There are many important issues that are worth addressing, even implicitly, in Egyptian films. However, that is not always possible because the content of films in the state is completely contingent on the attitudes and beliefs of the successive governments and consequently these are “ imposed taboos that have stood in the way of accurately reflecting and mirroring existing societal and cultural problems in Arab societies and many Arab actors and filmmakers, most notably Omar Sharif and Youssef Chahine, claim that it has harmed the industry and severely limited creativity” (Mansour, 2012). When the state imposes their vision of what they want the national identity to be rather than allowing film-makers to truly portray what the national identity actually is, a huge issue arises whereas “censorship not only limits creativity and art but, moreover, hinders the true reflection of cultural identity by forcing the portrayal of a particular image of culture and society” (Mansour, 2012). The truth about Egyptian culture is that it is far more diverse than portrayed in movies. Copts have long been a very sensitive subject in Egyptian society, and therefore there are very limited representations of the existence of Copts or the manifestations of Coptic culture and heritage within Egyptian media. The movie Cairo Exit is pointed to as an example of this phenomenon whereas this movie includes a Coptic girl who is in a relationship with a Muslim boy and this merging of cultures and identities resulted in the movie being stopped by censors prior to its release purely because it “deals with the issue of interfaith and premarital relationships while portraying the brute reality of living in poverty in the poorer suburbs of Cairo, thus bringing to life cultural realities that are rarely touched upon or even acknowledged” (Mansour, 2012). This is not uncommon in Egypt, although there might be a few Coptic characters here and there, there are hardly any illustrations of the Coptic intangible cultural heritage; meaning there are no Egyptian movies or television programs that use Coptic sayings or the Coptic language, portray characters wearing Coptic clothing, use Coptic names, show Coptic dishes or their recipes, use Coptic music, or illustrate Coptic practices and traditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The state aims to serve its people and satisfy the majority, this results in the marginalization of minority groups. This is greatly reflected in Egypt where scholars note that at times when the Muslim Brotherhood were carrying out fatal and vicious attacks that included, but were not limited to, the  assassination of  political figures, murdering of tourists, and the devastating attacks on Coptic churches that resulted in many deaths, the government was forced to come down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood. However, it became very clear that the culprits were met with rather harsh consequences for their violations against Egyptians and the foreign tourists, but did not suffer consequences for their attacks on  the Coptic minority. That was the turning point when “the radicals discovered that there was no retribution from the state when they attacked Coptic Christians. Consequently, the new decade began with a bloody attack on the Copts” (Naiem, 2018). Copts being excluded from the national narrative allows for the state to neglect their interests. Their underrepresentation within society leads to an underrepresentation in public policy; this further creates a gap between Copts and the Egyptian majority, reasserts the existing societal hierarchy, and continues to pose a security and human rights concern as the targeting of Copts will persist so long as they are not legitimized as equally Egyptians within society and by the state.

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