Egyptian drama...the pleasant past and the ugly present

Egyptian series “Al-Ataula” (Al-Jazeera)

Television drama has entered the homes of Egyptians since 1962, that is, two years after the establishment of the “TV Building”, and the pioneers of this art were three: They are: Youssef Marzouk, Hamada Abdel-Wahab, and Nour El-Demerdash, and after them came the generation of excellence and spread in the Arab world and its symbols: Muhammad Fadel, Ismail Abdel-Hafez, and Yahya Al-Alami.

In terms of form, the series began with seven episodes, dealing with a realistic topic, and “The Seven” was suitable for the production and artistic conditions, as the equipment used in filming was primitive, and the allocated budget was limited, only sufficient for the production costs of the seven episodes.

The production body was “television” itself, and later the “Radio and Television Union” appeared, and the “video production” sector turned into a sector with huge capabilities and capabilities, but in the 1970s, Egyptian directors and actors were used in the studios: “Ajman” and “Kuwait.” "Riyadh" and "Sousse" in Tunisia, and Amman in Jordan.

The dominance of Egyptian drama

With the expansion of the Arab countries in establishing “television” televisions, the trade in Egyptian series flourished, Egyptian artists and technicians working in “video production” became enriched, and the “Egyptian series” segment became fixed in the maps of Arab state television programs, and this is what was meant by the pleasant past, in which it was “ The Egyptian "dramatic hegemony" conceals the defects of the political decline, or even the political isolation imposed by the circumstances of Egyptian President "Sadat" signing the individual peace agreement with Israel, an agreement that the regimes of the "Resilience and Confrontation Front" confronted.

Despite the fact that the countries of the Resilience and Confrontation Front boycotted Naguib Mahfouz and prevented the screening of his films; For his support of “Camp David”, the series produced by Arab companies based on Egyptian expertise were still shown on government channels in the producing countries, especially the Arab Gulf countries.

In the eighties of the last century, Egyptian dramatic production increased, and the first episodes in the production sector were the episodes of the series “The Conscience of Abla Hikmat,” in which the actress “Faten Hamama” played the starring role. The story and scenario were written by “Osama Anwar Okasha,” and it was directed by Inaam Muhammad Ali. Its issue was: “The conditions of education.” “Education,” and the shift from the system of “state capitalism” or “Arab socialism” to “economic openness,” and the impact of this shift on the relationship between “education” and the educational process in schools subject to the Ministry of Education.

Then Safwat Al-Sharif, the Egyptian Minister of Information, and his assistant, Mamdouh Al-Laithi, head of the production sector at the Radio and Television Union, were guided to the intelligence treasure. It was Saleh Morsi who searched for this treasure and made it into the form of a famous series: "Raafat El Hagan ".

Here it can be said; The television series became the actual alternative to military or political action. The adventure undertaken by the Egyptian General Intelligence Service during the era of the “Arab-Israeli Wars” was transformed by the team of actors led by director “Yahya Al-Alami” into a tool to incite national sentiment, coinciding with the first Palestinian Intifada, which was launched. It says: “Intifada of Stones.” Raafat Al-Hagan was a tool of the Egyptian Ministry of Information to reassure “the Egyptian people” that the “ruling regime” still sees Israel as the only enemy, and that the “Egyptian Intelligence Service” guards the nation’s capabilities.

Specialization and creativity

Later, the writer "Mohamed Hassanein Heikal" appeared in episodes broadcast by Al Jazeera channel entitled: "With Heikal - A Life Experience", and denied the existence of the "Raafat Al-Hagan" operation, and spoke about the "Bird" operation, which is a success achieved by the Egyptian intelligence service, represented by planting... Eavesdropping devices were installed at the American Embassy and University in Cairo, and the operation was successful in conveying what the Americans were thinking to the ears of President Abdel Nasser.

The general characteristics of Egyptian drama in the era of the “good past” can be summarized in its reliance on highly trained, creative specialists. The training institutes were the Institutes of the Academy of Arts affiliated with the Ministry of Culture: “The Institute of Dramatic Arts, the Institute of Cinema, and the Institute of Artistic Appreciation,” and the television studios themselves had “Kawader” is qualified to make a good series from an artistic standpoint.

The Egyptian series in that era relied on writers to write the “screenplay,” and the evidence is found in the career of “Osama Anwar Okasha.” He was originally a storyteller and novelist, and his beginning in the dramatic production market was with a story by the writer “Suleiman Fayyad.” He wrote “ A scenario” about her, which was broadcast and achieved a high viewership rate, which made Egyptian television directors rely on it.

Later, the series “Nights of the Dream,” with its many parts, became a sign of television drama, and with the diversity of Egyptian drama topics, reliance on writers increased. For example, the series: “On the Margin of the Biography,” and the series: “Muhammad, the Messenger of God,” written by Dr. Taha Hussein and Abdel Hamid Gouda Al-Sahar, and the series “Al-Zaini Barakat”, which is a historical series about the era of the Mamluk state, was written by Jamal Al-Ghitani.

Shallowness and collapse

During the time of “The Pleasant Past,” Mohsen Zayed, the talented screenwriter, turned Naguib Mahfouz’s trilogy into television drama episodes, and the circle of benefiting from writers’ novels expanded until it included Bahaa Taher, Abdel Wahab Al Aswany, Yahya Haqqi, Ibrahim Abdel Majeed, and Ahmed Al Sheikh.

A lot of water flowed in the river, and Egyptian drama entered the era of the “ugly present,” and fell into the grip of “monopoly.” The monopoly here included everything, starting with the actors who became revolving faces, repeated in all series.

It is a “group” that is accepted by the authorities controlling the destinies of the people and the country, and is linked by kinship and intermarriage in the manner of the phrase that appears in a song by the artist Shadia in the play “Rayya and Sakina,” which says: “And we were compatible with the government and remained relatives,” so every relative of the government in the stage of the ugly, dramatic present. He became a star, and every artist desired by the producer became a star by force, and “stealing ideas” became a feature of Egyptian drama, beginning in 2014.

Regurgitating old cinematic works that were produced in the sixties and seventies, and unfairness to them, became a feature of the “production gang” that monopolized the market, controlled the channels and imposed itself by force, so the Egyptian viewer became like an orphan at the table of the mean, unable to be satisfied, not enjoying, and not understanding anything.

Because the series has become merely an advertising vessel, in which advertisements are broadcast at a higher rate than the acting scenes, and those who do not have a means of entertainment other than television in Egypt are the majority of the people in villages and small cities, and the “month of Ramadan” has turned into a nightmarish month, pressing on the nerves and hearts in light of harsh economic conditions. It afflicts the popular classes, and imposes them under house arrest.

In the era of the “ugly present,” the elements of Egyptian drama collapsed, and their shallowness was exposed in the face of Syrian drama, which succeeded in presenting Egyptian themes or which Egyptian drama had previously presented and excelled noticeably, such as the series: “Ali al-Zaybak,” which Egyptian drama presented decades ago, but the version The Syrian organization excelled with the talented actors and high production capabilities available to it, as well as “Al-Zahir Baybars,” in which the team of Syrian artists created, especially the artist “Abed Fahd,” who presented the character of “Baybars.”

Egyptian drama still continues its collapse and is living in the era of the ugly present, and it will remain that way until God permits the birth of a new dawn and a new era, in which there is no monopoly or corrupt interest groups.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.