“Kingdoms of Fire” Author Writes for “WHITE INK”: “Arabs” must give way to the makers of historical dramas

“Kingdoms of Fire” Author Writes for “WHITE INK”:

"Arabs" must give way to the makers of historical dramas

Ideas, such as prevention, boycott and confiscation, do not get along with the current time. In the 1990s, we purport that the world had become a small village, but today the world has become narrower than a small street inside the village. If we reach out across the world and do not enter into competitions in a huge, important and influential market, such as dramatic production, we shall lose who we are and turn into a laughing stock or may extinct such as dinosaurs.
This is neither cruelty, nor self-flagellation, but rather another attempt to terminate the slumber, neglect, and convenience. We have banned Turkish dramas on our screens for years, so what did we gain?!

On the other hand, we created one series to confront the Turkish intellectual and cultural invasion over our children’s minds. Is this enough?! 

We did not benefit anything by negative resistance, because the Turkish series has many followers and displayed on other display platforms and screens indicating that it is a good product to have the ability to compete internationally. The makers of Turkish series have made the utmost effort with sincerity and dedication.

On art or industry, the Egyptian proverb says: “Let an expert handle the job even if it will cost you much”. We have been giving the opportunity to the unqualified persons to undertake a difficult and complex task, such as drama making. The manufacturer differs from the merchant and the manufacturer cannot do without the merchant and vice versa, but each of them has its own field. When a manufacturer works in trade, he cannot sell his product or mostly will fail miserably in buying and selling. The cow is not able to sell its milk, it’s obvious.

Our resistance against Turkish drama is still negative and one action is not enough to face its systematic invasion.

But when the merchant works in the industry (with the merchant’s vision only), then it is so alarming Here, cleverness comes at the account of proficiency, and numbers (quantity) replace (quality), and the bright and shiny form becomes more important than the deep strong content. 

The pests of the drama industry still inhabit the roots of our business as a chronic mold, the star is the most important thing, the one who is bought by the channel and he is the one that advertisements come in his name, and then space is opened for the star to intervene and take control, and all work team becomes cogs in a machine making his name and stardom, his dreams are orders and his requests are answered, The sale has taken a place as soon as he signed the contract, in a manner that the producer takes it with him to publish it on the social media, as for making the series itself, it is indisputable. How can we make a drama that competes on a global or even regional level – in the light of this inverted cart system?!

We do not lack cadres for writing, acting, directing, decorating, filming, music, etc. we lack the system of rules, and whenever we talk, we have angered industrialists (or trade, to be more precise) who have been accustomed to working and reaping profits in this way, indifferent to the final result that will be a great depression, certainly the wheel of dramatic production will stop sooner or later.

By all accounts, any unprofitable trade is a failed trade, and no one is claiming the workers in this sector to lose. Art is a controversial issue which its subject is not making a profitable drama, except in the margins. It may tolerate adventure if the system is profitable originally. Under profit and loss from a purely economic perspective (business), we see today that Turkish drama has returned to occupy our screens, after Arabizing it using Arab actors and cadres, not just dubbing it, as it used to happen in the past. We see the Turkish series occupying Arab platforms that follow the new ones and their viewing rates in Turkey, their rise and fall and admitted by the viewers in our Arab region greatly.

As if we had not done anything, the global market will remain subject to the law of supply and demand, and the famous global platforms displaying original works made in Turkey raise a lot of concerns and questions regarding our damaged industrial mechanisms. The business at the beginning and at the end is the guaranteed means for intellectual, cultural, and political conquest.

We have said it over and over and here we are repeating it, making one single historical series is not enough to face the torrent of similar Turkish works, and the Arab region must rise and give the makers the opportunity to re-read history for viewers of all ages and categories, only if we aspire to compete, and construct national security and cultural lines around our societies in front of the continuous dramatic invasion, so that we may survive.