Due to the tendencies of archaeology, those of ancient peoples, and the wont of the public, museums tend to be chock full of famous people, rich people, powerful people, people who've done something, people who've done lots of things, poorly behaved women, and, in the case of Night at the Museum, often only a single night guard to keep the peace between all these prominent figures. So the question is, who answers to who?
It appears that hierarchy is established by the voluntary contribution of all parties, and this is the case in both movies, on both sides of the good-and-evil battle, in different circumstances. In the first, Larry gives the speech which rallies the troops, but it's the exhibits who decide of their own free will to pay attention and cooperate to get the tablet back. They follow Larry's orders and divide themselves up accordingly to stop the elderly, retiring night guards, but they are under no compulsion, magical or otherwise, to do so. In fact, the exhibits have a general degree of respect for whoever holds the position of "night guard", up to the point where the guards' actions are agreeable or disagreeable to the exhibits (for example locking them up behind the glass). "Night guard" is, according to Teddy Roosevelt, "a venerable position in this institution", so therefore any beef the exhibits have with the three outgoing gentlemen has nothing to do with their position within the museum and everything to do with what they do with their position. Power does corrupt, after all (a general theme which colors all of the elderly guards' interactions with the tablet).
In BOTS, Al, Ivan, and Napoleon agree of their own free will to work with Kahmunrah and help him secure the tablet to unlock his gate and unleash his army of the dead, in spite of the (possibly disregarded/unconsidered) risks to their own lives and surety (see last night). Kahmunrah could just as easily have forced them but, perhaps knowing he would meet with more resistance than he cared to deal with, he chose not to, and he still got his three recruits. Also, in that same movie, Amelia manages to get the exhibits from the New York museum and exhibits from the Smithsonian museum to cooperate to lead a resistance of sorts to get Larry out of a sticky situation with the film's bad guy. Again, no one was forced to follow Amelia into battle; the exhibits that did did it of their own free will.
The only two entities that conceivably hold positions of power (even if they choose not to operate in that mentality most of the time) are Ahkmenrah and Larry. Kahmunrah applies when he possesses the tablet (fifteen minutes, tops) because he knows how to operate it on a magical level, but he has other things floating around in his mind. Ahkmenrah holds this position because he is typically in possession of the tablet and, as remarked on Night #7, was possibly quite feared before his release. Given his literacy (Night #15) and the power of the tablet, chances are many figure it's a safe bet not to step on his toes. Larry keeps the peace, plain and simple. He makes sure no one fights, everyone gets inside on time, and everyone has something to do to occupy their time when they're not fighting for their lives/existences. In short, Larry is responsible for the lives of the exhibits, and even though he doesn't anger easily and is more likely to negotiate his way out of something, he can still kick copious amounts of ass and it's also a safe bet not to piss off the guy that can lock you out.
But Ahkmenrah and Larry simply choose to mingle with the exhibits, giving the museum a community feel much more than that of a "royal court" or similar institution. Everyone is allowed to mingle and align themselves as they please, sorting things out as they see fit (sometimes with words, sometimes with fists) and essentially choosing a leader by popular vote (when one isn't hired to fill that position, a la the night guards). Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": I'm taking a break from all this serious pseudo-scholarly discussion and providing of two cents to give you the bloopers reels for both movies, for a little laugh-out-loud hilariousness.
Countdown: 357 Days to NATM 3
Night at the Museum 3 Update: Apparently a character named Robert Fredericks will make an appearance, obviously some relation to Cecil, which leaves me to wonder what in actual hell is going on. Why is the Fredericks family involved? Is it destiny? Will we actually get back story, for anybody? Character development? Hell, at this point, we can just stop with the loads and loads of characters and start dealing with the unwieldy mess we have right now. I'd rather see the character development of a fence post than yet more exhibits and bad guys and artifacts and whatever else, but to be fair, I'd rather see the character development of any of those than yet more of Wayward!Larry. That plot line gets really old, really fast in my view. God, I don't want this movie to suck.
No comments:
Post a Comment