This being my first post, a brief introduction: I'm an archaeologist and anthropologist by training, but I was raised by a psychologist, so I'm thrilled to be on Psychology Today. My major interest at the moment (subject to change) is how people rewrite history to justify modern prejudices. This is the topic of my latest book Mythologizing the Past, due out in December 2024. But what's caught my attention recently is how seeing a beloved public figure endorse these myths magnifies their harm. Sadly, I'm talking about Keanu Reeves.
Keanu Reeves and Ancient Apocalypse
I'm a fan of Keanu and I have been since The Matrix. I'll happily watch Neo or John Wick dispatch legions of bad guys and consider it time well spent. Keanu the man seems an ideal celebrity: down to earth, kind, generous, and humble. We develop parasocial relationships with our favorite celebrities, feeling like we know them, like they're our friends. We know it's irrational but that's how our brains work. If someone is familiar to us it must be because we know them, right? And when they inevitably disappoint us somehow, being human after all, we can feel an almost personal betrayal. And that's how I felt when I heard that Keanu Reeves was appearing on Season 2 of Netflix's odious Ancient Apocalypse.
Ancient Apocalypse is the “brainchild" of Graham Hancock, a former journalist and now full-time peddler of pseudohistory. The program, which premiered in 2022, presents Hancock’s latest version of mythologized history: that an advanced civilization existed during the Ice Age (millennia before any known ancient civilization), and was destroyed by, well, an Ancient Apocalypse. Currently Hancock has latched onto the idea that the Earth was struck by a comet, resulting in a climatic crisis and leading to the destruction of this Pleistocene superculture which is totally not a repackaged version of the Atlantis myth.
Problems With Hancock’s “Theory”
I put “theory” in scare quotes to drive home the point that a scientific theory is supported by evidence. And Hancock’s ideas have been refuted by a small army of archaeologists as lacking anything of the sort. An ancient civilization that left no physical evidence? No garbage? They must have been quite a tidy people. Their influence explains the similarities found in many (real) ancient civilizations, like the pyramids of the Egyptians, and the Mayans? Which aren’t actually that similar, are separated by millennia of time, and share the same shape that lets grocery stores stack oranges, for the same reasons? Better archaeologists than I have thoroughly debunked Hancock’s ideas, most recently Dr. Flint Dibble, who argued him to a standstill on the Joe Rogan Experience. What is a beset purveyor of entertaining nonsense to do but try to unleash some star power on their behalf?
Reeves’ Involvement
I’ve watched the first episode of Season 2 of Ancient Apocalypse, in particular the part featuring Mr. Reeves. In all fairness to him, there’s not much to it, two minutes tops out of a 42-minute episode. And what is there seems to be an edited-down version of a longer discussion. And most of what is said is very non-committal. Hancock’s work is “exciting” and he’s “on a quest.” It’s hardly a full-throated endorsement of Hancock’s ideas, and for all I know Keanu had never heard of Graham Hancock until the cameras were rolling. So, I don’t know what Keanu Reevers thinks about the past, or what his take on archaeology is, or what he really thinks about the possibilities of lost Ice Age civilizations. So, what, one might ask, was the harm in his appearance?
What’s the Harm?
The harm is actually very real. The version of the past that Hancock is selling is one that leaves most of the world out of the human story. Who owes their history to his mysterious Ice Age civilization? All the great (real) civilizations of the ancient world. It’s an old story, whether it’s Erich von Däniken and aliens, or Ignatius Donelly and Atlantis, or Graham Hancock and his improbably ancient “source” civilization. It’s always the ancient people of say, Turkey, Mexico, Easter Island, etc., (never Europe), that owe a cultural debt to some mysterious other. It’s an idea that many, me included, have rightly criticized as redolent with implied racism. And Keanu Reeves even showing up, however briefly, on such a program will be seen by his fans as an endorsement.
A Personal Plea
I don’t know if Keanu Reeves reads Psychology Today but the version of him I have in my mind sure does. So, my plea is this: Keanu! The real past is amazing! Lots of very smart, very clever people have figured out ingenious ways of learning about it from the shreds and patches left behind. They’d be more than happy to talk your ear off about it if you’re really interested. And maybe you could then use your fame to support something that could bring real knowledge to people, not just entertaining nonsense.