Marc Lynch, "‘Reality is Not Enough’: The Politics of Arab Reality TV," Arab Media & Society, September 1, 2005, https://www.arabmediasociety.com/reality-is-not-enough-the-politics-of-arab-reality-tv/.
Marwan Kraidy and Omar Al-Ghazzi, “Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere,” Popular Communication 11 (2013): 17-29.
Ada Petiwala, “Hybridity in Global South Media Production: Between Egypt and India in Gaheem Fel Hend (2016)” [unpublished paper—do not circulate].
Optional
Walter Armbrust, “The Ubiquitous Non-Presence of India: Peripheral Visions from Egyptian Popular Cinema,” in Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance, eds. Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008): 200-239.
Claire Cooley, “Bachchan Superman — Hindi Cinema in Egypt, 1985-1991,” Jump Cut 59 (2019).
Kay Dickinson, Arab Cinema Travels: Transnational Syria, Palestine, Dubai and Beyond (London: BFI/Palgrave, 2016).
Marwan Kraidy, Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Globalization and emerging media industries in the Arab world is widely discussed in all three readings and in the International Focus: Emerging Arab Media. The Arab world has seen dramatic changes in media use and attitudes towards issues such as free speech has been gained through the media.
ReplyDeleteThroughout, the readings we discern that emerging Media can be positive for certain civilians but unfavorable for others. In Mark Lynch’s article “Reality is Not Enough’: The Politics of Arab Reality TV,” Lynn notes that the “Islamic World isn’t ready for reality Tv” Lynn’s comment signifies that there are certain Islamic groups for example within Egypt and Saudi Arabia that oppose reality tv and suspect it to go against Islamic teachings. Such Islamic groups within Saudi Arabia and Egypt have rebelled against certain reality shows, and had it removed from Saudi/ Egyptian television. Hence, multiple forms of media including books, newspapers, magazines, films, television, and content published on the Internet are censored in Saudi Arabia. For some, they will perceive this as a threat to one's rights. From the orientalist perspective he/she will highly account this act as an exotic behavior of the Islamic teachings.
However, eight years ago, high directives were issued, barring judges in Saudi Arabia from interacting with different media outlets in order to safeguard judicial independence and prestige. Just recently, Saudi judges were told that they must avoid dealing with social media or mainstream media and if they were caught to be interactive with social media, they would most likely be fired and fined. I wonder if the orientalist would consider this act to be an exotic behavior or a behavior to safeguard judicial independence and civilian rights?
On the other hand, it made me think of how the Arab Spring uprisings were given epithets such as Facebook revolutions and twitter revolutions, in reference to the central role that social media seemed to have played in bringing them about. As a result of the revolution, the government in many of the Arabian countries such as Tunisia and Egypt blocked Twitter and Facebook. Also, various reports claimed that access to the internet in the entire country had been shut down. From such a stance we discern that social media in general is a positive asset to the common crowd and everyday people to express their beliefs and opinions as stated in International Focus: Emerging Arab Media. However, the media in general can uplift democracy in such a way that goes against the government and religious groups. As stated in Lynch’s article “As for democracy, the most successful reality TV shows, such as Super Star, Star Academy, and Al Wadi, use audience participation and voting to determine the winners of competitions. These methods have seemed revolutionary to many observers in an Arab world characterized by repressive, non-democratic governments. The response has been extraordinary, as millions of votes have been cast in support of contestants”. We understand that non-democratic governments can understand the media as a threat to their leadership and therefore it becomes conflicted in the emergence of media in the Arab world.
DeleteOn the other hand, in Petiwalas article “Between Egypt & India in Gaheem Fel Hind '' we understand that media today is seen as playing a key role in enhancing globalization and facilitating cultural exchange and multiple flows of cultural information and images between countries. We understand that cultural information and images that are facilitated through different states can be faulty and out of commission at times. However, cultural sameness can be perceived and as Petiwala notes “The staging of the sha’aby area where the tuk-tuk arrives, and where the tuk-tuk driver/Egyptian spy Shah Rukh Khan (played by Mohammed Sarwat and the name of the most popular Indian actor in Egypt today) and his wife live, similarly blurs the line between Indian and Egyptian daily life to produce the feeling of cultural sameness” (petiwala 13). Cultural sameness is discerned in Lynn’s article where reality TV program Super Girl is virtually identical to the Arab Super Star. The Arab nations have adapted to Western media and share a cultural uniformity. Another example, that Lynn imposes the first Arab-produced reality TV show, Ala al-Hawa Sawa (On the Air Together), adapted a mix between The Dating Game and The Bachelorette to an Arabic cultural environment.
Keyword: Hybrid Process
“A hybrid dispute resolution process combines elements of two or more traditionally separate processes into one” (Beyond Intractability).
“The film instead enacts a hybrid process that fuses together format, genre, visual
aesthetics, music, and linguistic colloquialisms to produce a Bollywood film on Egyptian
popular comedic terms: it is an Egyptian film Hindi/Indian Film” (Hybridity in Global South Media Production: Between Egypt and India in Gaheem Fel Hend).
This week’s readings focused on the interaction between media circulations and transnational exchanges. The consumption of media is not an innocent activity, as everything that we see and watch comes to influence our understanding of the world. To that extent, everything that we watch is made to push certain agendas and beliefs onto us.
ReplyDeleteMarc Lynch’s article, Reality is Not Enough, dissected the different ways that reality television has impacted the Middle East and North Africa. As different lifestyle and competition-based reality programs rise in popularity, the universal concern that follows reality television is that of its absurdity. Adults are afraid of how the programs will impact the intellects and morals of young viewers, denouncing popular shows while also calling for the resignation of government officials who failed to protect “social values” (Lynch). As Lynch highlights, though, reality television has played a more covert role in teaching about social change. The democratic systems that game shows implement have taught younger generations how to organize efficiently and effectively and how to use social media and the internet to connect across national borders. Moreover, reality television has been used as a political tool to shift cabinet members in governments. While, as the article details, the democracy practiced in the world of game shows is hollow, often corrupted by government intervention and general corruption, so is democracy in most cases. This article made me think of the ways that democracy and elections need to evolve in order to suit younger generations and ensure as much participation in the democratic process as possible, which then made me laugh at the potential of texting BIDEN to 333 to vote.
As Media’s geographic range has grown so has its audience. Ghazzi’s observation that “transnational dynamics… call for a multiple modernities perspective that would acknowledge that Turkey and the Arab world share common histories and memories, and therefore will gravitate towards similar assemblages of the modern,” (Ghazzi) applies to the relationship between Egypt and India as well. Media, like the television show Nour, showcases a different reality, one that allows fantasies and outcomes rarely attainable let alone imaginable in certain countries to take place. The concept of Neo-Ottoman Cool is born from ideas communicated to audience members through television shows. To the same extent, the racist and stereotypical troupes surrounding Indians in Egypt are also confirmed to the audience in the movie Gaheem Fel Hend. Thus with the launch of global media outlets comes a larger responsibility to accurately represent people, opportunities, and places, for cultural exchange happens at an unprecedented rate, and with that comes new understanding on a national and international level.
Key Word: Neo-Ottoman Cool- an idea grounded in Turkish modernity that has been attractive to Arabs because it manages to combine a variety of hitherto separate and seemingly contradictory political, economic and socio-cultural elements in one seductive “package,” what one Arab columnist captured as “[A] European, Islamic, Secular, Capitalist Turkey” (Ghazzi)
Best,
Hadley
This class readings all revolved about Media Circulations, which is an interesting topic in analyzing politics, social, economic and connectivity of the Middle east and north Africa region. Media in the MENA region have always been a hot topic due to certain deference’s in the point of views of people.
ReplyDeleteIn the International Focus: Emerging Arab Media video I enjoyed how did they explained that by Arab media we mean using our Arabic language as the language of expression, with 200 satellite TV stations and 100 radio channels across all Arab countries.
Also, an important point is that motivated the explosion in media in Arab countries happened when: The Lebanese civil war, and the Arab Gulf war. Arabs always sought outside media. After these two events people tended to seek news more which led to the opening to different news channels such as and Aljazeera. Financial and political motivators.
A very important point that they have raised that Arab media tend to show more the different identities in Arab countries. In fact, it made Arabs them self-aware of their internal differences. In Arab media they believe that there is a democracy of participation but not a democracy of governance. Everyone can have a voice within for example talk shows. Talk shows plays a huge role in Arab media because it for example target some serious topics where people discuss their opinions and argue in a kind of way. The explosion of media also played a huge role on displaying Islam. And in different Arab countries Islam practices tend to talk about their religious beliefs while others tend to challenge them and look for other options and answers. This showed the plurality of voices within Islam.
Media also acted as the stabilizer for Arabs which showed their different opinions and beliefs. Such a diverse media environment that shows the outside world that not all Arabs are the same and Muslims share different ideologies.
I can see the similarities between the Video and the “Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere” piece. They all emphasizes the political and economic motives of Arab countries in establishing TV channels that supported their views and ideas. There is also a connection between the “Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere” piece and “Hybridity in Global South Media Production: Between Egypt and India in Gaheem Fel Hend (2016)” piece, were they all illustrated that the Arab viewers are very attracted to certain types of Indian or Turkish portrayals.
As for ‘Reality is Not Enough’: The Politics of Arab Reality TV” piece. It illustrated how Arab reality TV shows sparked some sort of voting democracy in the MENA region. However, I feel that this point is very vague and it is not well traced. Also, they noted that these some sort of Reality TV shows are often fought with Islamic activists to secure the Islamic traditions and culture.
Keyword:
modern masculinity: the quality or nature of the male sex : the quality, state, or degree of being masculine or manly challenging traditional notions about masculinity and femininity … a style which alternates between a polished grace and blunt masculinity.
The readings and videos this week all revolved around the newly widespread nature of media in the Arab world. While the Kraidy and Al-Ghazzi reading addressed the Turkish pop culture world, Petiwala’s piece brought up the interesting fusion of Egypt and India within culture. Simultaneously, the Lynch piece as well as the International Focus video both addressed the ways in which Arab media is reinforcing a sense of democracy and allowing voices to be heard.
ReplyDeleteThe pieces that intrigued me and wanted to make me learn more about Arab media studies were the Lynch and the International Focus interview. As someone who watches a lot of Reality TV, game shows, and music videos, these pieces seemed to encompass my interests.
First of all, the Lynch reading: I found this idea of democracy through the media to be fascinating. There is a quote on page 2 that I felt added an interesting factual element to the discussion: “the most successful reality TV shows… use audience participation and voting to determine the winners of competitions. These methods have seemed revolutionary to many observers in an Arab world characterized by repressive, non democratic governments”. This is something that I had never really thought about before– but in American culture it is definitely prevalent as well. This idea of democracy being promoted by the media is something that I would like to discuss further. Through using audience participation, a show, podcast, interview, and other forms of media. can feed their audience a feeling of inclusivity and, in a sense, authority. In my sociology studies, I have done some research thinking about the ways in which social structures are a part of the way that cultures work, and I found this fact to be enlightening in relation to the deeper structures that make up society. As a place that is “characterized by repressive, non-democratic governments”, the Middle East has historically been a place that lacks democracy, and the emergence of this media landscape is something that has shown steps towards enforcing democracy, as discussed in the International Focus interview with Marwan Kraidy and Steven Clemons.
There were many aspects of this interview that brought new ideas to my attention. The first connection that I drew was the one between the interview and the Lynch reading, as there is a moment where Kraidy explicitly states that within the media there is a “democracy of participation, but not a democracy of governance”. This shows the disconnect between media and government, specifically in relation to Saudi in this particular interview. Kraidy continues to discuss how, through the inclusive nature of things like game shows and audience participation on the news and in interviews. This brought up a question I had, thought, about how things like reality TV and music videos contribute to this idea of “democracy”, when there is no direct interaction between the person on the screen and the viewer. This was where I felt that this aspect of their argument fell through, as they kept referring to “media” as democratic, when in reality it's only certain aspects of it. Another thing that I had a question about was the idea they bring up about how “mainstream media is being challenged by podcasting and blogging”... I couldn’t understand if they meant this as a negative or positive thing, because to me it seems quite positive, and has the potential to be influential and allow people to use their individual voices.
Keyword: hybridity
Definition: “involves the fusion of two hitherto relatively distinct forms, styles or identities, whose prerequisite is cross-cultural contact” (Petiwala, 4).
Can we watch some clips that were references in the pieces, especially the Petiwala one? As a visual learner, I felt like I would have benefitted from being able to see the scenes from the movies discussed.
Can we discuss the definition of the word “jihadist” that was brought up a lot in the interview? I did some research but I am still a bit confused, especially about its specific relation to the media.
Today's readings and source material offered insight into how the transnational Media circulation has become a tool for Pan Arab integration, global cultural integration, cultural export and political means. Most importantly, Media has brought about the ability for members of all communities to engage in multi perspective debate. Marwan Kraidy perfectly summarized my family's living room TV when he explained how Arab news shows were like wresting matches between all groups of the public. Marwan Kraidy also highlighted how Media in the Arab world has given everyone, from the most liberal to the most conservative, from the Sunni to the Shia, the politician to the "Fala7" the ability to engage in a public discourse. However, this increased openness in discussion does not come without its tension and resistance as discussed in the article titled "Reality is Not Enough’: The Politics of Arab Reality TV". This article shows us how governments across the Middle East have had love hate relationships with Reality TV. I found it very interesting to hear that the same governments who viewed these reality shows as against public values and a danger to moral standards in the Muslim World were the ones who spent millions trying to get their nationals to win first place on "Supar Star".
ReplyDeleteThis paper mostly focused on the divisiveness and controversy which these reality shows usually brought, whether it be because men and women would be living in the same house or a kiss on the cheek. Honestly, I myself am used to hearing some fragment of the public being enraged by some show every year. Every few months, some clerk, politician or segment of the population deems a show as a means of the devil, corrupting the youth with secularist and immoral ideas. It seems that with our heightened ability to voice our opinions and express our perspectives, comes tensions from all sides.
I think back to a fear echoed by Marwan Kraidy in 2006, his fear that a growing voice from the young would eventually be met with frustration as this increase in voice would fall on deaf ears. He believed that people openly discussing what needs to change was a positive but feared that it would build up expectations for change, expectations that would never be met, leading to instability. I personally see this 2006 fear as an accurate prediction for what happened in 2011 Egypt and across the Middle East. The Arab Spring, especially in Egypt, was organized thanks to Media, a form of media we could liken to reality TV. Because what is more real than Social media, media that is straight from the real everyday citizen's perspective. Social media allowed the Egyptian youth to discuss their dissatisfaction with the stagnating political climate at the time. This amounted into years of frustration and culminated into the 2011 revolution. However, media alone could not change, some would argue that even with the revolution, nothing did change.
As "‘Reality is Not Enough’: The Politics of Arab Reality TV" states:
"Nobody expects Star Academy to deliver real political or economic change. Presumably, citizens—and analysts of the prospects for Arab democracy—should expect more."
Ultimately, while media gives a voice to many, it does little to change the status quo on a political level. Unfortunately, while Media makes the once voiceless pleas louder and stronger, change will only happen once welcomed by those in power.
Pan-Arab: Political, cultural and nationalist unity between Arab countries.
- Mostafa
DeleteWould really like to watch the tuk tuk clip from the Movie mentioned in your paper.
DeleteInterested to hear your thoughts regarding how Bollywood films have shaped Egyptian movie culture. Have their been similar movies in India depicting Egyptian culture?