مسرح وسينما الثمانينات فى مصر دراسة سوسيو- ثقافية من منظور "التشيؤ"

Abstract

With the adoption of “Infitah” (Prsident Sadat s’ Policy of openness to domestic and foreign investments in the prive sector), the Egyption society became dominated by the principhes of capitalism and market economy, which subject daily life to market laws, transforming human activities and even people themselves into a commodity. It is the concept of erification, which resulted in feelings of isolation and detachment from oneself and society, as well as the inability to adabt to extrme societal transformations, creating feelings of alienation. With the adoption of “Infitah” the Egyptian society suffered an obvious state of extreme reification and alienation.

Since art is closely related to society, popular arts, especially the theatre and the cinema, had to reflect the new social reality. Hence, the researchers’ interest in conducting a thorough artistic study, mainly focusing on reification and the development of the modern Egyption citizen in a utilitarian capitalist society, with no other goal than achieving material gains.

The core research questions are: How did the theatrical and cinematic artworks express the state of reification and alienation in the Egyptian society in the eighties under the “Infitah” (openness to private investment) policy? Has reification become inevitable under the modern capitalist system? To what extent have sush artworks expressed the human s’ awareness, resistance and struggle against the domination materialistic value over daily life? Who will eventually win under such capitalist system: human values or distorted materialistic value?

The study consists of four chapters: The first and second chapters represent the theoretical part of the study, in which the researcher reviews the reality of the Egyptian society under the policies of “Infitah”and neo- capitalism, and their negative impact on the cultural, social and economic levels. Then, the researcher proceeds to discuss important concepts related to reification according to some thinkers, such as Marx, luka’cs, and the Frankfurt School intellectuals. The third