The Ten Commandments: Difference between revisions

* [[Arc Words]]: "So let it be written, so let it be done."

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Joshua, who's promoted to Lancer in the film. In the scriptures, while Joshua did eventually [[Take Up My Sword]], he didn't come into focus until they were in the desert, and was implied to be much younger than Moses.

* [[The Atoner]]

* [[Badass Boast]]: By a [[Tranquil Fury|quietly furious]] Rameses: "The city he builds will bear my name. The woman he loves will bear my child. So let it be written. So let it be done."

** [[Dyeing for Your Art]]: Yul Brynner shaved his head for the part, and liked it so much that it became his signature "look" for the rest of his career.

** Actually, he shaved it while performing as the King of Siam during the Broadway run of [[The King and I]] before doing The Ten Commandments. He did bulk up for the role of Rameses so that he did not look skinny in contrast to the imposing Charlton Heston.

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: Sephora and Nefretiri. Unfortunately, God is the [[Third Option Love Interest]].

* [[Big No]]

* [[The Chosen One]]

* [[The Commandments]]: Naturally!

{{quote|'''Priest''': "Because of Moses, there is no wheat in the temple granaries!"

** In addition, the soldier who evicts Dathan.

{{quote|'''Dathan:''' "Why do you come here? I put no blood on my door!"

** Nefretiri:

{{quote|'''Sethi:''' "It is pleasing to the gods to see a man honored by his enemies."

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: We are pretty sure that Egypt did ''not'' have straight, double-edged swords. They instead used khopeshes, a weapon best described as a scimitar that got a straight section between the hilt and arc, without the arc changing angle with respect to the hilt; this gave the sword a look not unlike a lower-case "b". ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'', by the way, ''did'' portray Egyptians as using khopeshes.

** The inclusion of the straight, bronze sword was a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Egyptian]],'' and knowingly done.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Moses told Nefretiri that God will use her to work his will. Her manipulations would later backfire and lead to the plague on the firstborn and help the Israelites go free.

* [[God]]: Or His voice, anyway.

* [[His Name Is]]: Seti on his deathbed breaks his own decree by saying Moses' name.

* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: Dathan played a much more minor role in the Exodus account, leading a revolt against Moses and getting swallowed up by the ground. Here, he becomes [[The Quisling]], is responsible for the Golden Calf incident, and was responsible for driving Moses out of Egypt to begin with.

* [[Human Sacrifice]]: Lilia nearly becomes one of these during the Golden Calf incident.

* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: Moses' justification for for betraying Sethi. Sethi [[Ironic Echo|turns this right back on Moses]] in ordering his punishment.

* [[Informed Attribute]]: Unless you really believe Charlton Heston is slow of speech and thick of tongue...

* [[Insult Backfire]]:

{{quote|'''Ramses''': "You have a rat's ears and a ferret's nose."

* [[Intermission]]

* [[Irony]]: The following quote:

** In addition, [[You Can't Fight Fate]].

* [[Lady Macbeth]]: Nefretiri to Ramses, once she's decided to become vengeful.

* [[Large Ham]]: It's a toss up among Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter.

** And in universe, the "old windbag" announcer.

* [[Love Triangle]]

* [[Manipulative Bitch]]: Nefretiri.

* [[Moses in the Bulrushes]]: Of course!

* [[Oh Crap]]: The look on Baka's face when he sees that the slave who is about to strangle him is actually Moses.

* [[Refusal of the Call]]: Moses at first.

* [[Say My Name]]: A motif. People say "Moses, Moses" many times in the movie.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: According to Katherine Orrison, De Mille's biographer and protoge of De Mille's friend Henry Wilcoxon, De Mille did a HUEG amount of research, using not only the Bible but the Qur'an and various Hebrew traditional texts including the Midrash.

** Plus, the red-white-black pattern of the Tribe of Levi ''is'' actually the pattern associated with the Tribe of Levi.

** "Better to die before a God than live in shame", according to Rameses. [[Revenge Before Reason|He knew there was a chance his army could die but he ordered them to charge anyway]].

*** Also, after ''seeing with their own eyes'' God part the waters of the sea, the Hebrews are quick to question the existence of Him while waiting for Moses to return from Mount Sinai. [[What an Idiot!|So they decided to forge a golden idol to worship instead]].

* [[Unperson]]: Sethi proclaims that Moses' name be erased from every carving, and never be spoken again, after learning that he is the one destined to free the Israelites. So let it be written, so let it be done! Obviously, that didn't take.

** In ancient Egypt, this was done to ensure that a person would not only disappear from everyday life, but would have no life after death. De Mille biographer Katherine Orrison says that was the very reason Moses' name was spoken so often in the film. It was De Mille's symbolic attempt to ensure the real Moses could enter heaven.

* [[Woman Scorned]]: Nefretiri becomes this toward the end.

* [[World of Ham]]

 

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