Cinematic Spaces of ‘the Arab Street’ : Mohamed Diab’s Inverted Road Movie Clash (2016)

Abstract

This chapter examines how cinema challenges and inverts traditional spaces of social upheavals, such as streets and squares, in their capacity to be spaces of knowledge and solidarity, in conceptualizing them as enhanced media-sensible spaces. Through a close reading of Mohamed Diab’s feature film Clash (2016), I foreground the idea of the truck as a cinematic space predicated on its ability to accommodate movement, both in a literal and a metaphorical sense. This allows for a discussion of cinematic spaces of the so-called ‘Arab street’, created by both mise en scène and cinematography that go against the more prevalent images of street fights and mass demonstrations as seen in documentaries about the popular upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa region since 2009.

Living in the Times of Hiv/Aids: The Representation of Space in 120 Battements Par Minute

“…2, 2021 Rosyidin Ali Syabana, Living In The Times Of Hiv/Aids: The Representation Of Space In 120 Battements Par Minute 116 moment. Many films have used big transportation as a means to emphasise a constant movement to a certain goal (Strohmaier, 2021). In AUP, the transportation also serves as a symbol of mobility and individual expression of their sexual identity which aim to claim the space that was limited before due to the restrictions from the police or the social stigma.…”