The clash of reality, feelings and imagination in different drama genres

Angry demonstrators gathered in the streets of Chicago in 2007 to protest the policies of US President George W. Bush before he addressed an economic forum at the city's Sheraton Hotel. After the president finished his speech, and while he was leaving the place heading towards the door of the hotel - and before he reached his car among his guards - he was surprised by a sniper's bullet from a nearby building, killing him and there was chaos in the place, then the security forces arrested a Syrian person and accused him of involvement in the incident, based on flimsy evidence in the British film "Death of a President" (Death of a President) by British director Gabriel Rang, which was produced in 2006.

The film is formally based on the documentary template in terms of images processed to appear real, interviews with guests and scenes that appear to be real archivals. In effect, it is an unrealistic fictional futuristic film, a type of film called "Docufiction", that is, it is a hybrid that combines two types of films: documentary and fiction, and its time is neither in the past nor in the present, but in the future. The hybridization between two types of films is not limited to this genre, as we will explain later, but this film seems shocking, because it takes the imagination away and sometimes targets important figures in sensitive positions, as Bush Jr. targeted and drew a tight scenario for his assassination while he was still in office as president of the United States.

The role of the camera is not limited to the process of documentation and that there is a wide scope for this reality to be treated artistically and for metaphors to occur between reality and imagination in the work of art.

The film caused little political fanfare at the time, but it provoked the ire of many, and it found its way to cinemas despite the reluctance of many theaters in the United States to show it, and it was later broadcast by the British Channel Four. It is one of the films that embodies the renewed conflict between fantasy and reality in the film and television arenas. Filmmakers usually want from time to time to break down the barriers between what is real and what is imaginary to mobilize the imagination of the viewer, who may get used over time to traditional artistic templates, so they resort to hybrid genres, some of which we will present in this article:

First: Documentary Drama

It is the most famous genre, especially in the Arab world, and is known by the abbreviation in English "Docudrama", and falls under it historical drama and depends on re-embodying a real event, whether political or historical, using actors who play the roles of real characters. Traditionally, the film team conducts an in-depth research on the event in order to embody it on the cinema or television screen in terms of events, dialogue and clothing, not for the purpose of honest reporting of the facts as much as it is to give it a realistic touch that makes the viewer feel the sincerity of the plot and the novel. There is a dispute between the purpose of this art form and the reason for its origin, because there are those who believe that the depiction of reality is the origin of the documentary form, and that this hybrid form did not appear until after World War II to fill the deficit in cameras that were difficult to transport at the time, and then directors resorted to representing scenes from reality instead of recording it. According to this view, everything else is a fantasy film or drama, even if it is the embodiment of some real or historical facts.

Others argue that the role of the camera is not limited to the documentation process and that there is a wide scope for this reality to be addressed artistically and for metaphors to occur between reality and fiction in the artwork. Between them and those, there are several unresolved ethical and artistic problems, including the extent of the director's commitment not to change reality. With the succession of problems, several channels in the world have adopted standards of non-misinformation to be an alternative to the idea of documentation, because documentation requires extreme accuracy that is not available in the work of art, and that what irritates many is the distortion resulting from misinformation and falsification. This may explain the seasonal battles with Arab historical series and films or those dealing with Arab issues.

Second: Melodrama

This type of "melodrama" is in complete contrast to the previous type. I have mentioned it in order to highlight the contradictions and make each type clear. Melodrama is unlike ordinary drama and docudrama, it does not have a coherent story and a plot with which the characters develop according to a logical sequence, but it is a style of theater that became famous in the Victorian era in Europe and depends mainly on influencing emotions and feelings and accompanied by music intensively in order to increase the impact on the viewer until some argued that it is a hybrid type between drama and music. Many Indian films that contain irrational events are usually categorized according to this category. Many of Faten Hamama's roles are also seen as melodrama, especially films such as "The Night of Fatima's Arrest" and "Mouths and Rabbits."

It also relies a lot on dialogue and not on movement and the sequence of scenes and events, and this dialogue often revolves around preaching, moral and emotional matters, as in many romantic Turkish series that became famous before the current wave of historical series.

There are many other hybrid drama styles, but they are not widespread in the Arab world, so we limited ourselves to these three types to show the viewer the type of drama he watches and be aware of the size of the impact on him, so as not to confuse what is fictional with what is realistic and what is melodramatic aimed at mobilizing feelings mainly. One of the important theories in this field is the theory of returning to the viewer and studying his reactions, and then educating him in order to realize the fundamental differences between the dramatic genres to which he is exposed, so he chooses in advance what he would like to see and what he would like to avoid, and this also enables him to direct the required criticism according to sound artistic foundations. This narrows the gap between specialists and creators on the one hand and the public on the other, and reduces the phenomena of the seasonal clash between accusing the creator of condescending to the public and entrenching his freedom of creativity and accusing the public of ignorance of the principles of art and creativity.