Museums

If you are looking for deeper information about a fiction movie, then I'm your guy. I like to figure out things in fiction movies that aren't always clear or obvious. I have read a lot of websites about Night at the Museum, and I am sure that I can give you some interesting information.

WARNING: Spoilers.

NOTE: I use the word "Soul" a lot, but you could also consider this to mean much the same thing as a "Spirit".

First of all, in the movies Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2, Battle of the Smithsonian, a huge theme is Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian tablet of Ahkmenrah is what brings the museum artifacts to life every night. Asking how the tablet works may seem a little absurd to some, because of the fact that it is entirely fictional. But it is actually linked to some Egyptian beliefs. If you have seen the sequel-- Battle of the Smithsonian-- you should remember the scene in which pharaoh Kahmunrah, Ahkmenrah's villainous yet comically lisping older brother, uses the tablet to open a gate to the underworld. The second movie actually goes a bit deeper into the themes from the first movie. The Gate to the Underworld is just one example. (Probably the biggest example.) He uses it to call an army of the undead to help him conquer the world. But in these movies, the Underworld may serve a bigger purpose than that.

Real ancient Egyptians also believed in an underworld-- a horribly frightening place where souls were judged before before moving on to what they hoped would be a more pleasant afterlife. In the movie, when the door to the Underworld was opened, you should have noticed the many Souls, shooting and gliding around, before coming out through the gate and forming into an army of bird-headed guards. Now, this is the part that explains how the tablet brings thing to life at night. I have read this information on various websites:

Every night, the tablet brings the museum artifacts to life by putting a soul into every inaminate object. (These souls are the ones that dwell in the underworld.) It matches the same soul with the same body every night, which explains why the museum artifacts remember what has happened to them nights before. These souls are mostly those of people that have died long ago, but are usually not the exact same people that the museum artifacts are based on. Still, The museum artifacts all seem to take on a personality that is appropriate to who they are based on, for example, wise Teddy Roosevelt and energetic Jedediah Smith. However, no souls that perished before the tablet was created can be put into an inanimate object. In other words, anything that died before the time of ancient Egypt, such as dinosaurs, can not rest in the Underworld. This goes to show why Rexy does not act like an actual dinosaur-- he was probably given the soul of a deceased puppy.

By now, you are probably wondering WHY the tablet brings everything in the museum to life each night, and why it was made in the first place. Well, this should explain it:

The two pharaohs, Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah were supposedly alive during the time of ancient Egypt, and are actually being reincarnated, while the other museum pieces were completely inanimate before being brought to life by the tablet. (Or, as we discussed earlier, are being matched with a soul, which gives them life.) This shows that the tablet, in bringing it's original masters BACK to life, also brings life to every other lifeless thing nearby. The idea is that the tablet was meant to bring the Pharaoh back to life, AND everything else in the pyramid he was buried in, such as his guards and servants. (A good example would be the giant Jackals from the first movie) This explains why the tablet brings everything in the Museum to life at night. As you will find out in Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian, Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah, being more powerful then any of the other museum residents, are able to use the tablet for their own means, and are not be bound by the rule that the tablet can only bring things to life at night.

Theory: The tablet was mistaking the Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Institution, for tombs or pyramids.

So, we've discussed how and why the tablet brings things to life. I suppose I should inform you about why it only works during the night. It is actually unknown whether the tablet only functions when sunlight is scarce, or if it in fact only functions when the sun is shining over Egypt.

Now I want to discuss a certain character: Amelia Earhart.

She helped Larry Daley save the world from Kahmurah in Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian, and the two of them eventually fell in love. However, she was just a wax figure, and like Teddy Roosevelt and all the other brought-to-life characters, she wasn't even the real person she was based on. (She probably wasn't brought to life by the real Amelia Earhart's soul.) Near the end of the movie, Larry has to bring the tablet back to where it belongs, The Museum of Natural History, And Amelia knows that she has to stay at the Smithsonian, and that without the Tablet, she and the other peices form the Smithsonian will never come to life again. But there's a catch: at the very end of the movie, when Larry has returned to the Museum of Natural History, he catches sight of a woman that looks strangely like Amelia, (she was, of coarse, played by the same actress that played Amelia.) and she seems to somehow recognize him, as well. He asks her if she was related to Ameila Earhart, and she replies with, "No, I don't think so." Many websites seem to agree that this woman (We'll just call her "Amy"), was actually the same person-- the same soul-- that brought the Amelia Earhart figure to life.

But wait; Hold on! How could they possibly be the same person, if Amy was obviously alive the whole time, when Amelia and the other Smithsonian artifacts were brought to life? Well, keep in mind that this only happened during the night. Amy was probably asleep at the time. That makes it possible for her soul to be removed from her body and placed into the wax Amelia's. Amy would wake up again the next morning, without any memory of her other life. It really makes you stop and think: Are all the museum artifacts really brought to life by souls of the deceased, or are their true bodies actually alive, but unconscious in bed, every night when it happens? Creepy!!!!

Well, I have seen this topic discussed on a couple of websites, and most people seem to agree that Amelia Earhart is the only one who's soul wasn't already separated from it's original body at death, and that Amy is the only living person who's soul was taken out of her body by the tablet, and used to bring an inanimate object to life. So, all the other brought-to-life characters are brought to life by souls that dwell in the Underworld, but Amelia was given the soul of someone who is currently living. This makes her special and unique, and the perfect match for Larry Daley.

(It seems that most people agree with this theory, because they like the idea that Amelia and Larry belong together.)

Alright, I think that's about all the information I can think of. I hope it wasn't too complicated to understand. Please note that I only called the woman "Amy" because that is the name of the actress who played her, (Amy Adams) And on forums that is what most people seem to call her. If they make a Night at the museum 3 and she is in it, they will probably give her a different name. And a lot of this information is quite legit, and has even been discussed by the movie's writer. But not all of it is certain. Some of the information was found on reasonable yet unofficial websites. If there is a third movie, there is a chance that some of the information could be proven wrong. (Just so you know, there is supposedly a 50/50 chance of there being a third movie.) Also remember that this is all fiction, but even a simple fiction movie can have very deep meaning.

Peace out, dudez!!!!

NOTE: I am not gay.