As I mentioned last night, the only tie the magical systems in Yu-Gi-Oh! and Night at the Museum have to each other is that they both originated in ancient Egypt, and in fact, something about ancient Egypt seems to, in popular consciousness, be eternally linked to really cool golden mystical things. There are several reasons for this: 1) Egyptians liked gold and imported it from neighboring Nubia (to the south), where there was an abundance of it. 2) Egyptians believed wholeheartedly in magic. Spells were everywhere, and it was a way of life rather than some weird mystical occult thing like we think of it today. 3) Because of popular but inaccurately-founded concepts such as the Mummy's Curse, we have it in our collective heads that the Egyptians had access to the real deal.
Both Yu-Gi-Oh! and Night at the Museum play off these premises. There is a heavy pop culture market for Egyptian magic; it's been around since the discovery of King Tut's tomb and it's been in pop culture off and on ever since, from the 1930s The Mummy to the 1990s remake to our very own Night at the Museum series. But it's not like movies get to have all the fun: Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles, the series Ancient Aliens, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and many more get to join the party. All this shows that in the popular imagination, the trend is, if it's magical, it's ancient, and if it's really magical and really important, your odds are good if you think it's Egyptian.
The seven Millennium Items and the Tablet of Ahkmenrah aren't just Egyptian by coincidence. Egypt is associated with magic and mystery regardless of the truth of such an association. If you believe something is so, that's more than enough for you, and if a whole bunch of people believe it, then it takes a very long time and a huge amount of effort to change it. But why mess with something which still has the power to make a lot of money?
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": The third and final comparison test: The Hero's Journey.
Countdown: 295 Days to NATM 3
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