have big boobs and wear an impractically minimal amount of clothing that seems to only serve to emphasize the fact that they have…
