Serial depicts tour guides in “unfavorable light
CAIRO: The Tourist Guides Union has filed complaints against the producers of TV serial Nour El-Sabah, which is currently being aired on national TV. Mohamed Gharib, union head, accuses the serial of defaming the profession he represents.
The serial, which follows the title character’s personal life and career as a tourist guide, has been accused of presenting a defamatory image of tourist guides. According to reports, Gharib found the scenes in which lead actress Laila Elwi shares a group dance with a number of tourists and smokes shisha degrading to the profession. The character – a frivolous divorcee – appears driving a minibus, which is strictly against union regulations, he told news agency AFP.
These are but a few examples of what Gharib and other union members have found objectionable in the series. In an interview with local papers, Gharib said Elwi presents an unrealistic image of a tourist guide, an image closer to prostitution. He added that Elwi makes the job look like entertainment and not the hard work it is.
Walid El-Batouty, union vice president, stresses that they have nothing against Elwi but they have problems with the script.
The serial s scriptwriter, Magdy Saber, explains that drama isn t required to display all people of all professions as saints or role models. Even if it was a defamatory model, which is not the case, he doesn t have the right to object, says Saber in an interview with The Daily Star Egypt.
Saber gives the example of the screen portrayal of some members of the parliament as corrupt or even drug dealers. Although the parliament is one of the top authorities, he continues, such televised and cinematic portrayals haven t sparked it to demand the ban of any production.
Gharib, who has presented complaints to the Ministries of Information, Tourism and Interior, has demanded the insulting scenes be cut from the serial. El-Batouty, who also serves as the area representative for the World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations, says tourist guides do an unbelievable job to represent Egypt in the best way. Tourist guides are not perfect, he explains, saying there are the good and the bad, but they don t deserve to be presented as the serial does.
Saber expressed his surprise at such demands. Objecting is one thing – it is an undisputable right – but demanding a ban is another.
Is this a new type of enforcing censorship? is a question that Saber has asked repeatedly.
Gharib, however, says that the freedom of expression that the producers defend doesn t mean insulting others. He cites numerous cases in which female tourist guides have faced problems related to a change in public perception of the morality of the profession after the serial. The cases include harassment and children questioning their mothers if they do what Elwi does with tourists.
Gharib, who refuted the claims that have haunted them since he filed the complaints accusing him of seeking fame and publicity, told The Daily Star Egypt that his efforts are nothing but a call to warn people against believing the image of tourist guides presented in the serial.
Earlier, he had told news agency AFP that if the government fails to intervene, legal action would be taken against the series writer and director who, in any case, should first of all have consulted the profession.
In response, Saber wonders if Gharib wants the serial to be a brochure for the syndicate. Saber adds that Gharib is trying to make a problem out of nothing. He expects, if the matter is taken to court, that the ruling would be along the same lines, since there is nothing to complain about.
Saber cites the reaction of both the information and tourism ministries to the complaints Gharib has filed. So far the information ministry hasn t changed its stance towards the serial, which, according to Saber got excellent recommendations from the viewing committee. It hasn t been taken off the air. As for the tourism ministry, it has placed ads in the serial to promote its campaigns.
Saber stresses that the serial presents an excellent image for tourism and its professionals. The title character, he adds, is an ideal model for the Egyptian woman. He cites the praise the production has received for its contribution to tourism and presenting an admirable model of an Egyptian career woman.
This type of dispute is not a first in TV or cinema history and is definitely not the only one plaguing the Ramadan TV season. Families of famous deceased figures have threatened to sue producers of biographical TV serials Al-Andaleeb (The Nightingale), following the life of singer Abdel Halim Hafez, and El-Cinderella, which narrates the story of actress Soad Hosny. The families say their relatives, whether fathers, mothers, siblings, uncles or aunts, are shown in a bad light in these serials.
