Why is the Jordanian Army Threatening to Cancel Netflix?

The Jordanian public and social media have been taken by storm as Netflix announced the release of their first produced Arabic series on Thursday, called Jinn.

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The supernatural young adult drama show that depicts Jordanian teens experiencing a fantasy with genies in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan while they are on a school trip was highly-anticipated among Jordanians after authorities announced it started filming it in August 2018 in different parts around the country; including Petra and Wadi Rum.

With high expectations to the first Netflix series to be produced in the country, the conservative majority of Jordanian society was bummed out after watching the first episode of the series that has a few scenes of actors exchanging kisses in a school bus in addition to the rough language used in the series.

A wave of public anger wave has sparked all over the country.

Bad reviews and critical comments poured into social media for the series that received more-than-expected local views, and the reason is believed to be the advertising campaign launched for the series by the streaming network while it was being filmed.

More Jordanians joined the conversation demanding to stop airing the series claiming the series represents an “offensive” depiction of the Jordanian society and “vulgar” words. Some have even demanded to ban the streaming network (Netflix) from Jordan.

In response and in a rapid turn of the events, the Public Prosecutor in Jordan announced launching an investigation into the series and demanded the Cyber Crime Unit to get more details to take further action into the possibility of summoning individuals and entities involved in the production of the series. According to an article in Al Jazeera, "the website of the Jordanian army said the cybercrimes unit was attempting to pull the show from Jordanian Netflix."

According to an article in Al Jazeera, "the website of the Jordanian army said the cybercrimes unit was attempting to pull the show from Jordanian Netflix."

The uproar continued and massive criticism was triggered toward Netflix, the cast and the authorities responsible about the production of the series claiming they “gave a misrepresentation of the society” with scenes violating the social values and traditions.

Others have considered the Jinn controversy has in fact highlighted the hypocrisy and contradictions that Jordanians live in. In other words, the social class represented in the series and the fact that the inappropriate words are being used in the everyday language, yet, the majority of the Jordanians won’t acknowledge it.

Meanwhile, the controversy had led many people into backing the series, its producers and providing an objective point of view over the series.

Translation: “The problem with Jinn series is not the actors, but the scenario which was obviously written in English originally and then translated into colloquial Arabic, which resulted in finding such inappropriate words. It had also addressed the genie story superficially without considering the Arabic and Islamic heritage of it.”

Other reactions prompted by the public uproar included a statement from Netflix Middle East who stated that the show deals with “universal themes” that “can be viewed as provocative”.

On local levels, the state-run Royal Film Commission has also weighed in the debate and confirmed they have nothing to do with the script or the content of the series.