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Contact: Brendan Cosgrove at (847) 491-5753 or b-cosgrove@northwestern.edu

Cynthia Robin on "Apocalypto's" Portrayal of Mayan Culture

December 15, 2006

Mel Gibson's new film “Apocalypto” was tops at the box office last weekend bringing in an estimated $15 million during the highly competitive holiday movie season. However, some scholars are taking issue with the film and it's depiction of Mayan culture. Cynthia Robin is an assistant professor of anthropology at Northwestern University and says it's important for the film to be accurate despite the fact that it's purely entertainment…

ROBIN: These are the ways that people in our society learn about people that they don't know about. This is Hollywood's first blockbuster about the ancient Maya. And, this is a way that an entire generation of people are going to learn about one of the most amazing civilizations in the world.

Robin says the movie contains a number of inaccuracies regarding the Mayan culture…

ROBIN: One of the grossest inaccuracies is the way they portray violence and particularly human sacrifice among the Maya. These just really disgusting mass graves of decapitated human bodies. We have not found mass graves like that in the Maya area.

Robin says the Mayan civilization contributed greatly to human knowledge…

ROBIN: This is one of the world's most advanced civilizations in terms of art, science, astronomy, math… They are one of the few civilizations that actually invented the number zero which allows for complex mathematical systems.

Robin says it's incorrect that Mayans because extinct when the Spanish conquered Central America….

ROBIN: There are six million Maya people today and many of those people are actually very upset and protesting in Mexico and Guatemala about the depictions in this movie.

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12/15/2006

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