2024-04-01 12:10:12
“Highest Viewing Rate”: The “Tik Tok Girls” trial from reality to the screen
Egyptian drama discovered the Tik Tok platform during the current Ramadan season, after years of the wide spread of the application in the world and Egyptian society, and several series used it as a central element in their events, as a “strange thing” that threatens our children and turns them into obsessed with fame, such as the series “Thresholds of Joy” and “ Whole number +1″ and others. While the makers of the series “Highest Viewing Rate” chose the difficult and different path by presenting a dramatic treatment of the famous and controversial issue of “Tik Tok Girls” in Egypt.
The first episodes of the series gave high expectations about its content, and promised to address the “Tik Tok issue” from a social and realistic angle, away from the educational speeches and cartoon scenes that the audience is accustomed to in this type of “purposeful drama,” especially because of the distinguished artistic elements such as the acting performance and clothing. And real filming locations. Expectations also rose after several experiments in Egyptian drama recently, which chose to clash with social assumptions, such as the series “Under Guardianship” by Mona Zaki last year, which took a position on the laws of depriving a mother of guardianship over her children after the death of the father.
“Tik Tok Girls” between reality and drama
The difference between “Under Guardianship” and “Highest Viewing Rating” is that the first ends with its heroine entering prison, to gain sympathy with a dramatic ending whose purpose is to confirm the injustice of the law. As for the second, it ends with the heroine entering prison as a punishment she deserves, despite the indicators that the work established at the beginning that suggest the intention of the organizers. He must bring dramatic justice to the real “Tik Tok girls” against the law and society’s outlook. This explains the state of shock among segments of the audience at the end of the series, which was like a punishment for the girls for the second time.
The real story began with the Egyptian authorities’ tendency to tighten their grip on “Tik Tok”, after the widespread spread of the application during the Corona pandemic period, as they arrested many users during that period and afterward on political and moral charges. Perhaps the most famous of them is the “Tik Tok Girls” case, in which two girls who were influential on the application were arrested on charges of “incitement to immorality and human trafficking,” following their participation in a propaganda campaign for a live broadcast video application, and the case ended with their imprisonment, with fierce campaigns in the media. official against them.
The case sparked controversy in Egypt, especially since these applications are still authorized and publicly used by many celebrities who did not face what the two girls faced. The series specifically chose the story of the young woman Haneen Hossam, a university girl studying in one of the top colleges, from a family slightly below average. She was famous for her clips on “Tik Tok” and introducing herself as “The Pyramid of Egypt,” and she enjoyed the support of her family from the first moment of her arrest until the end.
Drama for the sake of arousing pity
“Highest Viewing Rate” quoted the story of Haneen in the character of Shaima, played by Salma Abu Deif, a girl from a very poor class who failed academically and has no experience in life. Coincidence leads her to achieve fame through “Tik Tok”, and in it she finds hope to save herself and her family. From poverty. Later, she is forced to marry a businessman to protect herself from the family that disowns her because of her videos. The businessman exploits her to promote a new dating application, taking advantage of her ignorance and poor psychological state, which leads her to prison on charges of human trafficking.
This is the story in brief, apart from the other dramatic lines in the series, which did not affect the main goal of the work in condemning the story of the rise of poor class girls and their fame through “Tik Tok”, and these lines came to justify the inevitable end deserved for the “Tik Tok” girl, and make it worthy. Prison and pity at the same time.
This message appeared clearly at the end of the series, specifically in the trial scene, which is full of educational speeches adopted by the authorities in Egypt. The series’ makers evaded questioning these laws, which ultimately led to the girls’ imprisonment, due to security censorship and ignorance of modern means of communication. Rather, they placed responsibility on the girl and her family on charges of ignorance and poverty, in a repetition of the official story.
The work went further in believing the official story with propaganda scenes for the Egyptian Prisons Service, with a spectacle of the moment Shaima entered the prison with modern cars inside a luxurious prison illuminated by the sun’s rays, in which she appeared at her most comfortable and happy moments in the series, in contrast to her gloomy and depressing home throughout the events, and the work was clearly expressed. Also about the view of the rich classes and those with social privileges towards the lower classes, who use “Tik Tok” for advancement and advancement. In their view, they are very ignorant and their use of “Tik Tok” was not out of conviction or an opportunity to express themselves or that it is a natural human right for all groups.
The series was faithful to this superior view in some other artistic elements, as in the series’ song, whose lyrics place responsibility on the heroine’s feeling of “lack of satisfaction,” or in other words, her dissatisfaction with poverty and her quest for fame and social advancement. In addition to the character of Camellia, the rich “Tik Tok” girl, who falls in love with a young man from the same class, marries him, achieves success in their professional ambitions, and tries to help Shaima because they only feel pity for her, a feeling that may be the main motivation for the makers of “Highest Viewing Rate” to complete it. Basically: to satisfy the conscience of this group regarding the injustice that exists in reality.
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