Lost messages
April 18th, 2007A few weeks ago Esra’a wrote about “Angels of Satan”, a film she saw in Marrakech, and while I was reading her post, the following paragraph reminded me of something:
I expected people to be generally welcoming of this film’s theme, but people took it the wrong way. They were applauding when the Islamist was talking about how these young people are an embarrassment to Islam, and how we mustn’t forget that for as long as we live in a Muslim state we must obey what the Koran states, and apparently our religion is against human rights, democracy, and freedom of expression through any medium, which is painfully inaccurate. But almost everyone in the cinema applauded this claim, and cheered “correct!” which is admittedly really scary.
I thought about something that happened here in Tunisia when I saw “The Yacoubian Building” during the Carthage Festival last summer. This festival takes place in a large roman amphitheater and it was crowded that evening.
Each time an extremist imam said something, a lot of people were applauding, and yelling “Allahou Akbar”. That made me feel really uncomfortable because I didn’t expect reactions like that, and I think it wasn’t the aim of the writer to glorify such speeches.
A lot of them were laughing each time they saw the homosexual journalist on screen, and they were also applauding when he got killed at the end of the movie. I was really disgusted.
They also laughed and whistled each time Boutheina got sexually harassed or tenderly kissed, without making the slightest difference between the two scenes. It seems that it was all about sex for them and didn’t matter if she was aggressive. And anyway, what is so funny about sex ?
When I saw all these things happen around me in the amphitheater, I said to myself that maybe when a writer, a film director or any other artist tries to highlight some problems and make people think about them, it seems somehow inefficient for a large part of the audience because people continue to see things the way they used to no matter what you show them on a screen. They come with their own opinions, and don’t even consider changing the slightest idea they have about some of these subjects. It seems that the message is lost on its way to the audience.
Some people think that art is not a way to change things. But even after seeing such reactions, I really believe that books and movies can help. I believe in culture and art. I believe in communication. It may take more efforts,a lot of work and a long long time to change deep rooted habits, but at least people see different things, and they may get used to those differences and accept them one day. But right now, I admit that this is going to be a long and difficult battle!
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I have experienced similar behaviour in people and I certainly agree with all that you have written here.
I myself am a staunch believer that Art and Education does bring change into people but its a slow and tedious process. But change comes when people want change. And change is not something everybody can handle. When people know that they can’t handle change they resist it.
Nadia, what you said is very true! When I was young, my dream was to make films, and I used to experiment with this a lot. I used to make short videos, but the people I showed it to never got the point, and it bothered me a lot that I could never find the real audience or that I didn’t know how to get the point across.
During “Angels of Satan,” the whole time I was expecting people to be supportive of the theme and at least understanding of the point the director was trying to make, but this was clearly not the case. People were fooling around and they were very stubborn, and unaccepting of the story. I mean, the whole point of the Imam being a part of the film is for the viewer to actually DISAGREE with his oppressive mentality! That is how the Imam was portrayed – someone who just pushes things too far and is not welcoming in any way of any liberal behavior, and I thought people would want to hear this, especially the youth. But instead they had the same mentality that this Imam did! And then they wonder why corruption is so common in our countries.
In the cinema, during a rape scene once, people were saying “woooooo she deserves it!” instead of noting the reality behind these rape scenes. Rape really does happen often and it’s very threatening, especially because after the rape cases society is never on the victims’ side. But the people in the cinema (including some girls!) were just yelling inappropriate things, and I asked one of the guys who were fooling around, “what if something like this ever happens to your sister?” and he said “when that happens then I will deal with it. But most girls who get raped deserve it, and you should know this.” I don’t understand this way of thinking. No one ever deserves such unjust crime to be committed against them, no matter what the circumstances are. No matter what she’s wearing, where she’s walking, how she looks, or whether or not she wears a hijab – no one deserves it, but society tells us otherwise. We are told “if you do not wear something decent, expect the worse, and take the responsibility if you get raped or harrassed.”
Really, I think people don’t understand the significance of things until they have a personal experience. Film is a really great way to get a social or political idea across. Too bad the people this should be directed towards aren’t listening, and the ones understanding the messages, like me and you, are already familiar with it, so it’s not making such a huge difference. It has the potential of making a very big difference, but that is not happening because, again, who is listening and who is learning? If only everyone would start to listen and take it seriously, perhaps we can have a constructive public discourse around the issues brought up. Until then, we can keep trying, like we are doing here!
Naturally, like all of you i believe in Arts, Literature,… But let’s face things like they are really : These means of communication are somehow “elitist”, in most cases they demand some advanced common sens, because messages are like “hidden” or not direct, or sometimes, they just present facts and let the spectator make his own opinion,and even if the message is clear the cliché in people mind about these means of communication :”they are just for intellectuals”, will somehow “block” the process of receiving the message…
Personally, i think that for most of the people the most appropriate mean of communicating such messages and education is the nearest media to everybody(especially in arab world) is …….. TV.
Shows like what Oprah presents are the simplest form of communicating messages even if they say the message word by word, but we have no choice and this is reality : The majority of our society are not intellectuals and have these clichés so, we don’t have to be ashamed let us just use the simplest method to communicate messages : The Dummy American Method… Even these satellite cheikhs who are giving lessons day long understood it : Nice presentation, nice talking, simple clear words, and no need for effort to understand what they want you to understand…
Once these pre-requisite notions are present in people minds, movies, theatre, books, songs… will be efficient…
PS: Please excuse my poor english…
Amin, your English is beautiful do not worry about it!
I agree with you, and this is why I think these media forms are not taken very seriously. I found out that a very good way to send messages is through very good graffiti… for these, they don’t have to be hidden messages, you just write your thoughts in a very creative manner and it is a good way to communicate with the youth, especially those in rural villages. People don’t always have access to films, music, internet, blogs, etc, but they always have access to walls!
Hell! I like your srticle and I would like actual abundant to apprehend some addde advice on this issue. Testament you column some more?
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It looks like we have agnate ideas on this subjec.t