Dr. Kara Cooney is an assistant professor of Egyptian art and architecture at UCLA. She brings all her experience and insight to this series which goes beyond ancient Egypt.
“Much like a typical Discovery viewer, Kara is not content with what she already knows,” John Ford, President and General Manager of Discovery Channel explained at the recent Television Critics Association Press Tour. “She wants more. In her new series Out of Egypt, Kara experiences some of the ancient world's most mysterious traditions from Egypt to Sri Lanka, from Peru to Vietnam. Kara finds that one thing holds true. No matter how far apart cultures exist through time or through geography, there are distinct commonalities among all civilizations among them the role of religion, the need for order and reverence for the dead.”
Dr. Kara Cooney on Studying Human Behavior
Dr. Cooney said, “When people think about the ancient world, I think they think about specific people like Alexander the Great or specific cultures like the Aztecs or a specific place like Palenque, Mexico, and we focus on the specifics. And we really wanted to ask global questions, big questions that bring all of these ancient and modern people together. So [the series is] a study of human behavior but human behavior past and present, human behavior all over the world. Egypt is the anchor, but it's about the entire globe.”
The best way to bring all this information to the public is through this series, she explained. And she thinks that viewers who see it will be inspired to explore further.
“Television is a huge part of education,” Cooney confessed. “Education and entertainment are not mutually exclusive, and we as professors need to take this content into our own hands. If we don't, we have no one else to blame when we see something on television that represents the Aztecs or the Egyptians or somebody else in a light that we think is inauthentic or inaccurate or just plain wrong, or the aliens are coming to visit, whatever.”
Out of Egypt Aims to Educate while Entertaining
She is excited about the series and thinks it will be exciting to the viewers as well. “Education and entertainment, they go together. People are sick of being talked down to. They want the real story. They want the complicated stuff. They don't want it tied up in a neat little bow and solved. There's no way to solve humanity. Good luck. So this is complicated but in a good way. You know, I think it will make people get online, get some books, [and] try to learn about the ancient world. And for me as an enthusiastic teacher, to be able to bring Out of Egypt to [the viewers] on Discovery, it was a no-brainer.”
In the series Dr. Cooney explores many different cultures and brings the viewers an up close and personal view of some of the traditions of various cultures. The show explores all kinds of civilizations and customs.
“It's about the human behavior, the way that we all are trying to get at the truth in our lives. And again and again, we were welcomed into very poignant, very special, private ceremonies dealing with death, dealing with healing, dealing with very important transitional moments for people, and we were able to see what religion really means in a broader human scale.”
She went on to explain, “We live in a very clinical, sterile, in very many ways nonspiritual world …” The deep beliefs and traditions that people have in various cultures was astounding to her.
“I am an academic at heart, and so I have to walk that line. I must to a large extent disassociate myself from that ritual.” But in the series Dr. Cooney does participate and explore many traditions that should be interesting to the viewers. From the pyramids in Egypt to the Salem Witch Museum in Massachusetts, history and human behavior are examined in an interesting and entertaining way.
Out of Egypt premiers Monday, August 24, 2009 on the Discovery Channel.
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