Cinema in Crisis: Saturday Afternoon Shame continued...

There is little in Middle Eastern cinema that confronts the problem and shows women as active participants in society, such as businesswomen and corporate superstars rather than the usual mothers, wives, daughters and sisters dominated by the will of a male society. It’s clearly evident that movies, advertising, and media in the Middle East are no longer a mirror of present society. How does this affect Middle Eastern communities in the U.S.? These movies are in Arabic and don’t reach the “critical mass” of the younger demographics—much of our youth, now English speaking, is attracted by Hollywood pictures. This results in a trickle down effect. Our parents are watching movies that reinforce old stereotypes, thus chaining us to the past. Laugh if you will, but look deep into your thinking, and you will realize how much the media influences so many simple things in our lives and subliminally gives power to those already in control.

Because very few moviegoers are standing up to complain, we could be seeing these portrayals of women for a long time to come. What’s missing is a media coalition dedicated to women’s rights in Arabic cinema. A group who can take the sentiments of Middle Eastern authors such as Jean Said Makdisi, Leila Abouzeid and Nawal El Saadawi and filter them through a united voice that can begin to rectify the distorted Arabic images of women. This would and could show the West that today’s women in the Middle East are more than “yes” people who wilt at the threat of implied shame and strong-willed men. Of course women today have evolved. They are as much working women as they are housewives. And that’s not just here in the United States, but also in Lebanon and Dubai. The trend and movement towards the empowered Middle Eastern woman is gaining traction and it’s time to re-address the media’s and filmmaker’s misreprentations, inaccuracies and demeaning portrayal of women. Let’s  bring the invisible to the forefront. To do so, women must work harder to reach the same position as men; women also need to work on showcasing their status and must break through the ceiling placed on them by those who term their problems as “women’s issues.” In other words, women should move beyond the victim mentality.

Through all of my mental pontifications, I wondered why everyone is not up in arms about the way women are treated. The worst part is that these movies actually have dedicated female viewers watching them in droves. Apparently Arabic filmmakers find kindness, tolerance and understanding a little inconvenient. They are after the almighty buck. They don’t care if the image of women is being reinforced as that dependent, obedient, selfless creature. They revel at the formula of using women to impose those old ideas into society. We are the problem; we are the viewers, the audience, who sit there watching and criticizing the way they are and yet watch some more. My thinking made for a long Saturday and a confusing deviation from my guilty pleasure. When I got home, I dusted off my screenwriting software and began writing my masterpiece.

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