Forbidding, monolithic wooden doors, tilted back to accentuate their apparent height, swing slowly and automatically outward, inviting the flock of visitors carefully counted in a dark room lit only with eerie blue light spilling from hieroglyphic sconces. The doors close, the lights dim: thus begins the visitor's journey among the treasures of ancient Egypt. Each visitor's immersion in Egypt, however, began long before entering the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The ancient Egyptian “mega-myth” – of grand and opulent pharaohs, majestic and mysterious pyramids, sphinxes, Cleopatra, Ramesses and, of course, King Tut – is deeply rooted in popular culture, glorified in countless films, novels and even video games. . The same goes for the mystique of the brave and adventurous archaeologist fixed in the mind of every Westerner, modeled after the fedora-clad, gun-wielding protagonists of "Indiana Jones" and "Tomb Raider." The exhibition on King Tutankhamun, instead of exploring historical facts and daring to counter these myths, embellishes and substantiates them, reinforcing the Egyptian perception of the “blockbuster” in an attempt to satisfy the preconceived notions of the average person in the hope of attracting masses to the museum. The driving force of the Tut exhibition is profit, to attract and satisfy the greatest number of visitors in the most efficient way possible. The exhibit's supporters were clear in their profit-driven motivations, and every aspect of the experience exudes this monetizing mentality, from the efficient entry line to the final gift shop. The museum's curators astutely aim the exhibition to reinforce simplified and majestic popular notions about ancient Egypt... middle of the paper... n behind the Boy King of Egypt." SFGate. June 27, 2009. Web. March 1 2010. MacDonald, Sally. 2003. Lost in Time and Space: Ancient Egypt in Museums Consuming Ancient Egypt, edited by Sally MacDonald and Michael Rice, pp 85-99: Media Wildcatter.” BusinessWeek. 25 April 2005. Web. 04 March 2010.Parker, Ian. "The Pharaoh." EBSCO. The New Yorker, November 16, 2009. Web. March 3, 2010. .Waxman, Sharon "Pharaoh of the Egyptian Antiquities Show." The New York Times. June 13, 2005. Web. March 1. 2010. .