Just one tiny correction to this excellent article - I think the first scene in The Ten Commandments establishes that the killer of the babies is meant to be Ramses I. Sethi may be implausibly benevolent later compared to how a real pharaoh would have acted, but there is no in-universe contradiction.
Probably also notable that both films compress the biblical timeline. If Moses is supposed to be 80 at the start of the Exodus, then there could actually have been time to go through several pharaohs since his birth. (The historical Ramses II reigned 67 years, but hard to pin down if he was actually pharaoh at the time. The earliest versions of this theory had Ramses himself as the enslaver/killer and his obscure son Merneptah as the pharaoh of the Exodus.)
I fixed it. It's not the best argument in the world but I did want to be accurate about this.
I think the issue now is mostly that 1) it's still true that the "Egyptians looking for the deliverer" thing doesn't make sense and 2) Sethi may not be inconsistent now, but he is really flat, and the governance of the pharaohs is incredibly chaotic (now we have too many, now we have to few) and the movie doesn't really reckon with this or do anything interesting with it. Mostly it's a wasted opportunity -- honestly, if they wanted to have Sethi be the one to send Moses away than self-exile, then Moses and Sethi should have had beef. In which case, Sethi should have been the one to kill the babies -- that would be their beef.
I'm one of those people who always has the subtitles on for watching TV, with maybe five or six exceptions -- and one of those exceptions is The Prince of Egypt!
The Prince of Egypt was adapted to a stage musical and as a musical I throughly enjoyed it. You can see it on demand. It has been far too long since I saw the animated movie to know how they compare, but the musical clips along as well.
Just one tiny correction to this excellent article - I think the first scene in The Ten Commandments establishes that the killer of the babies is meant to be Ramses I. Sethi may be implausibly benevolent later compared to how a real pharaoh would have acted, but there is no in-universe contradiction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTSNYVEmlyo
Oh shoot, you're right! I could have sworn that's the same actor!! But they say it's Ramses 1!
Very good eye! It is a different actor! I'll have to correct this.
Probably also notable that both films compress the biblical timeline. If Moses is supposed to be 80 at the start of the Exodus, then there could actually have been time to go through several pharaohs since his birth. (The historical Ramses II reigned 67 years, but hard to pin down if he was actually pharaoh at the time. The earliest versions of this theory had Ramses himself as the enslaver/killer and his obscure son Merneptah as the pharaoh of the Exodus.)
I fixed it. It's not the best argument in the world but I did want to be accurate about this.
I think the issue now is mostly that 1) it's still true that the "Egyptians looking for the deliverer" thing doesn't make sense and 2) Sethi may not be inconsistent now, but he is really flat, and the governance of the pharaohs is incredibly chaotic (now we have too many, now we have to few) and the movie doesn't really reckon with this or do anything interesting with it. Mostly it's a wasted opportunity -- honestly, if they wanted to have Sethi be the one to send Moses away than self-exile, then Moses and Sethi should have had beef. In which case, Sethi should have been the one to kill the babies -- that would be their beef.
An analysis comparing "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Ten Commandments"? Yesssss this is the exact content I am interested in
I'm one of those people who always has the subtitles on for watching TV, with maybe five or six exceptions -- and one of those exceptions is The Prince of Egypt!
The Prince of Egypt was adapted to a stage musical and as a musical I throughly enjoyed it. You can see it on demand. It has been far too long since I saw the animated movie to know how they compare, but the musical clips along as well.