By Sahar Abushaheen
THERE has been a big hue and cry against the opening of cinema houses in the Kingdom. The General Authority for Entertainment has stated that studies were underway to issue licenses to cinema houses, giving hope to people who are fond of going to the cinema. The authority abruptly withdrew the announcement and said the matter has been postponed for an unspecified period.
Personally, opening cinema houses would not make any difference to me. Being a resident of the Eastern Province, I have got the privilege of visiting Bahrain quite often. I visit Manama once or twice in a month where cinema houses are filled with Saudis. I think many of these cinema houses would have been shut down if Saudis had not visited them.
I have also watched films at cinema houses in Dhahran and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Jeddah. My father works in Dhahran while a relative stays at KAUST. I could not find any justifiable reason for preventing cinema houses in our country. People sit in their seats attentively as their main objective is to have some relaxation, nothing more.
Most Saudis watch films on their computers and TV screens on a daily basis and they know from which website they can download them. Moreover, in every Saudi city there are video shops where copies of Hollywood films are sold without removing any scenes. Nobody has raised any objection against these videos and opponents do not consider such shop owners and customers as corrupt.
But when the poor entertainment authority decided to license cinema houses in the Kingdom as part of its duty and decided to merge small screens with big ones and bring together film watchers and monitor films on display, many went against the authority and declared that it would lead to corruption. Is it because of the size of the screen? According to their logic, films can be watched on small screens not on big screens. Are they opposing gathering of film lovers?
There will not be any use in telling opponents about the benefits of watching films and its role in sending big message to a large number of people. Even if it’s for laughter it serves a big purpose. Cinema houses will be established following specific conditions. It will open new job opportunities for Saudis. It’s the right of people to relax after working hard throughout the week.
Watching films at cinema houses will lead to Saudis entering the film industry. But for opponents, all these things have no meaning. Although some of them have watched more than 30 films in a month they consider cinema houses as large bedrooms showing romance.
I believe that the objection is not against cinema houses but against Saudis enjoying their life. For them Saudis have to lead an ascetic life because this worldly life will end sooner or later and they should spend days and nights in prayer, worship, fasting and etikaf (stay at mosque for worship and meditation), eat when hungry and drink to quench thirst…until death.
The irony is that we oppose opening of cinema houses in the Kingdom. At the same time when we go abroad we compete with each another in visiting cinema houses with families for entertainment. We prevent our women from driving and when they go abroad they get license and drive cars. Many of our film artists had to go abroad to prove their skills and get recognition.
It is high time we get rid of this hypocrisy and double standard and show our real face and identity so that people can recognize us easily seeing our identity. We don’t want to hear that bewildering question: Are you coming from a different planet?
