The Egyptian Military in Popular Culture: Context and Critique

152 Pages·2017·1.606 MB·English

by  Dalia Said Mostafa (auth.)

The
Egyptian
Military
in Popular
Culture
Context and Critique
DALIA SAID MOSTAFA
The Egyptian Military in Popular Culture
Dalia   Said   Mostafa
The Egyptian Military
in Popular Culture
Context and Critique
Dalia   Said   Mostafa
University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom
ISBN 978-1-137-59371-9 ISBN 978-1-137-59372-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59372-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956558
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 017
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To the young Egyptian activists who are unlawfully jailed in military
prisons and who continue to believe in the just demands of the 2011 January
Revolution.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks go to the Palgrave Macmillan team and the external reviewer
for their invaluable advice throughout the writing and editing processes.
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction: Multi-Layered Images
of the Egyptian Army in Popular Culture 1
Introduction 1
Some General Characteristics of Egyptian Popular Culture 6
The Signifi cance of the Military Figure
in Egyptian Popular Culture 8
The Early Formations of the Egyptian
Army and Ideas of Nationhood 1 0
This Book 15
Notes 18
Bibliography 19
2 Popular Images of Army Offi cers and Freedom Fighters
as National Heroes in the 1950s and 1960s 23
Introduction 2 3
Cinema as a Site for Articulating the Popular
Image of the Military Hero in the Aftermath
of the 1952 Revolution 2 5
Multiple Representations of the Patriotic
Freedom Fighter in Literature and Cinema 3 1
The Military Figure in Comedy: Ismail Yassin’s Films 42
Nasser in Abdel Halim Hafez’s Nationalist Songs 46
Notes 51
Bibliography 5 2
ix
x CONTENTS
3 Various Representations of the Martyred Soldier
in the 1967 June War and the Victorious Hero
in the 1973 October War 53
Introduction 5 3
An Overview of the Impact of the 1967 June
Defeat on Culture 5 6
A Critique of the 1967 June War Defeat in Film 6 1
Counter-Narratives of the Military Figure
in Literature, Film and Song 7 3
The National Bond between the Army
and the People Rekindled in Popular Culture
after the 1973 October War Victory 8 4
Notes 90
Bibliography 91
4 Transformation of the Popular War
Hero’s Image under Mubarak and the Commencement
of the 2011 January Revolution 9 3
Introduction 9 3
The Army’s Economic Outreach under Mubarak 9 4
Corruption and Greed Overshadow the October
War Hero’s Role in Film 1 00
Disturbing the Popular Image of the Heroic
Army Offi cer in Atef al-Tayyeb’s Film a l-Barei’
(T he Innocent) 105
The Patriotic Intelligence Offi cer in Two Popular
TV Drama Series 1 09
The Contested Image of the Military Figure during
and after 25 January 2011 1 15
The Undoing of the Revolutionary Discourse
and the ‘Legitimisation’ of the Counter-R evolution
with Sisi’s Presidency 1 24
Notes 128
Bibliography 130
CONTENTS xi
5 Conclusion 133
Filmography 135
Songography 139
Index 141
L F
IST OF IGURES
Fig. 4.1 Picture taken by the author—Tahrir Square, 1 February 2011 118
Fig. 4.2 Picture taken by the author—A street graffi ti image painted
on the walls of Ittihadiyya Presidential Palace
(Heliopolis, December 2012) 119
Fig. 4.3 Picture taken by the author—A street graffi ti image painted
on the walls of the American University in Cairo
(Mohammed Mahmoud Street, December 2012) 123
Fig. 4.4 Picture taken by the author—A street graffi ti image painted
on the walls opposite the Ittihadiyya Presidential Palace
(Heliopolis, December 2012) This graffi ti
is dedicated to the ‘martyr’ of the 2011 Revolution.
The banner at the top reads as ‘FREEDOM’,
and the phrase at the bottom with question
and exclamation marks reads as ‘the rights
of the martyrs?!!’ 127
xiii