Abou Naddara (the man with glasses) is a group that produce and distribute short documentary movies. “Since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011, Abounaddara has been engaged in a war of images unfolding on fronts, the anonymous collective attempts to undo stereotypes that cloud our gaze on Syria” (Zabunyan, 2013). The content they create is dignified image, mostly short documentary movies that demonstrate the life of Syrians living beautifully with this disaster. The filmmakers post their work online on Vimeo, and sometimes they participate in film festivals where they screen their short movies. This paper will discuss how Abou Naddara’s films resist against the undignified image that brutalize people in war and how it fights against the government dictatorship and the ruling regime.

Abou Naddara resists against the injustice to humanity and brutalizing to people through undignified images of war in the media. “Abou Naddara argues that images of the war in Syria are too frequently about mutilated and starved bodies, not about persons” (Vera List Center, 2015). Nowadays, Syria is described as the war country nothing more than dead bodies covered with blood to produce sympathy without any respect to the dead individuals nor to the reality of the people living and struggling to live ordinary in this extraordinary situation. In other words, in order to be newsworthy a story has to be dramatic with emotional pictures and sensationalized language. “It takes more and more dramatic coverage to elicit the same level of sympathy as the last catastrophe” (Moeller, 1999, p.3). The coverage of Syrian war is manufactured by geopolitical forces either to create sympathy and commiseration or to show the barbarism and brutality of Arab and terrorists. Western media channels use the images of dead bodies to reflect their geopolitical illusions that we cannot do anything about the Syrian war, it is just some brutal Arabs fighting against each other. On the other hand, Bashar al Assad utilize these images to show that he is fighting the brutality and barbarism of terrorists in his country.

In addition, Abou Naddara fights against the government dictatorship and the ruling regime. In the first year of Syrian war, Bashar al Assad claimed that Syria is in peace and there is nothing to worry about. In an interview after 7 months of the war the president stated: “Syria is fine, we are moving forward, the situation is practically getting better, but the victory needs more time.”(Mahmood & Harding, 2012). Abou Naddara opposes the claims of Bashar al Assad; in the video Everything is Under Control Mr. President, we perceive the reality of surviving in Syria through this disaster and that the claims of peace and serenity are just a mask to cover the brutality that is happening in this country.  Additionally, in some of their movies Abou Naddara promotes feminism and fights against the image of Syrian women in media. For example, the video The Woman in Pants is an interview with a woman where she explained strongly about her participation in the revolution and the way she fights for the peace of her beloved country and for other women in Syria. Equality is also reflected in their frames; the frame chosen in this movie reflects the power of the woman: they don’t victimize her, no shots from above showing her as weak, instead they use down shots that reproduces her strong position against the government.

 

The anonymous collective resists against undignified images by creating dignified images showing Syrian citizens living their routine of daily life that became rendered by war. “We want to address the injustice of the images circulating in the dominant media; the indignity of the images of Syrians as victims, dead and mutilated, or shouting, angry, in the streets.” (Kambarami, 2015). Abou Naddara movies demonstrate life as it is in Syria opposing to the mainstream geopolitical frame it was put into. For example, in the movie Breaking News people live their normal routine beautifully and strongly despite the disaster and two men are watching the news about Syria in some western channel, then we can see the difference between the reality and the news. The form of the video also reflects dignified image, the light is natural and beautiful, it is the normal light we see everyday, not the mainstream dark or yellow, full of dust lighting they use in images of war. Abou Naddara don’t usually shoot in the war zone and even when they do, it is always dignified image. For instance, in the short film I Will Cross Tomorrow the person died while crossing the road, however they don’t show his dead body resting on the floor, instead he appears respected, covered in a white blanket with his loved ones praying for him; the way they shoot his family reflect also the dignified image, they don’t victimize them nor zoom on their crying faces with a slow motion dramatic moment. Moreover, this movie does not follow the photojournalistic norm that: “attempt to freeze fast-moving events by depicting an instantly recognizable fragment of a larger situation in order to convey a single dramatically perspicacious point” (Kandutsch, 2015, p.4), on the contrary it showed the sequences of the story and gave more respect to the dead body, without dramatizing and freezing the death scene. In other words, Abou Naddara fights the mainstream undignified image of war in Syria by showing in alternative method of representing the struggle with respect to the population. In addition, the documentary movies include interviews with Syrians strongly talking about their experience or about what they want, rather than the mainstream image of them as muted dead bodies. Syrian are dehumanized and represented in media as numbers and objects not as human-being. “Some argue that dehumanization is especially to be linked to a portrayal of refugees as a faceless mass instead of individuals, through the use of terms as “influx”, “flux”, “tide” and “wave”, etc.” (Venir, 2016, p.31). On the contrary, Abou Naddara retrieves the agency of Syrians who are excluded from the news of their own war. For example, in the movie Voyage to the Islamic State a young man narrates his experience when he was arrested by the government but it was dignified image far from the usual image of passive victims or grainy shots of bombs in the street. This movie fights against undignified image also by form: they didn’t brutalize the subject by light or use the mainstream lighting used in interviews that flash white lighting on the face of the victim. Instead, the light is natural and dark reflecting the reality.

In addition, Abou Naddara fights against the mainstream coverage of Syrian children as victims to create sympathy; instead their movies show children as part of the war and as brave and intelligent children that understand the political and social complexity of the war.  For example, in the short film Children of Hayfaya, a child narrates the stories he heard about the sufferers and he is not represented as a poor victim instead he talks in a pure and honest way about what is happening to the population in Syria. In addition, the lighting is so natural on the face of the child and he fill the whole frame which gives him more power and authority. Furthermore, there is resistance in the platform of distribution, they didn’t use media channels regulated by the government or the cooperated media landscape that share the undignified image, instead they used an online free platform Vimeo where most Syrian can access and watch the films.

In conclusion, Abou Naddara’s short films resist by content, form and distribution against the undignified image that brutalize humanity and against the government dictatorship.

 

 

References

 

AbouNaddara. (2013). The Women in Pants [Video file]. Retrieved from          https://vimeo.com/77826189

AbouNaddara. (2012). I Will Cross Tomorrow [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://vimeo.com/43241736

AbouNaddara. (2016). Breaking News [Video file]. Retrieved from                                                                   https://vimeo.com/174833800                                                                          AbouNaddara. (2013). Children pf Halfaya [Video file]. Retrieved from           https://vimeo.com/64876057

AbouNaddara. (2011). Everything is Under Control Mr. President [Video file]. Retrieved from                           https://vimeo.com/23660136

AbouNaddara. (2015). Voyage to the Islamic State [Video file]. Retrieved from            https://vimeo.com/146247611

Kambarami, S. (2015). Abounaddara: the right to the image. The New Context. Retrieved from            https://thenewcontext.org/abounaddara-the-right-to-the-image/

Kandutsch, E, C. (2015). A Yarmouk photograph. CTheory. 1-10. Retrieved from       http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/a-yarmouk-photograph/?template

Mahmoud, M. & Harding, L. (2012). Bashar al-Assad Says There Is No End in Sight to Syrian            Civil War. The Guardian. Retrieved from             https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/29/bashar-al-assad-syria-war

Moeller, D, S. (1999). Four habits of international news reporting. Brandeis University.            Retrieved from             https://frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF_GII/four_habits_of_news_reporting.pdf

Vera List Center (2015). AbouNaddara the right to the image. Centre A. Retrieved from           http://centrea.org/2015/11/abounaddara/

Venir, A. (2016). UK Media Representation of Syrian Refugees. A Focus On the Press, 4                    (p. 21-  43). Retrieved from          http://www.academia.edu/download/35547007/academia.edu_version.pdf

Zabunyan, D. (2013). AbouNaddara. Documenta 4. Retrieved From    https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/949/abounaddara

 

 

who will take on the 21st century technology and media monopolies (written by Justin Anderson) + online gaming and gender:

 image:

Notes Maria:

Notes Emma:

• Talk about the story of the online article (the story of the harassment of Leena van Devente playing online)

“As a game developer, Van Deventer argues that improving reporting mechanisms would be insufficient alone, and that cultural change has to be built into games from their inception.”

“focusing on culture is key – starting with the way games are marketed and sold”

• Since 1970, antitrust policies of medias have focused on short-term interests of the consumers: they lowered the prices of its services to keep consumers happy so they can maintain a long-term consumer protection

 

• “If it’s free, you are a product”. In fact, big media corporations don’t gain interests from its consumers. We can relate this idea with the 5 filters of mass media described by Noah Chomsky. One of the filters he describes is “Advertising” he explains the same idea as the author: Advertisers are now filling the gap and are paying them in exchange of a product — Its consumers.

 

• Medias manipulates its consumers by making their platforms very easily accessible and usable. It helps preventing consumers to go use other platforms that may be more complicated to use. Hence, it creates a market dominance.

 

• “Power over consumer data is hard to challenge because they make their platforms so convenient and universal.”: The audience of these platforms is very vast, hence, is hard to control.

 

• Solutions has been proposed:

1. “Stricter enforcement of privacy data protections in the term of service of these platforms and make these protections clear to consumers so that they know their rights”

1. “Treating the companies that handle massive amounts of data, particularly internet and digital advertising giants as public utilities.”

 

• “Monopoly power”

 

• Fights against these medias

 

 

 

 

November 9 2018

Jbeil, Lebanon

What are some types of surveillance that operate in Lebanon?

 

Star Academy Arabia is a talent show featuring 16 young Arab men and women who live together for four months and every week they compete against each other to win the title of “the star”. The show was released in 2003 and it was adapted from a French show of the same title. Star Academy is directed by Tony Qahwajj and produced by Roula Saad. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) broadcast the show and it also aired recently on MBC1. Moreover, LBC is based in Lebanon and it was founded by the Lebanese Forces in 1985; after 8 years, Pierre El Daher founded LBCI and then he launched LBC SAT. Later, the Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal bought the shares of Salah Kamel the founder of the Lebanese Media Holding in both LBC SAT and PAC (49% of LBC SAT and Pac’s shares). PAC is the content supplier for LBCI and LBC SAT. In 2008, he purchased the majority in PAC and LBC sat and became the largest shareholder. Then, he merged LBC SAT and PAC with Rotana group (owned by Al Waleed Bin Talal). Star Academy has revealed the political economy of the global media and specially in the Arab world. Media corporation in the middle east are influenced by the western world, and owned by the same elite group who aims profit.

 

The show has produced a highly public debate about cultural issues, morality, values and tradition. First of all, the adaptation of western shows usually involves major adjustments in the contexts, done by local production houses to adapt it to the Muslim audience values and beliefs. On the contrary, Star Academy did not play with the context of the original French version.  Star Academy includes men and women living together in one building. Constantly, the show introduced a new intercultural feature to the Arab world’s cultural standards, that does not follow the tradition and culture of the middle east. The issue is not only intercultural difference but also different interpretation of gender relations. Sexuality in Lebanon is regulated through legal articles that reflects the religious norms, which tends to manipulate and frame the public debate on sexuality, and especially the one occurring on influential mainstream TV channels (Mandour, 2013, p.6). Also, it is the same in many other Arab countries. Islamic beliefs state that unmarried male and female can not interact without the existence of a third party. Additionally, the Ideal image of the Islamic woman differs from the image reflected in this show. For Saudi Arabia, defending the ideal Islamic woman is a bearer of the country’s identity. On the contrary, in Star Academy women touches men physically and there were loads of intimate interactions between male and female holding hands, flirting, kissing and even sexual attraction. Consequently, Politicians from Kuwait, Morocco and Iraq discussed in the parliament the necessity of new legislation to protect morality from Star Academy; additionally, in Saudi Arabia they announced a “fatwa” that calls all Muslims to stop watching Star Academy. However, star academy was not banned. Unfortunately, the reason behind not banning the show is that the program is extremely profitable. Star Academy was one of the most watched entertainment shows in the region; LBC made large profits through the SMS voting system. Profit sometimes wins over morality and values. In addition, the fact that Star Academy was making profit for the Saudi Prince Bin Talal, who owns the majority in LBC, kept it from being canceled. The Prince supported the the Saudi winner of Star Academy 2 in many way; he even sent his private jet to bring the winner from Lebanon back to Saudi. This behavior of the son-in-law of the Saudi king can help us understand more the power structure and the political economy in the Arab world.

The Arab satellites are ruled by overlapping economic, political and social forces. “In the Arab world royal families have created media empires with the sole aim of magnifying their glory and prestige” (Media oligarchs go shopping, 2016, p.20). The Kingdom Holding Group is the largest corporation in the Arab world and it is owned by Waleed Bin Talal. The Company includes businesses in gas, petroleum, media, banking and finance, production, …  “Media companies have integrated vertically by adding companies in the same supply chain or at different stages of production” (Wasko, 2014, p.262). A huge number of media companies in the Arab world were created to promote the interest of the ruling regime.

Most of the entertainment shows in the Middle East are often brought by the same media companies and through ownership of media connections, which can reveal the political economy of the global media. “Media systems provide one important example of the attempt to subordinate national economies to the powers of international and domestic capital” (Khibany, 2016, p.273). Star academy was brought to Lebanon by the Dutch company “Endemol”, which is a huge media corporation and a global network that operates in more than 30 states. The business of Endemol includes distribution, production, advertising and franchise management. “Publics and audiences have been neatly packaged into marketable commodities produced and sold by television programmers” (Artz, 2008, p.62). Marketing and advertising of commodities are owned by the same companies. Endemol have sold multiple shows other than Star academy to Arab media outlets such as the Big Brother, Deal or No Deal and the Money Drop. The audience are subjected by profit-making companies and then vended to other advertising and media corporations.

The adaptation of a western show in the Arab world is not uncommon.  The period of imperialism theoretically has ended, but for some western countries the effect of colonialism is still at hand. Dominant countries still have the power to set the principles for contribution in the political economy and political affairs of what they call “the less-developed countries”. The adaptation of western shows has been increasing since the outset of the satellite network market in the Arab world. Consequently, MBC have based half its shows on already known western shows. For example, MBC copied the famous western Animation “the Simpsons” (renaming it Al Shamshoon), even the first pure Arab production program on MBC “Al Hawa Sawa” was inspired from a western show “The Bachelorette”. Arab network associations are often dedicated to western entertainment programs. Moreover, the adaptation of western show by Arab satellites manifest the cultural imperialism of the west in the middle east. The countries holding power have tried to impose their culture and values on the less powerful countries. As a result, this cultural influence has created what we call “hybrid” culture that merge western values with the norms of the Arab culture. Furthermore, powerful communities have tried to wipe away some Middle Eastern values that do not align with their interest. The cultural imperialism is responsible for the influence in terms of language, religion, and the illusion of democracy. Consequently, Star academy despite that all his constants were Arabs, the Arab language was not the most used language. In the show, some North African and Lebanese participants communicate in French and English. The name of the show is also in English ‘‘star academy’’, and words like ‘‘nominee,’’ and ‘‘star’’ were always used instead of Arab words. In addition, countless performances were in French and English. Moreover, western reality shows have misled the Arab audience to believe that what viewers see in reality shows is spontaneous, unrehearsed and reflects the reality that we live in. The important moments in Star Academy were the instants when contestants are caught being their authentic selves. In addition, the structure of the show is based on competition between contestants. This process is taken from capitalism; competition is at the heart of capitalism. Furthermore, talent shows turn the audience into commodities, by creating the voting system to illustrate the bright and peaceful illusion of democracy. This illusion tries to hide the fact that media outlets are ruled by overlapping economic political and social forces. It holes up the concentration of media ownership and mislead the audience to think that they hold power by having the choice to vote for their favorite contestants, but in reality they actually have little choice and the power is in hand of business-political elite that controls the media.

Star Academy has produced a debate in the Arab world but it was profitable for the elite group that owns the media. Additionally, the show like many other entertainment shows, is brought to the Arab world to promote cultural imperialism and capitalism.

 

 

 

References:

 

Artz, L. (2008). Critical concepts: media relations and media product: audience commodity.

Democratic Communiqué, 22(1), 61-74. New York, United States: John Wiley & Sons.

Khiabany, G. (2016). The middle east. Global Media Giants (273-286). London, United         Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Mandour, S. (2013). Potential change in media discourse on sexuality in Lebanon: “Cinema   Plaza” and beyond. Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper University of Oxford. 1-28.       Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/potential-change-    media-discourse-sexuality-lebanon-cinema-plaza-and-beyond

Media oligarchs go shopping (2016, July 20). Reporters Without Borders, 4.               Retrieved from https://rsf.org/en/reports/media-when-oligarchs-go-shopping-rsfs-latest-      report

Wasko, J. (2014). The study of the political economy of the media in the twenty-first century.  International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 10(3), 259-271.                                  Doi: 10.1386/macp.10.3.259_1.

 

 

 

http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:533527128/sounds.rss

Chosen media: Instagram

 

Owner of Instagram: Facebook (Mark Zukerburg).

Cofounder and CEO of Instagram: Kevin Systrom.

Country Instagram is based in: California; San Francisco.

 

Wage Rate: 20$ per hour

• Leen Faraj: 2 hours = $40 a day
• Maria: 1 hour= $20 a day
• Patricia: 1 hour = $20 a day

à Total: $80 a day = 80 x 365 days= $29,200 per year

 

Companies that are owned by Facebook:

1. Instagram
2. Whatsapp
3. Oculus VR
4. Masquerade
5. Messenger
6. FriendFeed
7. Face.com
8. PrivateCore

In conclusion, Facebook has a Horizontal ownership in the media market but further research is needed to follow the trail of ownership of the companies owned by facebook.

Chosen media: Instagram

 

Owner of Instagram: Facebook (Mark Zukerburg)

Kevin Systrom, cofounder and CEO of Instagram.

Country Instagram is based in: California; San Francisco.

 

Wage Rate: 20$ per hour

• Leen Faraj: 2 hours = $40 a day
• Maria: 1 hour= $20 a day
• Patricia: 1 hour = $20 a day

à Total: $80 a day = 80 x 365 days= $29,200 per year

 

Companies that are owned by Facebook:

1. Instagram
2. Whatsapp
3. Oculus VR
4. Masquerade
5. Messenger
6. FriendFeed
7. com
8. PrivateCore

à Facebook has a Horizontal ownership in the media market but further research is needed to follow the trail of ownership of the companies owned by facebook.