The cultural history of an intensely theocratic desert kingdom acquired a new dimension last Wednesday when Saudi Arabia allowed the screening of the first film in nearly 35 years. Of course this is part of the easing of restrictions in a conservative ~ almost feudalistic ~ swathe of the world, and can be contextualised with the permission granted to women to drive, unescorted by a male member of the family.
In parallel, the lifting of the long-standing ban on cinemas does signify a new chapter. The gala screening of Black Panther in Riyadh on 18 April reinforces the liberal winds that have been blowing across the desert sands, under the relatively liberal influence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his dramatic social and economic reforms coupled with the resolve to reduce the dependence on oil revenues.
Indeed, the celebratory grandstanding in Riyadh was marked by the distribution of soft drinks in the country’s first movie theatre. This was inconceivable till Salman was designated as the next-in-line to step into the palace. In large measure, the conservative mores are increasingly being jettisoned, and the revival of the cinema is integral to the deal concluded with the US theatre chain, AMC.
The agreement provides for the opening of 40 cinema halls in Saudi cities over the next five years. Not that the cinema has always been a strict “no-no” in the kingdom; it bears recall that there were cinema halls in the 1970s before these were closed down by the dominant clerics in the face of the rising Islamist tide.
To serve a population of more than 32 million, the majority of whom are under 30, Saudi Arabia wants to set up around 350 cinemas with over 2,500 screens by 2030. This, it hopes, will attract nearly $1 billion in annual box-office sales. Aside from the cultural resurgence, the compulsion is no less economic.
The screening at a converted theatre in the financial district of the capital was a test-run for cinemas to open this month, and is one of the measures to give an impetus to the entertainment industry ~ an anathema in a theocratic land till not too long ago. Crown Prince Salman has been explicit on his signal of intent, i.e. that he wants to make entertainment a “pillar industry of economic reforms”.
Not wholly unrelated is his resolve to helm what he calls a “normal country observing moderate Islam… instead of one dominated by the conservative Salafist ideology”.
Closely interlinked to the liberal winds blowing has been the announcement that there will be no segregation in the auditorium; the audience will be allowed to “choose between male-only, female-only and mixed screenings”.
On a parity of reasoning, the world would expect a fair dose of liberalism in the matter of trial and punishment as well which, even in the 21st century, is medieval, almost barbaric.