The Plight of Women in Egyptian Cinema (1940s- 1960s) Marisa Farrugia Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy The University of Leeds Department of Arabic and Nliddle Eastern Studies September 2002 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where referencehas been made to the work of others This copy hasbeen supplied on theunderstanding that it is copyrightmaterial and that no quotationfrom the thesismay be publishedwithout properacknowledgement I dedicatethis work to my husband George and my late parents in gratitudefor their unparalleledlove, patience, support and wisdom. Acknowledgments The research and fieldwork of this thesis span over a period of seven years in different countries, and, I am truly indebted to numerous people and institutions for their help. First and foremost, my deep and sincere thanks go to my supervisor Dr. Zahia Salhi, who stood by me in times of dire need and gladly accepted to supervise my work, when my previous supervisor abdicated his responsibility at the most critical stage of the thesis. Through her continuous help, patience, understanding and valuable comments, Dr. Salhi was instrumental in ensuring that this thesis would be completed in the stipulated time. I would also like to thank my colleague at the University of Malta Professor Lydia Sciriha, who read the manuscript and helped me to improve it and whose insights enriched my way of thinking. Special thanks are due to my Egyptian friend Mona Al-Nammoury, who meticulously prepared a list of resources, centres and institutions for me to consult and visit during my four months of fieldwork in Cairo in 1995 and 1996, and who even arranged for the face to face interviews with film directors, producers, and film critics. She always opened up new doors for me during my fieldwork in Cairo. In addition, I would like to thank all membersof the Department of Arabic & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Leeds for their assistance and friendlinessduring my study. I am alsogreatly indebted to the staff at the libraries of the University of Leeds,Robarts Library at University of Toronto, The British Film Institute in London, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the UNESCO Library in iii Paris, Cairo University, the American University in Cairo, La M6diatheque-Centre Frangais de Culture et de Cooperation in Cairo, The British Council Library in Cairo, Egyptian Cinema Cultural Centre in Cairo, the Higher Cinema Institute in Cairo, the Cairo Audio-Visual Centre,the Catholic CinemaCentre in Cairo, and the National Film Archives in Cairo, particularly those working in the reference section. I am also grateful to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and Information, the Cairo Film Societyand StudioMisr for their supportand co-operation during my fieldwork in Cairo. Finally, a specialnote of thanksand gratitudegoes to my belovedhusband George, for his unstinting support,patience, and encouragement,and for proof reading and setting up the electronicformat of this entire work. Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to my feline friends, whose loyalty and unconditional love during the write-up stageof this work helpedto boostmy morale. Marisa Farrugia iv ABSTRACT It has been suggested that the period between the 1940s and the 1960s was 'the golden age' of Egyptian cinema -a period of growth, innovation and popularity. The aim of this research is to focus on the plight of Egyptian women in selected long feature films of this period, and how this -wasrealistically representedon the screen. It was a daunting task for the present researcher to embark on such controversial gender issues, especially from a westemer's perspective on a Muslim Arab society. But the researcher's determination and sense of duty to investigate and expose the hardships of Egyptian womenfolk through films, managed to overcome that feeling of trepidation, together with the tremendous support of her advisor Dr. Zahia Salhi. This study begins by tracing the historical development of Egyptian cinema and the important role played by female pioneers in the newly emergent film industry, whereby an assessmentof the role of these pioneers is also considered. This leads to an analysis of the status of the Egyptian woman within her socio-historical and cultural contexts that are essential for the identification of gender based representational strategies in these films. The research reviews major film theories related to representation, communication and gender issues, and how films as products of their creators, are connectedto the social, economic, political and cultural backgroundsof a given time andplace. In additionto thesefilm theories,the study recommendsa textual variation approachfor film analysis,for those films basedon literary texts that have been adaptedto the screen. The textual variation approachlooks for the ways in which the film director modifies the original text when it is adaptedinto a film. The aim behind the textual variation approachis to V understand the function of the dominant theme in both literary text and film, and scrutinise its visible or latent realistic meanings vis ii vis the structures of thought which dominated the Egyptian society of the 1940s to the 1960s. It is these structures of thought that impose on the film-makers the textual variations from novel to film. The difference in the time period when the novel was written is comparedwith the period when the film was producedin order to assessthe present social dominantideologies or the shifting values. Thus, the time dimensionfactor, together with the film-makers' own views, help us determine the internal expectationsof the Egyptian society and the realistic plight of its womenfolk. To bring the concept of textual variation into application, three film case studiesare considered,the findings of which demonstratethat when textual variationsor total adherenceto the novel were involved, dominantideologies were either reaffirmed, shifted or evolvedaccording to the em of the film production. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abstract v List of Tables x List of Figures x List of Appendices x Transliteration Scheme xi Introduction 1 Egyptian Cinema 8 Chapter One - The Rise and Development of 1.0 Introduction 8 1.1 The invention of cinema 8 1.2 Cinematographicprojections in Egypt 11 1.3 The first cinema theatres 12 1.4 The birth of Egyptian cinema and the foreign influence 14 1.5 Early debuts 17 1.6 Short feature film productions 20 1.7 The Silent era and its precursors (1926-1931) 24 1.8 The birth of the Egyptian sound film 33 1.9 Studio Misr and other studios 40 1.10 The birth of Realism 43 1.11 Egyptian cinema during and after World War 11 46 1.12 The 1952 Revolution and the call for a committed cinema 49 1.13 Conclusion 57 from historical, Chapter Two - The Egyptian Feminist Movement social and legal perspectives 62 2.0 Historical perspectives 62 2.1 Socialand traditional perspectives 72 2.2 The socialand legal statusof Muslim women 83 Chapter Three - Women and the Egyptian Cinema 95 3.0 Introduction 95 3.1 Aziza Amir (1901-1952) 98 3.2 Assya Dagher (1908-1986) 103 3.3 Bahija Hafez (1908-1983) 107 3.4 Conclusion ill vii Chapter Four - Feature Films as Reality 115 4.0 Introduction 115 4.1 The film text and its role 115 4.2 The pioneers of Realism 117 4.3 Ferro's film analysis 119 4.4 The representativetheory 121 4.5 The content analysisapproach 128 4.6 Fantasy and reality 132 4.7 The communication theory 135 4.8 Analogy and interpretation of film-meaning 142 4.9 The language and culture of the image 143 4.10 Binary-Opposition theory 143 4.11 The narrative as a social product 146 4.12 The film reality 148 4.13 Statement of Thesis 152 4.14 Textual Variation Theory 153 4.15 The gender issuein Egyptian popular films 154 4.16 Conclusion 156 Chapter Five - Film analysis: Honour Killings in The Call of the Curlew 160 5.0 Introduction: The plight of women as representedin films 160 5.1 Analysis of The Call of the Curlew 162 5.2 Variations from the novel to film 166 5.3 Dominant social ideologies 174 5.4 Honour and virginity 175 5.5 Honour killings or crimes of honour 176 5.6 The moral and social order of Egyptian women 177 5.7 The charactersof Hanadi and Amna 181 Chapter Six - The plight of women in The Open Door 187 6.0 Introduction 187 6.1 Analysis of The Open Door 188 6.2 The Film 201 6.3 Variations from novel to film 202 6.4 Dominant social ideologies 214 6.5 Conclusion 228 Chapter Seven - Woman's Oppression in The Beginning and the End 230 7.0 Introduction 230 7.1 The setting of the novel 231 7.2 The Film 250 7.3 Film closure and the triumph of morale with a tragedy 262 Vill 7.4 Conclusion 263 Chapter Eight - Conclusion 267 Bibliography 279 Appendices 299 ix List of Tables 1.1 Some representative examples of early public screenings around the world 10 5.1 Variation of novel to film 170 6.1 Film variations related to the plight of women 212 6.2 Characters: a comparison between novel and film 226 List of Figures 4.1 Artistic expression 123 4.2 Ferro's representative theory of reality 126 4.3 Film messagein content analysis 129 4.4 Film conventions and their meaning 137 4.5 Binary opposites 145 4.6 Textual variation theory 153 4.7 Reproduction of patriarchal stereotypical image of women 154 List of Appendices Appendix 1- Film details and synopsis 299 Appendix 2 -Filmography 305 x Transliteration System The Library of Congress (LC) system of transliteration has been followed with regard to the namesof Arabic films, Arabic sourcesand their authors, and Arabic expressions.Renowned names of Arab film directors,actresses, or famousEgyptian novelists are not transcribed, but given as commonly cited and known.