By Mohammed Abdulfattah
Islam Online, Cairo

There is no doubt that cinema has a great role to play in societal life. There is also no doubt about the importance of freedom for artists, innovators and movie producers. This short essay deals with the impact of foreign funding on the nature of movie production, particularly in the Arab-Islamic world, but generally in the Third World as well.

Cinema has been used since its advent as an instrument in the hands of governments to spread different types of messages. Therefore, cinema's role in social affairs has become normal. Cinema produces movies with religious, social, political, scientific and economic messages. It was used effectively by colonial powers and superpowers to propagate their views, ideologies and cultures. Germany, Italy, Russia, France, Norway, Sweden and other colonial powers used it to expand their influence and spread their views on a global scale.

However, the developments that have occurred in the past 50 years have led to American domination of world cinema, while traditional colonial producers kept their pace of production with the same colonial message. Therefore, cinema production was revolutionized, with its audience reaching global proportions.

Accordingly, the role of cinema in world politics has grown tremendously. It has become the most effective instrument of cultural invasion, which has also replaced the old types of colonialism. Tanks and rockets no longer carry out colonization, but the colonial interests are carried out through cinema, satellite TV and media such as the American Cinema.

The American Cinema has dominated world production for the past 50 years. Its stories, scenarios and magic have captivated people's minds around the globe. It was used as an effective instrument of cultural brainwashing, uprooting and domination. It was used to spread political, social, economic, cultural, religious and other various types of messages and lifestyles based on the values of the American society.

It has become an instrument to demonize some cultures and nations, such as the use of cinema by Zionists to demonize Arabs and present Israelis as victims of Arab and Muslim terrorism. Their suffering was exaggerated while real tragedies and suffering of Palestinians were downsized and neglected. In fact, the suffering of the people in the Third World in general has been neglected for a long time.

Hollywood, which is penetrated by special interests, has distorted nations histories and cultural traditions. For instance, the "Egyptian Prince," portrayed Egyptians as Nazis of old ages, while it portrayed the Jews as unfairly treated and exterminated by the Egyptians. Thousands of movies designed by the Western-colonial producing companies have the same message, with their goals focusing on an attack to the very cultural, religious, social and economic structures of the Third World. This is New Colonialism and its new methods of occupation.

This new Colonial Cinema has used John Foster Dulles's method of "Vietnamization" of the war (i.e., make Vietnamese fight each other on behalf of America and the west) very effectively. In the world of cinema, the approach was implemented literally. Therefore, instead of producing movies by western producers, now the approach is educating, training and funding young producers from the Arab and Islamic countries to produce movies in their own languages, but with western views and contexts. There are many such very controversial movies in the Arab World, such as the Lebanese-produced "Modern Women," which was produced by a female Lebanese producer with French funding. The movie attacks the values of Arab-Islamic societies.

Two other examples are those produced by Egyptian producers Yousef Shahin and Yusri Nasrullah. For example, Shahin produced a movie on the Arab-Islamic rule of Spain called "Destiny," which was financially supported by French financial sources. The goal was to distort the contribution made by Arabs and Muslims to world civilization. Shahin portrayed Arab-Islamic rule as "a burial to all liberal thinking." Nasrullah is a producer that sees the only reason for Egypt's problems is its revolution.

The danger in this type of production is the fact that it speaks the same language and uses the same cultural expressions. However, it has an alien message that attacks the very foundations of society. Religious, cultural and national symbols all have been ridiculed by westernized producers and financially supported by the west in its cultural attack on Arabs and Muslims. The same can be said about other nations, cultures and religions. They have been exposed to a western campaign that seeks to dismantle cultures and religions by forcing the world to subscribe to western views and styles of living.

To conclude, western support of such movies is unethical. It does not seek to support innovation, but rather seeks to continue its colonization and spread its cultures. The same message has continuously been spread for over the past three centuries, with different methods. I warn my fellow Muslims, Arabs and people of the Third World to be careful and pay special attention to their cultural heritage. After all, truth will prevail