“Dancers and Killers”.. Dr. Reem Arnouk attacks the Syrian Ramadan 2024 series

There is no doubt that Syrian series achieve interaction at the level of the Arab world every Ramadan season, due to the prowess of our artists and the strength of their performances. However, this year, the drama of the season was criticized by the Syrians, who consider that the stories do not express their societal reality, and some also expressed their anger towards “violence.” And the "bloody" that appeared in some series, and others criticized several works, considering them to contain "moral decline."

Many Syrians rejected the fact that some works do not carry a message, but rather deliberately highlight “bullying” and “promiscuity.” Of course, there are works that carry messages that the audience praised, such as the series “Close Your Eyes” and “Taj,” for example, but on the other hand, other series entered the genre. The trial cage was rejected by the public and controversy arose around it.

Dr. Reem Arnouk criticizes the drama “Bullying” Dr. Reem Arnouk, an obstetrician and gynecologist, criticized the phenomenon widespread in Syrian soap operas this year, regarding the spread of “dancers,” as she described it, in Syrian soap operas, without carrying a message.

The doctor posted on her Facebook account a long analysis of the series she watched and found that they did not reflect Syrian society. She said, “I am very sorry for publishing such a picture... for such a topic... on such a blessed day... in such a holy month... but... Someone must finally say something.....It is very clear and very clear that what is happening on our screens has become horribly: unreasonable, unacceptable, uncontrollable, and unacceptable......So my advice to you is: And so that public opinion does not get angry with you, which is being led categorically behind these crimes against our minds, our culture, and our spirituality... do not share the post (do not believe me... share it as much as you can).”

The doctor, who is followed by 355,000 activists, continued on her Facebook page, “Our topic today is about dancers... What is this, guys? Is this country full of dancers or what??? There are no respectable women who are heroines of soap opera stories or what???? On the basis of Ramadan, the holy month, open days, obedience and fasting???!!! What brought dancing to Ramadan??? Who actually came? Dancing for Ramadan???? This Ramadan of our year came under the title: Long live the Syrian woman dancer... The heroines of the stories of our Syrian dramas are dancers... Dancers who eat their bread from the sweat of their waists and buttocks... Dancers who meet after an absence of years to restore their friendship.. ...And if our heroines are dancers... then certainly the scenes take place in cabaret.”

Reem Arnouk enumerates the negatives of Syrian series this year She added that the serials include cabaret, dancers, accompanying thugs, and horrific excessive violence, in addition to hanging animals, digging up graves, burning people in their homes, being homeless on the streets, harassing homeless women, and finding children in garbage containers... She asked with disapproval, “By God Almighty, answer me: What is the percentage of female dancers in our Syrian society??? What is the percentage of homeless women in Syrian society??? What is the percentage of newborn children who are thrown in garbage containers???? What is the percentage of these in our societies so that we can produce They have dramatic works, the real percentage, and I am a gynecologist who is familiar with society, its bottom, and its middle class, and I know people well and I know what I am talking about. The real percentage is 0.001%. Do the characters who represent 0.001% of our Syrian society deserve to have 100% of our Syrian dramatic works revolve around them? . She added, "Some will answer me that these characters are realistic and they exist in our society... That's right... These characters and events are realistic... But do they represent the majority of society??? With its problems, its concerns, its suffering, its spiritual, psychological, and emotional crises, Material, economic, social??? That is the important question that needs an honest, transparent, and reconciled answer with oneself... Example: A forty-year-old woman visited me once in my clinic with her 18-year-old daughter, the bride... and the complaint is The pregnancy was delayed even though a year had passed since the girl’s marriage. The woman was a widow, and her daughter and son-in-law were residing in her house. I asked the girl and her young husband for some tests. When the girl’s mother brought the results of the tests and she was alone, I felt confused. And she continued to talk... Look, what's wrong??? She told me that she thought that the reason behind her daughter not getting pregnant was: the lack of intercourse between the young couple... and that the reason behind the lack of intercourse between her daughter and her son-in-law... What is it, I guess??? The reason is that the young son-in-law has a full and fulfilling relationship with his forty-year-old mother-in-law, as she is a much more expert in sex matters than her naive daughter, who is not yet 18 years old.”

She continued, “Okay, let us repeat the question: In your opinion, my friends and girlfriends... What is the percentage of mothers-in-law who have sexual relations with their daughters’ husbands??? And is that small percentage worthy of us writing a dramatic work about it, producing it for hundreds of millions of liras, and showing it to hundreds of millions of people?” - Including children and during Ramadan - claiming that sinful relationships and incest are real matters???!!! Wouldn’t that give the impression that these sins are widespread and common and represent Syrian society???!!! And if we present sinful relationships as common, widespread and normal. ..Won't this encourage weak souls to imitate their heroes and heroines and commit crimes???

Reem Arnouk launches a fierce attack on the makers She said, “What do Syrian drama makers want to plant in our minds behind such drama? The message that whoever does not eat her bread from the sweat of her thighs... must eat it from the rubbish, and pick the children out of the rubbish, and raise them so that in the future they will become better dancers than their mothers, not eating from the rubbish, but from the point of the legs in cabarets???? Is this? Is this the message that the drama makers want to plant in our minds??? Are those immoral and morally reckless characters among women, or violent, morally absent men...the role models for our young men and women in the next stage???Whoever wants to succeed...follow her body. In the cabaret... and whoever wants to succeed... let him steal, kill or burn others... She explained the nature of the work she hopes for, “Oh, what did you do, makers of fallen drama that does not represent us..... Yes, yes... As you heard... Your drama does not represent us, the Syrians... And the money you make from drama that distorts society is like you.” Forbidden for forbidden.... There are a thousand and thousand social specimens in Syria whose story, suffering, and solutions to get out of suffering deserve to be written more than the legs of your dancers and the testicles of your thugs.... 50% of Syrian families lose their sons and daughters due to immigration and alienation.... Why don’t you write about that? ??! About the suffering of parents whose children have left abroad??!!! 70% of Syrian immigrant youth suffer from profound psychological problems, most notably depression and difficulty integrating.. Are these people not worth writing about??? 30% of the women of Syrian society have turned into The sole breadwinner for the family due to the absence of the husband through death or travel.... This means that 30% of Syrian families miss the father, and the mother must play the role of father and mother together.... Isn’t that a tiring dilemma that must be presented to people and tried to deal with it in the best possible way?? ?!!

She added, "How I wish I could write a series of 1,000 episodes about what happens to us in hospitals: the difficulties, the tension, the fear of our patient losing his life, the happy and sad stories, the incredible miracles of healing, the staying up late, the fatigue, the successes and failures... Our stories and the stories of our patients.... In America, there are 100 series about the diaries of doctors in hospitals... 1,000 series about the police, pursuing criminals, and tracking evidence... 10,000 series about ordinary families that are similar to us, their problems that are similar to ours, and their crises that are similar to ours... I did not find a series. American, one of only 10 episodes tells the story of a stripper, for example.”

She concluded, "Frankly, it is not the frequency of these suspicious dramas, with their suspicious goals, and their suspicious characters, including dancers and thugs, by innocent coincidence... The topic is carefully thought out and planned... Look for someone who pays the wages of the dancers to shake their waists, and the thugs to practice deadly violence on our screens... You find the motive behind distorting our drama and our society....The motive is found in the wage payer.”