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The Crisis of Arab TV Drama

Abdul Hamid Ahmed Nasser Al-Madari

Published On: 23/9/2017 A.D. - 2/1/1439 H. Visited: 7088 times

The Crisis of Arab TV Drama

ترجمه لمقالي السابق "أزمة الدراما العربية"

Abdul Hamid Ahmed Nasser Al-Madari

A PhD Researcher

TV Drama is part and parcel of people's lives in any society. It has a great impact in molding their behavior whether positively or negatively. It reflects the culture of a society, or it may create another culture. It may construct new values or destroy established values.

It is no secret, particularly for many critics and those who are interested in art and literature, that Arab TV drama is suffering from a setback at the level of form and content especially in the last few years. I here do not mean that all TV dramas lack creativity, but there is a repletion of TV drama series that lack good quality. For example, the total number of TV drama series produced in the month of Ramadan for the year 2016, according to statistics of some newspapers and news sites, was eighty among which thirty were Egyptian. And approximately the same number was produced in 2017. No doubt that millions of dollars were spent on these series that are huge in quantity and poor in content and quality. We can say that most of these works did not convey good messages to the audiences. Instead they affected them negatively. The way most actors cut their hairs, the way they get dressed, the way they behave with one another, and the nature of their love affairs reflected upon the behavior of some audiences and became obvious through the practices they do in their everyday activities. That is because they feel proud imitating their examples and idols, the stars of Arab TV drama. I might not be wrong if I say that these messages are deliberate, and the goal is to pull the society to the swamp of moral decadence that the western countries were stuck in, and until today they still suffer from family disintegration and social fragmentation.

In addition, there is no proper presence of religious drama among the huge number of TV drama series. It might be interpreted that the producers do not like to show the nation its history _ the history that is rich in humanitarian values and positive attitudes. What would hurt them if they supported the production of religious dramas based on the biographies of Islamic figures like companions of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and their successors, or based on the lives and achievements of great Arab and Muslim scientists and scholars who contributed to the foundation of the resounding Islamic civilization?

On the other hand, the Arabic reader is no longer a receiver, but a critic of value, discriminating between what is good and what is bad? And an example of that is the cultural criticism of these drama series, that is circulated in social media sites. Therefore, it can be said that these series do not come to the demand of Arab audiences. Instead, the producers of these series import western ideas and give them Arabic dress and impose them on the Arabic culture, and the result is the emergence of cultural deviations. It seems that they back up the project of cultural imperialism that is adopted by the American capitalism. That is the reason why the Arab TV drama is required to reflect the current Arabic status quo, give remedies to some of the current problems, and unite rather than divide.

One cannot say that TV drama is recently governed by the process of supply and demand, or the audiences could determine its type or quality. This is not true at least at the present time. It is the media institutions and the advertising companies that govern the production of TV dramas and impose them on the targeted consumers whether they agree or disagree with these texts.

TV drama may give a good picture about a society, and it may give a bad picture too. For example, I got used to watch Egyptian TV drama before I traveled to Egypt, and I wrongly came to a conclusion that Egyptians are not decent people. According to the way TV drama pictures Egyptians, I thought the society has drowned in love, romance, and dancing. Surprisingly enough, my point of view changed positively after I traveled and lived among them. I found out that they are kind people, and they preserve their noble values. They are truly coexistent. And anyone can live among them in peace and quietness.

In brief, Arab TV drama cannot resolve the crisis unless it wears its Arabic garment and keeps its cultural identity. It also has to free itself from the domination of the advertising companies; and censorship is to be imposed on the production of governmental and non-governmental media channels; and allow not all and sundry to disintegrate the cultural fabric of the Arab nation. Moreover, it must contain good content, reflect reality, deal with issues that concern Arab society, and convey targeted messages, otherwise the backbone of the nation _ its youth generation_ will no longer be depended on.

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