The Arab Child Between Arabization and Westernization

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Who is the ideal figure for the Arab child? Who is his favorite hero? Who is his or her favorite singer or actor? You rarely find an Arab figure among these, with rare exceptions. All the cartoon, cinematic, or television characters our children become attached to are Western figures. Do our children know anyone besides Superman, Batman, Zorro, the Fantastic Four, Kim Possible, Tarzan, the Lion King, Action Man, the Incredibles, the Ninja Turtles, Digimon, the Hulk, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, and others? Try walking into any toy store, and you will not see a single Arab toy.

What is dangerous about this is that the companies releasing these American cinematic, cartoon, and television icons are extremely skilled in their design and promotion, so that a child becomes attached to their web at astonishing speed. If you bought your child a “Spider-Man” toy every day, he would never tire of it, and would keep asking for more. Even very young children, no older than two, show unparalleled interest in the toys these film companies release to promote their heroes like Batman and Spider-Man. I have often wondered: what makes a child in his second year become so terribly fascinated by these cinematic and television characters? I have noticed a child beginning to scream and wave his hands, since he cannot yet speak, to catch his mother’s or father’s attention so they would bring him the toy at the mall. This fascination with these characters has reached the point that our children try to imitate them at home, climbing onto the sofa and jumping off in “Spider-Man” fashion, or trying to imitate his flying. I have been astonished more than once to see a child no older than a year and a half sit and watch Batman and Spider-Man films from beginning to end, and then try to make sounds and “fly” like them. I do not know how our cultures can compete with these formidable companies for our children’s minds, especially since they are also allied with well-known Western food and drink companies that offer children meals accompanied by gifts — toys and figurines of famous American characters.

If we look at the toys young Arab girls are drawn to, we find that most are obsessively attached to the famous “Bratz,” “Barbie,” and “My Scene” dolls.

These are figurines of beautiful girls, of which the manufacturing companies sell millions of pieces daily at exorbitant prices. It is true that one Arab company released an Arab, veiled doll called “Fulla” to compete with the American models, and it succeeded to some extent, but I was quite surprised to see some Arab schoolgirls mock the Arab “Fulla,” rushing instead to acquire the Western models, of which the companies produce dozens of versions and various forms for each one. Looking through the dolls my daughter’s Arab friends own, for example, I found they were all Western, with not a single Arab “Fulla” among them.

Our new generations’ fascination with American cartoon characters and dolls is not limited to that — it extends to every component of American culture, from singers and artists to actors. Some time ago I was chatting with a group of Arab schoolboys and schoolgirls at a school, and I asked one of the girls to sing a quick song, and she immediately sang a song by the American singer Lindsay Lohan. I asked her, don’t you know any songs by Arab singers? She said: “I do not care, I’m not interested in them.” The same applies to the actresses, films, and television programs the girls follow. And I hope no one tells me there are many Arab singers Arab girls are attached to — that is true, but they pose a greater danger to the rising generation than Western singers in terms of “Westernization” and imitation, since they outdo the American singers in everything, to the point that you find yourself longing for the relative modesty of Britney Spears and Shakira.

If we look at the television channels aimed at children on satellite or cable, we find that most of them are also American, and children follow them with unparalleled enthusiasm. As for the Arab channels dedicated to children, they do not enjoy much viewership, especially since some of them simply translate and dub American films, series, and programs into Arabic. What good is it if our children’s channels are carrying out the process of Westernization on behalf of Westerners themselves, without trying to create a distinctly Arab television culture that draws Arab children to it? Not to mention the children who prefer to watch Western programs without translation, especially since most of them are more fluent in English than in Arabic.

The programs aimed at children in our Arab media do not differ from the rest of the programming — if the news, artistic, and entertainment programs flooding our televisions are all drawn from Western media and programming culture, children’s programs cannot be an exception to the rule, especially since we have no television programming heritage to draw upon, not to mention that the wonderful old attempts to establish an Arab television culture for children have evaporated, even though some series like “Iftah Ya Simsim” (the Arabic Sesame Street) received unparalleled attention from child audiences from the Atlantic to the Gulf. But it seems we lean toward taking the easy path and imitation rather than media creativity.

With the spread of electronic gaming devices like PlayStation and Game Boy and others, our children’s attachment to Western culture has been further entrenched, since all the games’ heroes and characters are Western, especially since the companies manufacturing these games exploited American television and cinematic characters and icons and turned them into electronic games, such as Batman, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Star Wars, and Superman.

For heaven’s sake, point me to a single Arab electronic game! There is none at all — so how can we manufacture and design electronic games when we are still living in a pre-industrial age?

More dangerous still, a large portion of Arab children who study at Western schools in our countries are forbidden from studying Arab and Islamic history, and instead learn Western history, and so have no opportunity to learn about the symbols, heroes, and components of the Arab and Islamic civilizations. For this reason, we will graduate tens of millions of young men and women ignorant of the facts of Arab and Islamic history, and consequently detached from their original roots.

What makes matters even more dangerous is that some Arab countries are no longer interested in teaching general Arab and Islamic history even in their own Arab schools, replacing it with the teaching of each country’s local history, which will deprive millions of pupils and students of the chance to learn about shining Arab and Islamic role models, to emulate them and draw inspiration from their figures instead of drawing inspiration from Western historical figures or modern cinematic ones like Zorro and Batman. Do not be surprised if you soon read that the great historical figure Saladin al-Ayyubi was a major terrorist.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الطفل العربي بين التعريب والتغريب” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.