Not satisfied with dominating the big screen alone, Disney has expanded the MCU to the small screen over the past two years and created some pretty strong shows right off the bat. WandaVision, Loki, and Hawkeye were all pretty great, and there's much more to come. Moon Knight starts streaming on Disney+ next week, and that will be followed by Ms. Marvel's debut later this year.
Writer and director Mohamed Diab has helmed the latest MCU show and recently shared some thoughts with SFX Magazine ahead of its arrival. An Egyptian himself, Diab explained why nailing Moon Knight's inclusion of Ancient Egyptian mythology was so important, explaining how the nation is depicted by Western media is so offensive to himself and other Egyptians.
“In my pitch, there was a big part about Egypt, and how inauthentically it has been portrayed throughout Hollywood’s history,” Diab explained. “It dehumanizes us. We are always naked, we are always sexy, we are always bad, we are always over the top.” Diab revealed that whenever movies or shows are set in Cairo, studios usually use footage from Jordan, Morocco, or on occasion even Spain rather than actually filming in Egypt.
Diab highlights Wonder Woman 1984 as an example of all the above. An apt comparison since it is a relatively new film from the same superhero genre as Moon Knight. “You had a sheik – that doesn’t make any sense to us. Egypt looked like a country from the Middle Ages. It looked like the desert.” Wonder Woman's trip to Egypt made up a significant chunk of her sequel, so more than just a flying visit, and one in a long line of examples that would have been upsetting to watch for many Egyptians.
As Diab highlights, and readers of the comics will know, Moon Knight's story includes a lot of connections to Ancient Egypt. Diab admits he likes how the comics handled the connection, and it's also a smart move by Marvel and Disney to hire a talented Egyptian writer and director like Diab to lead the way. It may mark the start of a change in the way Egypt and Egyptians are depicted in blockbusters and TV shows moving forward.
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