Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010

This research examines the framing of poverty in Egyptian film productions during a 55-year period from 1955 to 2010. It uses a qualitative analysis to identify and analyze main characters depicted to be poor in films produced under three political eras; Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar El Sadat, and Hosny...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2023
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613421841678336
access_status_str Open Access
author Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
author_browse Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
author_facet Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
author_sort Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
collection Thesis
description This research examines the framing of poverty in Egyptian film productions during a 55-year period from 1955 to 2010. It uses a qualitative analysis to identify and analyze main characters depicted to be poor in films produced under three political eras; Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar El Sadat, and Hosny Mubarak. It analyzes the frequency of featuring poor characters and whether the depiction of poor people was favorable or unfavorable based on three constructs; accountability of poverty, heroism, and honesty. Out of 41 main characters studied, 22 were found to be poor, with Nasser's era witnessing the highest representation of poverty. Most characters were also found to be accountable for their own poverty, indicating an overall tendency to depict poverty as the responsibility of the poor, not due to structural, social and economic inequalities caused by public policies, except under Nasser’s regime. Eight characters were depicted as heroes, while six were depicted as villains, possibly indicating a tendency to glorify poverty and promote the heroic poor image as opposed to the troublesome, evil poor. In contrast, 13 characters were depicted to be dishonest, while six characters were depicted to be honest. The study concludes that poverty was overrepresented under Nasser’s regime, indicating higher prominence for poorer character during the socialist era than the following neo-liberal eras under Mubarak and Sadat. It also found that unlike other regimes, under Nasser, the poor were found to be unaccountable for their poverty, and so worthy of state support. Films during that era also glorified poor characters as heroes and villainized richer characters.
format Thesis
id oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2996
institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:53.165Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher AUC Knowledge Fountain
publisherStr AUC Knowledge Fountain
record_format dspace
source_str AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2996 Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010 Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil This research examines the framing of poverty in Egyptian film productions during a 55-year period from 1955 to 2010. It uses a qualitative analysis to identify and analyze main characters depicted to be poor in films produced under three political eras; Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar El Sadat, and Hosny Mubarak. It analyzes the frequency of featuring poor characters and whether the depiction of poor people was favorable or unfavorable based on three constructs; accountability of poverty, heroism, and honesty. Out of 41 main characters studied, 22 were found to be poor, with Nasser's era witnessing the highest representation of poverty. Most characters were also found to be accountable for their own poverty, indicating an overall tendency to depict poverty as the responsibility of the poor, not due to structural, social and economic inequalities caused by public policies, except under Nasser’s regime. Eight characters were depicted as heroes, while six were depicted as villains, possibly indicating a tendency to glorify poverty and promote the heroic poor image as opposed to the troublesome, evil poor. In contrast, 13 characters were depicted to be dishonest, while six characters were depicted to be honest. The study concludes that poverty was overrepresented under Nasser’s regime, indicating higher prominence for poorer character during the socialist era than the following neo-liberal eras under Mubarak and Sadat. It also found that unlike other regimes, under Nasser, the poor were found to be unaccountable for their poverty, and so worthy of state support. Films during that era also glorified poor characters as heroes and villainized richer characters. 2023-01-31T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1965 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2996/viewcontent/moustafa_mohamed_abdelfadil_PovertydepictioninEgyptianfilmsacrossthedecades_JRMCthesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Poverty Egyptian cinema Gamal Abdel Nasser Hosny Mubarak Anwar Sadat Content Analysis Framing
spellingShingle Poverty
Egyptian cinema
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Hosny Mubarak
Anwar Sadat
Content Analysis
Framing
Daly, Moustafa Abdelfadil
Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title_full Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title_fullStr Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title_full_unstemmed Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title_short Poverty Depiction in Egyptian Films Across the Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis of Framing Poor Characters in Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 and 2010
title_sort poverty depiction in egyptian films across the decades a comparative content analysis of framing poor characters in egyptian cinema between 1955 and 2010
topic Poverty
Egyptian cinema
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Hosny Mubarak
Anwar Sadat
Content Analysis
Framing
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1965
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2996/viewcontent/moustafa_mohamed_abdelfadil_PovertydepictioninEgyptianfilmsacrossthedecades_JRMCthesis.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT dalymoustafaabdelfadil povertydepictioninegyptianfilmsacrossthedecadesacomparativecontentanalysisofframingpoorcharactersinegyptiancinemabetween1955and2010