Journal of Social and Political
Sciences
ISSN 2615-3718 (Online)
ISSN 2621-5675 (Print)
Published: 08 October 2024
Ruffling and Un-Ruffling Feathers: Magical Realism as a Tool of Postcolonial Dissent and Transcendence
Lawrie Phillips, Aida Abd El Rehim
British University in Egypt
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10.31014/aior.1991.07.04.519
Pages: 1-11
Keywords: Feathers, Postcolonial Dissent, Transcendence, Magical Realism
Abstract
This paper claims that the Egyptian movie, Feathers (El Zohairy 2021) uses the genre of magical realism as a tool of postcolonial dissent and transcendence: by providing insight into social injustice, by transcending norms and realities, and by deflecting censorship. The paper argues that Feathers has used magical realism to both provoke (ruffle) and deflect (un-ruffle) political outrage. This movie depicts the liberating journey of a rural housewife whose bullying husband has been magically turned into a chicken, relentlessly echoing the traditional Egyptian proverb that ‘one woman is worth a hundred men’ (‘El sett B 100 ragel’). The film received international critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. But nationalistic critics and directors have used post-colonial discourse to accuse its director of Othering and belittling Egypt. This paper in contrast uses multimodal discourse analysis to explore the ways in which Feathers uses magical realism to highlight and personalize and transcend the social injustice in Egypt, and in the Third World. On the other hand, Feathers deflects political outrage by using magical realism to locate its characters and plot in the past, by depicting local businesses rather than transnational investments and megaprojects, and by exploring the magic of personal transformation. By using magical realism as a tool of postcolonial dissent and transcendence, the director has portrayed important truths behind Egyptian norms and realities, and at the same time miraculously protected both the movie and himself.
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