The Underrepresentation of Women in Moroccan Drama Movies: Through the Lens of Moroccan Male Filmmakers

This article strives to illuminate the interlinked relationship between movies, gender, and culture in the Moroccan context. More specifically, it aims at exploring the way women are misrepresented and misinterpreted in Moroccan drama movies, and particularly through the lens of Moroccan male filmmakers. For this specific reason, two Moroccan movies are selected, critically analyzed, and thoughtfully compared using qualitative content analysis. The first one is Okba Lik, a comedy-drama movie directed by Yassine Fennane and released in 2010. The second one is Hayat, a road trip drama movie directed by Raouf Sebbahi and released in 2017. Although the two movies are seven years apart, results have revealed that the culture of domineering men and subservient women is still prevalent in Moroccan drama movies. Both male filmmakers reinforce and perpetuate patriarchal ideology through the depiction of different forms of male domination and female subordination. Results have also shown that both movies make a significant contribution to the misrepresentation, dehumanization, objectification, and sexualization of Moroccan women.