Moralistic versus compassionate portrayals of prostitution in Moroccan cinema: the case of Casablanca by Night versus Much Loved
In the Moroccan media, the prostitute is gradually becoming a cultural icon. This article analyses, from a comparative perspective, the portrayal of the prostitute in two Moroccan films, Casablanca by Night (Mostafa Darkaoui, 2003) and Much Loved (Nabyl Ayouch, 2016). These two films portray prosti...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad de Alicante
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mediterranea-comunicacion.org/article/view/13280 |
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| Summary: | In the Moroccan media, the prostitute is gradually becoming a cultural icon. This article analyses, from a comparative perspective, the portrayal of the prostitute in two Moroccan films, Casablanca by Night (Mostafa Darkaoui, 2003) and Much Loved (Nabyl Ayouch, 2016). These two films portray prostitution in very different ways. Whereas, in the first film, the figure of the prostitute conforms to the hegemonic moralistic idea that the general public have about prostitution in Morocco, in the second one the representation of this figure is built on an understanding drawn from the experience of prostitutes. This paper’s main objective is to define the prevailing themes, such as crime, deviance, immorality, poverty, disease and violence, among others, associated with prostitution in Morocco and depicted in the media. The aim is also to analyse how these themes unfold differently in the two films featured and why they gave rise to a violent social controversy in the case of the second. We will argue that Casablanca by Night uses cinematographic and social “mechanisms of neutralisation”. Much Loved, by contrast, adopts a realistic perspective. The higher the level of realism and modern representation of prostitution, the greater the social controversy and polarisation.
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| ISSN: | 1989-872X |