The Film Media’s Powerful Influence

Humanity is a single family. It is diverse, spanning many nations, cultures, ideologies, and ways of life. Yet, their essential nature is always the same. Everyone is born with the same humanity, but people in every culture learn to express it in their own unique way. 

Drama is able to move people across cultural and national boundaries. Who can deny the effect that movies like The Passion of Christ, Titanic, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Help have had on Western societies worldwide? They have influenced public discourse on many societal issues, like racism, poverty, child abuse, violence against women. Movies have influenced perceptions on key political issues like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. They also impact on people’s beliefs and how they perceive history. 

It is easy to understand how such influential power can take place within a single society, but it is far more serious when it crosses national, cultural and even civilizational barriers. It is a shame there are societies which consume movies and television programs but provide none of their own in return. They are, as a consequence, influenced by such powerful media, but make no similar impact on the world. 

Historically, drama can be traced back to the Greeks, but there are also precedents for it in Arabic history. Shadow plays were an Arabic manifestation of drama, and many old literary works discuss visualized stories, fanciful dialogues, and contests of the imagination, all of which resemble drama in many ways and indicate its importance for Arab society. 

This brings us to the question of historical drama, whether we wish to talk about world history, Islamic history, or the dramatized stories of famous Muslim figures and current events. The Libyan resistance leader Omar Mukhtar is more famous than others who fought against colonialism, and no doubt the movie Lion of the Desert has a lot to do with that. 

America has at various times used film and television as a means to present its occupation in Iraq, Vietnam, and elsewhere in a positive light. They were more successful in doing so when there were no mature film and television productions to present the true story. 

Comedy is also an important part of the dramatic arts. There is one case in Denmark where a man laughed so hard while watching a funny program that he died. His wife wrote to the producers and thanked them! Did she thank them because they helped rid her of an abusive husband? Or because they helped make her husband’s last moments on Earth happy and full of laughter? 

Even laughter has a message to convey, though it may be under the surface. Islam gives everything its due measure, including laughter. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to laugh, as did the prophets before him. A smiling face is one of the qualities of the righteous. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “A smile that give your brother is blessed as an act of charity.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhī] 

Only excessive and inordinate laughter is wrong, since the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Do not laugh to much, because it desensitizes the heart.” [Musnad Ahmad and Sunan al-Tirmidhī (with al-Tirmidhī declaring it to be an unusual narration)] 

Children spend many hours in front of the television, more than the time they spend at school. Much of what they watch are cartoons, especially Anime. They also spend a lot of time playing computer games. 

These programs and games are employed to influence children’s lives and through the children their parents’ spending behavior. It is an interesting and highly successful use of technology. 

Even as the television set is taking up less of our children’s time, it is being replaced by programs on the Internet. Websites are competing viciously with each other for our children’s attention, and are making a major impact on how our children, think, speak, and feel about things. How often do they want things they see on an advertisement, in spite of their parents’ disapproval? 

Is technology neutral? It is to a limited extent. It is if we are capable of employing it to promote positive life values like optimism, hope, patience, and tolerance, or to strengthen our Islamic identity, enabling us to effectively and positively interact, coexist, and engage in productive work with others. 

It is not neutral to the extent that people are unable to understand it or learn how to use productively, or capitalize on the opportunities that it presents. Unfortunately, this is the situation the Muslim world is in today.

Sheikh Salman al-Oadah

Source: en.islamtoday.net (Dec. 21, 2013)