For two subsequent days now, and after 20 years, Adel Imam’s “Bodyguard” is trending. Thanks to Shahid, El Zaeem’s last theatrical performance became accessible to the masses. However, most people are now wishing it didn’t.
Perhaps because of the fact that the main punchlines and plot’s focal point derives from hating on women and disrespecting them on all levels.
Spanking actresses on stage, dropping body-shaming jokes, implying that all women commit adultery and enjoy forced sex…etc.
Some might wonder why people are so offended by this now. Adel Imam has been sticking to this rhetoric for most of his career. Well, maybe it’s the fact that times are changing.
We’re living in a different world from the one we knew 20 years ago. Where insulting an entire gender and unconsciously promoting rape and harassment didn’t put you on a cinematic pedestal.
On the other side though, many loyal fans of El Zaeem simply refused this attack and called it a “systematic” campaign to defame the legend. But is it really?
No one is here to defame or rip on the long iconic career of Adel Imam. BUT, the times where we simply glorify any icon and overlook their fallout are behind us.
Twenty years or not, we are glad people are heavily condemning such misogynistic approaches in cinema and theatre. Let it be a lesson that these things will no longer be tolerated.
