Ghosts or Jinn?

When looking at the US film industry, even since its commencement, Arabs and the Arab culture haven’t had much of a presence except for the occasional terrorist or some Mediterranean cuisine. Recently however, this has changed to help the representation of the Arab world in order to represent diversity and bring in a bigger audience. Earlier this year, Netflix released its first ever fully-spoken Arabic TV series,

Jinn.

The Jordanian show starred a teenage cast that takes a school trip to Petra, a historical landmark that has stood for millennia. This trip results in the appearance of Jinn in the form of humans that blend into the high school while remaining unnoticeable. This drama-like show explores the story of adolescents who have to work together to stop the evil Jinn from hurting or killing anymore of their friends, while carefully trying not to

get possessed in the process. Much like an Arab “Twilight” show, Jinn

connects a high school environment and a mystic, spooky adventure, all while depicting the Jordanian culture and language. It even relates to the Hollywood audience by creating a rivalry in the plot that results

from a love story between a human character and a Jinn character.

Additionally, it can most definitely be a good show to watch during Halloween. Jinn is a breakthrough in cinematography history since it shows people how Arabs -or at least Jordanians- act, speak, eat, interact, and live. It shows the side of Arabs that most films don’t, and in doing so can affect what people assume about Arabs in a positive manner. Films

and TV shows aren’t simply made to entertain, but also to inform, inspire, and persuade.

Jinn does a great job of representing the Arab culture to the general public without adhering to the religious or ethnic stereotypes. However, the show brought up some controversy, which has caused the Jordanian government to take action, and has stalled Netflix from releasing a second season. One event in the series that triggered this was one female kissing two different male characters; this occurrence opposed the conservative nature of Jordan except with their tradition in relation to Islam. Another factor of the controversy was the excessive use of “rough”

language. In other words, the characters used redundant cuss word and inappropriate phrases that don’t accurately represent the common spoken language of Jordanians. Mistakes like these spiked controversy since they can very well damage the image of Arabs and initiate assumptions from the public that shouldn’t illustrate Arab nature.

Although Jinn did a great job of bringing the Arab culture into the entertainment industry, it proves how difficult it is to knowledgeably

replicate a certain ethnicity with all the small details that matter even when they aren’t obvious. Nonetheless, TV shows and movies like this

Jinn a great step forward in terms of bringing attention to the Middle East to the general public without any negative connotations.