Although it revealed the emergence of a new artistic generation, why did Iraqis abandon their country’s series for Egyptian and Gulf drama?

Despite the dramatic artworks and the many television programs that the Iraqi screen witnessed during the month of Ramadan this year, the family’s interest remained tied to the emotional and social stories presented by the Gulf and Egyptian dramas, far from the atmosphere of wars, death and terrorism that the Iraqi drama dealt with.

The Iraqi satellite channels appeared this year with a prolific production of artworks compared to the past few years, and most of them came with a hot character from the bloody events, but on the other hand, they revealed the emergence of a new artistic generation that clearly emerged in its first appearance in a number of works that attracted attention.

Worsening problems

The critic and academic Dr. Hazem Hashem told Al-Jazeera Net that "the presented works do not possess the characteristics of drama, as there is no real text directed despite the presence of image and directing techniques, and what is presented today ranges between misery and depression, and whenever artworks enter politics, they become disastrous."

Hashem added, "We returned to follow up on Egyptian works because of the strength of the narrative, the sequence of events and the magnificence of the performance, and this is what we do not find in Iraqi works that discuss and deal with the reality of kidnapping and murder, scenes of terrorism and other scenes of violence."

Hashem believes that the presented works fell into many mistakes (Al-Jazeera)

After the US invasion of the country in 2003 - according to Hashem - space was open, allowing scenes of violence and killing that were previously cut off, and this was accompanied by the emergence of satellite channels and production organizations that presented the image of the Iraqi scene in a miserable and bad way and in a crude, dramatic way, and with the absence of censorship, the meaning was absent. And the moral position, at the discretion of the critic and academic.

He points out that some artworks ranged from superficiality, such as the series "The Love of Baghdad", to works of art as if they were published on Facebook that transformed into a dialogue devoid of depth, as in the series "Bing in the year 2", and the series "Watan's masks", and even the series "Escape" - which condemns The Islamic State Organization - fell into many failures and was not at the required level.

Social treatment

Drama is not only a reflection, but rather a catalyst for committing crimes in the event that it is unable to address the idea or does not put a clear end to it, and it is also able to restore the social fabric system through new ideas that discuss major issues and develop appropriate solutions to them such as sectarianism and terrorism, according to the academic and social researcher. Dr. Uday Al-Shabib to Al-Jazeera Net.

And every year during the month of Ramadan, the debate rages among Iraqis about the dramatic artworks and television programs that are presented on satellite channels because of the nature of their handling of the topics that occur in the country, and over the past years, artworks have appeared, a large proportion of which are inclined to ridicule and joking, while others are drowning in details. The daily life of the citizens that was not without sadness and terror.

Positive terminals

On the other side of the bright Iraqi artworks, what was striking in Ramadan this year was the emergence of young and new artistic blood that took an important area of ​​viewers ’interest, such as" Taiba and the Red Zone ", according to artist and director Ahmed Hassan.

Hassan added during his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, "It is not possible to pass the Ramadan drama to this world without paying attention to the clear development in the field of photography and lighting techniques, and the transfer of the drama to the time of the entry of ISIS and beyond is a deal with a subject that no two disagree with, which is the most that can be seen from Positives in this year's drama. "

In order to create a positive and successful drama in terms of psychological and social impact on the individual and the family - as Hassan says - there must be special features of drama, and perhaps the most important of them is to create a dramatic environment free of sectarianism, religious disharmony and violence.

In turn, film director Ayman Al-Shatri believes that drama and cinema are not just the language of dialogues, direct resonant slogans and superficial characters, they are the language of the image, plot, events, dimensions, character development, and dramatic construction.

Al-Shatri added during his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the important positive is the emergence of new faces of great actors, but they were stabbed by writing and directing.

Al-Shatri believes that the important positivity in the Ramadan series is the emergence of new faces of great actors (Al-Jazeera)

Causes and Roots of Violence

Violence constitutes a well-known social pattern in many societies, not just Iraqi society, as academic and critic Dr. Hazem Hashem says. This pattern has its historical, political and social roots. Violence has been associated at the political level since the May 1941 revolution against the monarchy, which ended with the execution of the four officers and their commentary on Al-Qashleh Building in the Ministry of Defense by the regent, Abd al-Ilah.

The matter was repeated in the massacre of the martyrs in 1948, according to Hashem, in which dozens were massacred at the Martyrs Bridge after the signing of the agreement with Britain, and then the violence was repeated in its harshest scenes in 1958 with the fall of the monarchy and the massacre of the royal family and the process of dragging the regent Abdul Ilah.

Scenes of violence returned - as Hashem shows - in 1963 with the killing of the then prime minister, Abdul Karim Qasim, and the massacres in which blood was shed, and then the massacres in wars and executions that Iraq fought during the Baath Party era, starting with the war against the Kurds in 1974, and society turned to militarism in the eighties During the eight-year war with Iran, the scene of violence resumed during the years of siege by cutting the roads and looting, to reach its climax after 2003 and the emergence of sectarian warfare and the dominance of al-Qaeda, then the Islamic State and armed factions after that, in addition to the events of the Arab region, which created a clear culture of violence.