What does the Arab viewer watch on on-demand viewing platforms?!
The most famous global platform today for on-demand viewing is the Netflix platform, despite the attempts of other global platforms to compete, and despite all the mistakes and even the sins of this platform and the nature of its content… And those who are angry are not only Arabs and Muslims, but many societies around the world, so that we do not have the illusion of being unique in this!
In mid-December, Netflix issued its first comprehensive report on viewing figures, in which it revealed the most watched films on the live streaming service on the Internet, which are: “Night Agent,” “Wednesday,” and “Wednesday.” Queen Charlotte » Queen Charlotte.
Thus, as stated in a detailed report published by the BBC, it gave producers a glimpse into the films that were most successful among subscribers.
Numbers are limited to the period from January to June 2023.
What are the implications of these “preliminary” numbers and the “incomplete” picture, as the report says?
One of these indications is that the films – for reasons related to the criteria for calculating viewing hours in the Netflix report – were unfairly ranked.
The Arab viewer is a small part of the total number of viewers in the world. I do not know how much of it. He shares his viewing desires and preferences with the rest of the world, and is unique in his own preferences.
Indeed, this rule applies even within the Arab world. There are Arab commonalities, and there are preferences that pertain to each society. It is certain that there are choices pertaining to the Egyptian, non-Saudi, non-Iraqi, non-Moroccan viewer… and so on.
Despite all that, and with reference to the Saudi viewer, we always find, on the “Twitter” or “X” platform, for example, a repeated request on and off occasion for the necessity of presenting history and local stories for dramatic viewing, talking about that and “preaching” to those who understand it and those who do not understand it, and those who know it. Who is ignorant, who is sincere in his feelings, and who is a bidder and imitator.
Talking about local history and social memory has become a permissible pasture for educated people, “Fahlawis,” merchants of the moment, and “trend” brokers, without awareness and without passion. A knowledgeable friend told me that he sat with a group of these people and they talked to him about some stories of Saudi history. They were so ignorant that they deserved admiration! They speak with the language of trust and the language of the knower who researched the issue, and they – my friend said – do not realize the difference between Al-Qassim and Al-Qaysumah, between Jeddah and Wahda, between Saud and Masoud, and between Mana and Hana… Our melodies have been lost.
A while ago, I watched a film in a cinema in Riyadh, about the hero and symbol of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, directed by the famous Briton, Ridley Scott. I do not know how many of these films are about Napoleon in the history of cinema… However, despite the director’s special approach to the story, he did not deviate from the well-known origins of the story. For the Napoleonic epic, there is special “study” and respectable research to write the script… Compare that with what I told you about my friend’s story with some Fahlawiya!
Our conversation branched out, in the manner of Sheikh Ali Tantawi, may God have mercy on him, but the bottom line is that the Arab viewer of all categories, including women, men, old and young, has not yet obtained the enjoyment he deserves that respects his mind before his pocket, except for some works that my Lord has had mercy on, so that we do not deprive ourselves of it. On the spectrum of creative people.
We still have a long way to go, and this is not due to a lack of stories or a scarcity of creators and makers of drama and art, God forbid, but because of the dominance of those who do not deserve them over those who deserve… and that is a new old complaint, O God protect you.
