Sometimes the best way to highlight one’s shortcomings is to use humor. It makes one laugh and enjoy a good time but the idea behind the humor gets registered in one’s minds and suddenly makes a person realize that he/she repeats the same mistake and something is really not right about it.
In its essence, comedy is all about that; uncovering the truth, retouching the reality, forcing us to see what we voluntarily choose to ignore.
That is what made “Selfie,” a Saudi TV comedy series, which has become talk of the town within a few days since its broadcast. With the veteran comedy actor, Nasser Al-Qassabi, leading the cast, the show has been able to make strong waves across the Kingdom and has left everybody discussing issues highlighted in the show in an otherwise light and humorous manner.
The best episodes so far have dealt with familiar topics — we talk about them, we write about them, but that guilt that follows the laughter is what makes comedy a better tool to send the intended messages.
The couple of episodes that documented a man’s journey to meet his son who opted to join Daesh, the terrorist group, were both brilliant and devastating. The show confronted us with a lot of ideas and conversations that are repeatedly discussed and shared in our daily lives. It showed us the consequences of misunderstanding some of the very basic concepts and obligations of our religion. We laughed at those sketches, we hoped that those sketches were fictitious, blown out of proportion in order to make the show funnier, but we end up with a realization that this is what actually happens in real life, this is how these groups think and act! Incidents like brutal killing, presence of a slave market and son beheading his father, are all based on true events.
Then came a brilliant episode that talked about sportsmanship. Again, we laughed at the man who discriminated against one of his sons because of the team he cheers for, at the husband who fight and eventually divorced his wife because of a heated discussion over football. Silly and funny sketches till you realize that this is what happens behind closed doors.
The episode about the sectarian divide has been the best of the show so far; the two Muslims who were on agreement on all the sins the were planning to commit once they leave the country, till their friendship turned into a confrontation once they discovered their sectarian differences! Funny till we realize that this is what we do on a daily basis, we are ready to forgo and neglect some of the very basics of our religion, but never to befriend those coming from a different background. It may sounds harsh, but unfortunately real.
However, no matter how brilliantly the message is being conveyed humorously, how much discussions and controversy it provokes, shortcomings never fix themselves. There should be plans followed by actions. Such comedy shows are meant to point at the illness but never to prescribe the medicine.
It is a responsibility we all share — individuals and organizations. As we demand the government to make efforts against terrorism, we need to reconsider our own understanding of our religion and how its ideas are discussed among us. As we demand the media outlets to support sportsmanship through their programs, we better implement the same ideas in our surroundings.
